My research combines geoarchaeology, archaeomalacology and anthropology to investigate the relationship between people and the environment, and in particular the process of human adaptation to climate and landscape change. My research can be classified into four main areas: 1) archaeological theory; 2) sea level change, island adaptations and human environments; 3) laboratory techniques to identify landscape change and evidence of human behavior within sediments; and 4) contributions of archaeology to modern issues. My most recent project applies a multiscalar approach of landscape and climate change in relation to social patterns of settlement, resource exploitation and culture change of mid-Holocene societies in the Caribbean archipelago, achieved through the micro and macroscopic analysis of organic and inorganic traces of human activity (sediment chemistry, magnetism and physical properties; microartifact content, mollusk resource exploitation and landscape change).
Techniques and specialization: Geoarchaeology (including microartefact analysis and micromorphology) Archaeomalacology Microfaunal remains Coastal Palaeoecology
Member of the GHEA (Global Human Ecodynamics Alliance) http://www.gheahome.org/cgi_bin/ghea_member_info.pl?id=73
Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities ... more Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities globally, but also the archaeological record of their history, knowledge, and culture. As a response, inter-institutional databases of heritage have increasingly been coupled with other widely available cyberinfrastructure to assess the magnitude of the threat and the vulnerability of cultural heritage, in order to begin the design of actionable steps or mitigation of impact. This article focuses on the coastal archaeology of Puerto Rico to evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and to assess the reliability of desk-based vulnerability assessments in the context of disasters. The study conducted a walkover survey of 11 km of coast on the north-central portion of Puerto Rico and documented context, visible impact, and level of threat from coastal erosion, among other factors. The study concludes that, for the case study, the desk-based assessment conducted in 2017 underestimated the vulnerability of coastal resources. While two sites were predicted to be vulnerable, the survey identified eight damaged sites. These results call for heightened attention to the actual process of sea-level rise in the context of changing weather and changing water-level baselines, not just for cultural heritage, but also for coastal and marine ecosystem management and for the resilience of human communities.
The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2019
Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities ... more Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities globally, but also the archaeological record of their history, knowledge, and culture. As a response, inter-institutional databases of heritage have increasingly been coupled with other widely available cyberinfrastructure to assess the magnitude of the threat and the vulnerability of cultural heritage, in order to begin the design of actionable steps or mitigation of impact. This article focuses on the coastal archaeology of Puerto Rico to evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and to assess the reliability of desk-based vulnerability assessments in the context of disasters. The study conducted a walkover survey of 11km of coast on the north-central portion of Puerto Rico and documented context, visible impact, and level of threat from coastal erosion, among other factors. The study concludes that, for the case study, the desk-based assessment conducted in 2017 underestimated the vulnerability of coastal resources. While two sites were predicted to be vulnerable, the survey identified eight damaged sites. These results call for heightened attention to the actual process of sea-level rise in the context of changing weather and changing water-level baselines, not just for cultural heritage, but also for coastal and marine ecosystem management and for the resilience of human communities.
The varied effects of recent extreme weather events around the world exemplify the uneven impacts... more The varied effects of recent extreme weather events around the world exemplify the uneven impacts of climate change on populations, even within relatively small geographic regions. Differential human vulnerability to environmental hazards results from a range of social, economic, historical, and political factors, all of which operate at multiple scales. While adaptation to climate change has been the dominant focus of policy and research agendas, it is essential to ask as well why some communities and peoples are disproportionately exposed to and affected by climate threats. The cases and synthesis presented here are organized around four key themes (resource access, governance, culture, and knowledge), which we approach from four social science fields (cultural anthropology, archaeology, human geography, and sociology). Social scientific approaches to human vulnerability draw vital attention to the root causes of climate change threats and the reasons that people are forced to adapt to them. Because vulnerability is a multidimensional process rather than an unchanging state, a dynamic social approach to vulnerability is most likely to improve mitigation and adaptation planning efforts.
Mediante la recuperación de ejemplos del pasado, la ar-queología puede contribuir a la expansión ... more Mediante la recuperación de ejemplos del pasado, la ar-queología puede contribuir a la expansión de conoci-miento local para la reducción de desastres y de la vul-nerabilidad en el presente. En este artículo evaluamos la respuesta humana a inundaciones catastróficas en Ti-bes (Ponce) y en Los Bateyes de Viví (Utuado), Puerto Rico, con el fin de extraer lecciones del pasado para entender la vulnerabilidad social a nivel local. En am-bos casos exploramos eventos individuales de inunda-ciones repentinas, y estudiamos cómo las sociedades ocupando dichos asentamientos respondieron luego del desastre. El estudio demuestra que, a pesar de exposi-ción a riesgos que amenazan la vida, las prioridades so-ciales tienen más peso que los peligros naturales en la toma de decisiones con respecto a los espacios vividos. Este hecho afectará el éxito de estrategias de mitigación de riesgos que propongan relocalización de comunida-des, y debe ser considerado en el diseño de planes de mitigación.
The heavy police presence along La Milla de Oro (The Golden Mile) was expected. Occupying two blo... more The heavy police presence along La Milla de Oro (The Golden Mile) was expected. Occupying two blocks of parallel avenues, Muñoz Rivera and Ponce de León, La Milla de Oro is the Wall Street of Puerto Rico and home to the headquarters of several banks which experienced damage at the hands of a few masked protesters during last year's May 1st protest. The 2017 march was one for the record books as one of the largest popular protests in the island's history, mobilized in large part by students of the University of Puerto Rico. At that time, the students were in the thick of a strike and campus shutdown that would last more than 70 days in protest of proposed budget cuts that would (and likely will) gut the UPR system and drastically spike tuition. While many argue that such strikes do more harm than good given the current climate, few could deny the students' impressive ability to mobilize a truly national movement.
Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, 2018
Archaeological research has the potential to contribute to our understanding of social vulnerabil... more Archaeological research has the potential to contribute to our understanding of social vulnerability to environmental change by providing examples of change in the deep and recent past. Here we argue that human activity and historical processes deeply transform tropical environments through time, and that these changes accumulate on the landscape affecting social vulnerability. These changes, however, are not always evident due to rapid vegetation growth obscuring past human impact. Our research investigates the northernmost 25 km of the Manatí Hydrological Basin in Puerto Rico, focusing on evidence of human activity and environmental characteristics including topography, sediments and vegetation cover. The data collected, which articulates archaeological and ethnographic records, covers the span of pre-Columbian occupation of the region, through the colonial periods, and into the twentieth century. Results show that human activity through time has deeply altered the forests. The accumulation of long-term histories of biotic, abiotic and cultural dynamics affects social sensitivity and exposure. Human ingenuity can widen resilience thresholds, making long-term practices particularly important components of adaptive strategies. Deep-time socioecological perspectives can contribute to current vulnerability assessments by enhancing local and historical records that can feed predictive models and inform decision-making in the present.
Cultural heritage codifies local responses to climate
change, encourages people to identify with ... more Cultural heritage codifies local responses to climate change, encourages people to identify with where they live, opens the door to conversation about climate change, and helps transform abstract numbers into tangible, real-life effects for local communities (Funari and Garraffoni 2016; Schaepe et al. 2017; Zabala et al. 2015). However, it is also threatened by climate change. Archaeological sites and other depositories of cultural heritage are being eroded and destroyed by rising sea levels, wild fires, floods, melting permafrost, displacement of people, and many other impacts at local and regional scales (Hambrecht and Rockman 2017; Rockman 2015). In this article, I describe the situation of cultural heritage in Puerto Rico, and the role that grassroots movements can play to engage multiple stakeholders to catalyze climate and cultural heritage action at a local level.
In this paper, we summarize how current and projected climate changes are expected to impact mate... more In this paper, we summarize how current and projected climate changes are expected to impact material cultural heritage in Puerto Rico. As case study, we also conducted a spatial analysis vulnerability assessment of coastal heritage sites below 20 meters in elevation. Results from the analysis show that of the 1185 known cultural heritage sites below 20 m in elevation in Puerto Rico, 27 sites are inundated at today's highest high tide, 56 will be inundated by mid-century when assuming a 0.6 m rise in sea-level, and 140 sites will be inundated by end-of-century when assuming a 1.8 m rise in sea-level. Spatial analysis of sites adjacent to the high tide line demonstrate that these values are likely conservative, as there are many sites located within 1 m of the highest high tide line that should also be considered vulnerable. Finally, we present and introductory proposal that addresses the need for vulnerability assessments to aid cultural heritage managers in developing adaptive strategies for climate change impacts to material heritage. Understanding the ways in which climate change impacts threaten cultural heritage is the first step towards creating appropriate adaptive strategies for mitigation. This paper focuses on identifying how the predicted climate impacts for Puerto Rico can be expected to affect archaeological and historical heritage sites and focuses on the predicted impact of sea-level rise over coastal heritage contexts. We address the need for vulnerability assessments and present an introductory proposal for the development of adaptive strategies for climate change impacts regarding cultural heritage management.
Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change. The Caribbean I... more Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change. The Caribbean Islands are a biodiversity hotspot, where conservation efforts should be a priority. However, the archaeological record suggests that the biotic characteristics of the islands, even within nature or forests reserves, are strongly shaped by thousands of years of intense human activity. This presents an issue for conservation efforts because defining what should be preserved and what should be reconstructed is not straightforward. Using Puerto Rico as case study, this article explores how socioecosystem dynamics influenced the biotic characteristics of the island at specific archaeological periods and to what extent these processes have affected the environmental resources on the island today. Climatic data, its implications on forest type and cover, and landscape characteristics as seen from sedimentary records, combined with archaeological data on human–environment interactions over time, from the mid-Holocene to the present are used to investigate these themes. This article brings forth more questions than answers, but it reflects the status of deep-time environmental research on the island, which is still in its early stages. I argue that, starting from the earliest occupations, human influence has altered the ecology of Puerto Rico so deeply that the natural resources we work toward preserving, conserving, or restoring today cannot be understood without considering the social contexts that shaped them. In this sense, if the Anthropocene is a proposal to rename the current geological period because of the overwhelming physical evidence of change that human activity has left behind, then the history of the Puerto Rico supports the proposal for the application of the term since at least 5 ka. Applying the concept would bring the relevance of human activity to the forefront, contributing to the reconsideration of the role of humans in the formation and preservation of modern ecological systems.
The connection between climatic change and social response is complex because change articulates ... more The connection between climatic change and social response is complex because change articulates a number of inter-related factors. Human decisions are filtered by social buffers – including social memory, risk perception and cultural priorities, – and the rate and scale of climate change is usually much larger than the scale of human decision-making. In this article, we provide information on climate change based on precisely dated speleothems with the response evident in archaeological sites that have radiocarbon date ranges within the same time frame. A stalagmite recovered from within the catchment area for aquifer recharge of the Pre-Arawak site of Angostura in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, shows that a significant wet period occurred between 3.9 and 3.1 ka (primarily centered at 3.5 ka). We investigate the effect that this increase in precipitation had on the earliest occupations on the island in the context of palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological and archaeological records from Angostura, Maruca and Paso del Indio. Our analysis suggests the presence of two different adaptation strategies: settlement relocation and microlandscape modification. Our study concludes that the social response to change cannot be seen as monolithic given that human behavior, even within the same period, addresses the needs of individual groups with different priorities. This multiplicity of responses can indeed enhance resilience as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes. The results can help shed light on the range of adaptation strategies to change encompassed within the manifestations of social resilience or vulnerability.
Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9–11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical b... more Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9–11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical basis to explain the origins of agricultural lifestyles in the Levant by suggesting a failure of foraging societies to adjust. This explanation however, does not fit the scarcity of data for predomestication cultivation in the Natufian Period. The resilience of Younger Dryas foragers is better illustrated by a concept of adaptive cycles within a theory of adaptive change (resilience theory). Such cycles consist of four phases: release/collapse (Ω); reorganization (α), when the system restructures itself after a catastrophic stimulus through innovation and social memory—a period of greater resilience and less vulnerability; exploitation (r); and conservation (K), representing an increasingly rigid system that loses flexibility to change. The Kebarans and Late Natufians had similar responses to cold and dry conditions vs. Early Natufians and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A responses to warm and wet climates. Kebarans and Late Natufians (α-phase) shifted to a broader-based diet and increased their mobility. Early Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A populations (r- and K-phases) had a growing investment in more narrowly focused, high-yield plant resources, but they maintained the broad range of hunted animals because of increased sedentism. These human adaptive cycles interlocked with plant and animal cycles. Forest and grassland vegetation responded to late Pleistocene and early Holocene climatic fluctuations, but prey animal cycles reflected the impact of human hunting pressure. The combination of these three adaptive cycles results in a model of human adaptation, showing potential for great sustainability of Levantine foraging systems even under adverse climatic conditions.
Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities ... more Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities globally, but also the archaeological record of their history, knowledge, and culture. As a response, inter-institutional databases of heritage have increasingly been coupled with other widely available cyberinfrastructure to assess the magnitude of the threat and the vulnerability of cultural heritage, in order to begin the design of actionable steps or mitigation of impact. This article focuses on the coastal archaeology of Puerto Rico to evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and to assess the reliability of desk-based vulnerability assessments in the context of disasters. The study conducted a walkover survey of 11 km of coast on the north-central portion of Puerto Rico and documented context, visible impact, and level of threat from coastal erosion, among other factors. The study concludes that, for the case study, the desk-based assessment conducted in 2017 underestimated the vulnerability of coastal resources. While two sites were predicted to be vulnerable, the survey identified eight damaged sites. These results call for heightened attention to the actual process of sea-level rise in the context of changing weather and changing water-level baselines, not just for cultural heritage, but also for coastal and marine ecosystem management and for the resilience of human communities.
The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2019
Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities ... more Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities globally, but also the archaeological record of their history, knowledge, and culture. As a response, inter-institutional databases of heritage have increasingly been coupled with other widely available cyberinfrastructure to assess the magnitude of the threat and the vulnerability of cultural heritage, in order to begin the design of actionable steps or mitigation of impact. This article focuses on the coastal archaeology of Puerto Rico to evaluate the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, and to assess the reliability of desk-based vulnerability assessments in the context of disasters. The study conducted a walkover survey of 11km of coast on the north-central portion of Puerto Rico and documented context, visible impact, and level of threat from coastal erosion, among other factors. The study concludes that, for the case study, the desk-based assessment conducted in 2017 underestimated the vulnerability of coastal resources. While two sites were predicted to be vulnerable, the survey identified eight damaged sites. These results call for heightened attention to the actual process of sea-level rise in the context of changing weather and changing water-level baselines, not just for cultural heritage, but also for coastal and marine ecosystem management and for the resilience of human communities.
The varied effects of recent extreme weather events around the world exemplify the uneven impacts... more The varied effects of recent extreme weather events around the world exemplify the uneven impacts of climate change on populations, even within relatively small geographic regions. Differential human vulnerability to environmental hazards results from a range of social, economic, historical, and political factors, all of which operate at multiple scales. While adaptation to climate change has been the dominant focus of policy and research agendas, it is essential to ask as well why some communities and peoples are disproportionately exposed to and affected by climate threats. The cases and synthesis presented here are organized around four key themes (resource access, governance, culture, and knowledge), which we approach from four social science fields (cultural anthropology, archaeology, human geography, and sociology). Social scientific approaches to human vulnerability draw vital attention to the root causes of climate change threats and the reasons that people are forced to adapt to them. Because vulnerability is a multidimensional process rather than an unchanging state, a dynamic social approach to vulnerability is most likely to improve mitigation and adaptation planning efforts.
Mediante la recuperación de ejemplos del pasado, la ar-queología puede contribuir a la expansión ... more Mediante la recuperación de ejemplos del pasado, la ar-queología puede contribuir a la expansión de conoci-miento local para la reducción de desastres y de la vul-nerabilidad en el presente. En este artículo evaluamos la respuesta humana a inundaciones catastróficas en Ti-bes (Ponce) y en Los Bateyes de Viví (Utuado), Puerto Rico, con el fin de extraer lecciones del pasado para entender la vulnerabilidad social a nivel local. En am-bos casos exploramos eventos individuales de inunda-ciones repentinas, y estudiamos cómo las sociedades ocupando dichos asentamientos respondieron luego del desastre. El estudio demuestra que, a pesar de exposi-ción a riesgos que amenazan la vida, las prioridades so-ciales tienen más peso que los peligros naturales en la toma de decisiones con respecto a los espacios vividos. Este hecho afectará el éxito de estrategias de mitigación de riesgos que propongan relocalización de comunida-des, y debe ser considerado en el diseño de planes de mitigación.
The heavy police presence along La Milla de Oro (The Golden Mile) was expected. Occupying two blo... more The heavy police presence along La Milla de Oro (The Golden Mile) was expected. Occupying two blocks of parallel avenues, Muñoz Rivera and Ponce de León, La Milla de Oro is the Wall Street of Puerto Rico and home to the headquarters of several banks which experienced damage at the hands of a few masked protesters during last year's May 1st protest. The 2017 march was one for the record books as one of the largest popular protests in the island's history, mobilized in large part by students of the University of Puerto Rico. At that time, the students were in the thick of a strike and campus shutdown that would last more than 70 days in protest of proposed budget cuts that would (and likely will) gut the UPR system and drastically spike tuition. While many argue that such strikes do more harm than good given the current climate, few could deny the students' impressive ability to mobilize a truly national movement.
Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, 2018
Archaeological research has the potential to contribute to our understanding of social vulnerabil... more Archaeological research has the potential to contribute to our understanding of social vulnerability to environmental change by providing examples of change in the deep and recent past. Here we argue that human activity and historical processes deeply transform tropical environments through time, and that these changes accumulate on the landscape affecting social vulnerability. These changes, however, are not always evident due to rapid vegetation growth obscuring past human impact. Our research investigates the northernmost 25 km of the Manatí Hydrological Basin in Puerto Rico, focusing on evidence of human activity and environmental characteristics including topography, sediments and vegetation cover. The data collected, which articulates archaeological and ethnographic records, covers the span of pre-Columbian occupation of the region, through the colonial periods, and into the twentieth century. Results show that human activity through time has deeply altered the forests. The accumulation of long-term histories of biotic, abiotic and cultural dynamics affects social sensitivity and exposure. Human ingenuity can widen resilience thresholds, making long-term practices particularly important components of adaptive strategies. Deep-time socioecological perspectives can contribute to current vulnerability assessments by enhancing local and historical records that can feed predictive models and inform decision-making in the present.
Cultural heritage codifies local responses to climate
change, encourages people to identify with ... more Cultural heritage codifies local responses to climate change, encourages people to identify with where they live, opens the door to conversation about climate change, and helps transform abstract numbers into tangible, real-life effects for local communities (Funari and Garraffoni 2016; Schaepe et al. 2017; Zabala et al. 2015). However, it is also threatened by climate change. Archaeological sites and other depositories of cultural heritage are being eroded and destroyed by rising sea levels, wild fires, floods, melting permafrost, displacement of people, and many other impacts at local and regional scales (Hambrecht and Rockman 2017; Rockman 2015). In this article, I describe the situation of cultural heritage in Puerto Rico, and the role that grassroots movements can play to engage multiple stakeholders to catalyze climate and cultural heritage action at a local level.
In this paper, we summarize how current and projected climate changes are expected to impact mate... more In this paper, we summarize how current and projected climate changes are expected to impact material cultural heritage in Puerto Rico. As case study, we also conducted a spatial analysis vulnerability assessment of coastal heritage sites below 20 meters in elevation. Results from the analysis show that of the 1185 known cultural heritage sites below 20 m in elevation in Puerto Rico, 27 sites are inundated at today's highest high tide, 56 will be inundated by mid-century when assuming a 0.6 m rise in sea-level, and 140 sites will be inundated by end-of-century when assuming a 1.8 m rise in sea-level. Spatial analysis of sites adjacent to the high tide line demonstrate that these values are likely conservative, as there are many sites located within 1 m of the highest high tide line that should also be considered vulnerable. Finally, we present and introductory proposal that addresses the need for vulnerability assessments to aid cultural heritage managers in developing adaptive strategies for climate change impacts to material heritage. Understanding the ways in which climate change impacts threaten cultural heritage is the first step towards creating appropriate adaptive strategies for mitigation. This paper focuses on identifying how the predicted climate impacts for Puerto Rico can be expected to affect archaeological and historical heritage sites and focuses on the predicted impact of sea-level rise over coastal heritage contexts. We address the need for vulnerability assessments and present an introductory proposal for the development of adaptive strategies for climate change impacts regarding cultural heritage management.
Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change. The Caribbean I... more Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change. The Caribbean Islands are a biodiversity hotspot, where conservation efforts should be a priority. However, the archaeological record suggests that the biotic characteristics of the islands, even within nature or forests reserves, are strongly shaped by thousands of years of intense human activity. This presents an issue for conservation efforts because defining what should be preserved and what should be reconstructed is not straightforward. Using Puerto Rico as case study, this article explores how socioecosystem dynamics influenced the biotic characteristics of the island at specific archaeological periods and to what extent these processes have affected the environmental resources on the island today. Climatic data, its implications on forest type and cover, and landscape characteristics as seen from sedimentary records, combined with archaeological data on human–environment interactions over time, from the mid-Holocene to the present are used to investigate these themes. This article brings forth more questions than answers, but it reflects the status of deep-time environmental research on the island, which is still in its early stages. I argue that, starting from the earliest occupations, human influence has altered the ecology of Puerto Rico so deeply that the natural resources we work toward preserving, conserving, or restoring today cannot be understood without considering the social contexts that shaped them. In this sense, if the Anthropocene is a proposal to rename the current geological period because of the overwhelming physical evidence of change that human activity has left behind, then the history of the Puerto Rico supports the proposal for the application of the term since at least 5 ka. Applying the concept would bring the relevance of human activity to the forefront, contributing to the reconsideration of the role of humans in the formation and preservation of modern ecological systems.
The connection between climatic change and social response is complex because change articulates ... more The connection between climatic change and social response is complex because change articulates a number of inter-related factors. Human decisions are filtered by social buffers – including social memory, risk perception and cultural priorities, – and the rate and scale of climate change is usually much larger than the scale of human decision-making. In this article, we provide information on climate change based on precisely dated speleothems with the response evident in archaeological sites that have radiocarbon date ranges within the same time frame. A stalagmite recovered from within the catchment area for aquifer recharge of the Pre-Arawak site of Angostura in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, shows that a significant wet period occurred between 3.9 and 3.1 ka (primarily centered at 3.5 ka). We investigate the effect that this increase in precipitation had on the earliest occupations on the island in the context of palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological and archaeological records from Angostura, Maruca and Paso del Indio. Our analysis suggests the presence of two different adaptation strategies: settlement relocation and microlandscape modification. Our study concludes that the social response to change cannot be seen as monolithic given that human behavior, even within the same period, addresses the needs of individual groups with different priorities. This multiplicity of responses can indeed enhance resilience as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes. The results can help shed light on the range of adaptation strategies to change encompassed within the manifestations of social resilience or vulnerability.
Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9–11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical b... more Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9–11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical basis to explain the origins of agricultural lifestyles in the Levant by suggesting a failure of foraging societies to adjust. This explanation however, does not fit the scarcity of data for predomestication cultivation in the Natufian Period. The resilience of Younger Dryas foragers is better illustrated by a concept of adaptive cycles within a theory of adaptive change (resilience theory). Such cycles consist of four phases: release/collapse (Ω); reorganization (α), when the system restructures itself after a catastrophic stimulus through innovation and social memory—a period of greater resilience and less vulnerability; exploitation (r); and conservation (K), representing an increasingly rigid system that loses flexibility to change. The Kebarans and Late Natufians had similar responses to cold and dry conditions vs. Early Natufians and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A responses to warm and wet climates. Kebarans and Late Natufians (α-phase) shifted to a broader-based diet and increased their mobility. Early Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A populations (r- and K-phases) had a growing investment in more narrowly focused, high-yield plant resources, but they maintained the broad range of hunted animals because of increased sedentism. These human adaptive cycles interlocked with plant and animal cycles. Forest and grassland vegetation responded to late Pleistocene and early Holocene climatic fluctuations, but prey animal cycles reflected the impact of human hunting pressure. The combination of these three adaptive cycles results in a model of human adaptation, showing potential for great sustainability of Levantine foraging systems even under adverse climatic conditions.
The connection between environmental change and social response is complex because change occurs ... more The connection between environmental change and social response is complex because change occurs on multiple interrelated factors, human decisions are filtered by social buffers, and the rate and scale of environmental change differs from scale of human decision-making. In this presentation I consider the rate of coastal landscape change before the mid-Holocene affecting human settlement patterns in the Caribbean, evaluate traditional settlement patterns in the context of maritime culture, and investigate human response to a sudden, local higher-precipitation event at the beginning of the Late Holocene. The analysis of Archaic contexts in Puerto Rico suggests that the picture we have built of early settlement patterns is based on very incomplete data, and that adaptation strategies to climate change are not monolithic, even within the same period. Multiple responses can enhance resilience, as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes.
Research on the history and archaeology of the Caribbean has demonstrated the overwhelming import... more Research on the history and archaeology of the Caribbean has demonstrated the overwhelming importance of commerce and long-distance trading and social networks for the peopling and the social development of the lands circling the Caribbean Sea. Navigation – riparian or maritime – is paramount in this consideration because water is ubiquitous in the ‘water world’ [5] of the Caribbean Lowlands. The area includes the basins and deltas of two of the world's largest rivers, the Amazon and the Orinoco systems, and widely complex coastal plains stretching from northern Brazil and Surinam to Mexico, south Florida and the Caribbean Archipelago. The coastal dry land masses (continent or islands) are joined by water: rivers, swamps, marshes or the sea: a ‘continent divided by water’ [68]. When the chronology of the social dynamics surrounding the Caribbean Sea are scrutinized, the pattern that emerges is of land-based economies and dispersed hunter-gatherer sites starting around 14kBP, but there is no evidence of settlement along the coasts or exploitation of marine resources until around 8kBP on the continents, or 7 – 5kBP on the islands. These dates coincide with a general sea level stabilization at 3 – 5 m below msl around 7kya. As sea level rose, shallow coastal areas flooded, transforming the hydrology, oceanography and morphology of the coastlines. Given the rate of eustatic sea-level rise during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, much of the early coastal landscapes around the American continents and the Caribbean Islands should be currently submerged, along with the evidence of human use of ancient coasts. The dry sites we today assume as early reflect settlement patterns that correspond to a relatively late configuration of the coastal morphology. However, underwater archaeology in the Caribbean has mostly focused on wrecks, if on anything at all, with practically no attention being paid to drowned landscapes. No marine geophysics analysis has been applied to underwater archaeology in the Caribbean so far. Given that early evidence of human activity should be submerged and possibly buried, the application of acoustic remote sensing techniques is the most time and cost effective survey method. Among these, high-resolution multi-channel and 3D seismic reflection surveying, in particular 3D Chirp systems, have proven to be very useful for the investigation of drowned landscapes as they can provide detailed stratigraphic information and visualization of buried archaeological objects. Even though no local studies have been conducted yet, this presentation focuses on the northeastern corner of the Caribbean Archipelago, at the contact between the Greater and the Lesser Antilles (Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and the Anegada Passage), identifying areas with the highest potential for preservation of submerged landscapes and associated sites, from a geoarchaeological perspective. While side-scan sonars are useful to observe the sea floor and to identify shipwrecks or fishing technology, I emphasize on the potential of seismic surveys with sub-bottom profilers for the identification of buried ancient landscapes and associated sites, particularly in shallow, low-energy environments. This type of study and preliminary evaluation will serve as a basis to establish a solid collaborative research program that will permit a more complete understanding of the socio-natural dynamics of the peopling of the Caribbean region.
The Archaic period in the Caribbean (ca. 5ky - 1.5ky BP) presents an intriguing case study for th... more The Archaic period in the Caribbean (ca. 5ky - 1.5ky BP) presents an intriguing case study for the understanding of the socioenvironmental dynamics surrounding initial human occupations of tropical island environments. The climate record of end of the Mid-Holocene and the begining of the Early Holocene in the Caribbean shows high variability and intense hurricane activity. So far, the archaeological record of the period suggests social continiuity throughout the period. However, much of the information is coarse gained and large scale. Little research has been conducted on the local effect of climate variability, or on adaptation strategies or social responses to change at smaller scales. This study explores how people responded to climate change at the microscale and what adaptation strategies were implemented, if any. To these ends we articulate high resolution speleothem data of abrupt climatic variability within the hydrological climate area of Angostura, one of the earliest Archaic archaeological sites in Puerto Rico, with archaeomalacological and geoarchaeological data from the site and its surrounding lancape. The study emphasizes the importance of considering scale when evaluating environmental data, and the possible existence of multiple coeval social adaptation strategies within single occupation periods.
Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change, especially trop... more Islands are traditionally considered sensitive to environment and climate change, especially tropical islands where extinction of species is of serious concern. While the Caribbean islands today are seen as a biodiversity hotspot, where conservation efforts should be a priority, the archaeological record suggests that the biotic characteristics of the islands, even within nature or forests reserves, are strongly shaped by thousands of years of intense human activity. This presents an issue for conservation efforts because defining what should be preserved and what reconstructed is not straightforward. Using Puerto Rico as case study, in this presentation I explore how socioecosystem dynamics influenced the biotic characteristics of the island at specific archaeological periods and to what extent these processes have affected the environmental resources on the island today. To these ends I articulate climatic data, its implications on forest type and cover, and landscape characteristics as seen from sedimentary records; with archaeological data on human-environment interactions over time, from the Early- and Mid-Holocene to the present. My presentation brings forth more questions than answers, but this reflects the status of deep-time environmental research on the island, which is still in its early stages. I argue that, starting from the earliest occupations, human influence has altered the ecology of Puerto Rico so deeply that the natural resources we work towards preserving, conserving or restoring today cannot be understood without considering the social contexts that shaped them. In this sense, if the Anthropocene is a proposal to rename the current geological period because of the overwhelming physical evidence of change that human activity has left behind, then the history of the Puerto Rico supports the proposal for the application of the term since 5kya. In fact, applying the concept would bring the relevance of human activity to the forefront, contributing to the reconsideration of the role of humans in the formation and preservation of modern ecological systems.
No es difícil definir una isla en términos geográficos. Las implicaciones sociales de la insulari... more No es difícil definir una isla en términos geográficos. Las implicaciones sociales de la insularidad, sin embargo, son mucho más complicadas. En esta ponencia se evaluará la etimología y práctica de la arqueología de islas como una subdisciplina de la antropología, y se considerará su aplicación en el archipiélago caribeño. Siguiendo la tradición literaria caribeña, y desde un punto de vista nisológico, se utilizarán los personajes de Calibán, Ariel y Próspero como metáfora para entender la historia y la práctica actual de la arqueología en el Caribe y, en particular, Puerto Rico. Entender la complicada praxis de la arqueología caribeña requiere su contextualización desde la crítica poscolonial. Esto permitirá identificar y trascender los discursos rígidos y desarrollar nuevas líneas de investigación interdisciplinarias, para el avance de la arqueología como ciencia.
Knowledge facilitates the production of informed predictions regarding the outcome of specific ac... more Knowledge facilitates the production of informed predictions regarding the outcome of specific activities. The social process of decision-making is embedded in specific and dynamic environmental contexts. A weak understanding of the relationship between people and the environment can lead archaeologists to serious incongruities between “the data” and “the expected”. Geoarchaeological analyses, within strong theoretical models that articulate seemingly disconnected data, can provide detailed evidence of human domestication of landscapes and seascapes at multiple scales. The consideration of interlinked multi-proxy data within a deep-time perspective allows a deeper, more complex understanding of social processes in the past and the scope of human strategies that lead to resilient or fragile socioeconomic systems when facing crises. In this presentation I will use the relationship between people and the sea to illustrate the importance of contextualizing human behaviour, discussing as a case study the Pre-Arawak period on Puerto Rico (in the Caribbean Sea).
The study of social processes during the mid-Holocene (6-3kya) around the Caribbean Basin has bee... more The study of social processes during the mid-Holocene (6-3kya) around the Caribbean Basin has been burdened with the implications of a normative application of the hunter-gatherer concept. This application has produced a narrow discussion regarding social simplicity and the harshness of human adaptation to tropical environments. Recent data, however, suggests that this perception might not be accurate, as archaeological data suggests the presence of sedentary settlements, agricultural practices, and long distance exchange networks. In this presentation I attempt to briefly consider the evidence for, and implications of, the existence of long distance maritime trade networks in the Caribbean during the Mid-Holocene, with the aim of establishing a base for their discussion and to receive feedback on their conceptualization.
According to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is the variability among liv... more According to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources including, among other things, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part. This includes diversity within species (genetic), among species, and of ecosystems. Most of us would agree that biodiversity is a very important characteristic of our planet that should be preserved and encouraged. In this lecture, we will consider the significance of biodiversity, its relationship to climate change, the effects of human activity in the past and the present. This session will be followed by a debate-style discussion in which the students have to take sides and debate the effect of climate change and biodiversity, using islands and / or tropical rainforests as case study.
According to Irving Rouse’s scheme the arrival of pre-Arawak societies to Puerto Rico occurred ar... more According to Irving Rouse’s scheme the arrival of pre-Arawak societies to Puerto Rico occurred around 1000 BC (around 3000BP), with the arrival of people associated to the Corosan Ortoiroid subseries. Traditional characterisations of the earliest colonisers describe their sociocultural arrangements as highly mobile hunter-gatherers living in small bands and having a mostly terrestrial subsistence base. Recent research on pre-Arawak sites have questioned this construction, as the model does not necessarily fit the archaeological evidence. The available evidence suggests that the earliest occupation of Puerto Rico started much earlier than suggested by Rouse and their behavioural patterns suggest levels of social complexity that are not envisioned within the “mobile hunter-gatherer” label. Extending from at least 5500 – 1760 cal BP, the pre-Arawak occupation in the Caribbean developed during the Mid-Holocene, a period of changing sea levels, high climatic seasonality and greater moisture than present but decreasing precipitation rates. Combining geoarchaeological, archaeomalacological and palaeoecological techniques, this research proposes to investigate coastal, non-industrial societies with a marine subsistence base, living during a period of rapid landscape change and intense climate variability, in order to analyse their response to change. The earliest radiocarbon date obtained from a pre-Arawak site in Puerto Rico (5500 – 4300 cal BP, 2σ range) comes from Angostura accompanied by further evidence of early human presence in north-central Puerto Rico, from Hato Viejo site (5140calBP) and from human induced fires in the area around 5300 cal BP from Tortuguero Lagoon. In this presentation I will discuss Angostura and its landscape, the past archaeological interventions and the most recent excavation and present the preliminary results of the current research. I expect this study will contextualise human decision making and facilitate the understanding of resource selection strategies adopted to cope with climate and landscape change.
Climate change is one of the most relevant issues worldwide due to the threats it poses to modern... more Climate change is one of the most relevant issues worldwide due to the threats it poses to modern way of life, particularly in coastal areas. However, this is not the first time that humans have responded to changes in climate, landscapes and environments. Change is part of all adaptive cycles. In order to understand the mechanisms and strategies for cultural persistence within changing conditions, it is necessary to comprehend the natural and social environments within which these developed and how change has also occurred within them. Using a palaeoeocological approach, this presentation will use as example case studies from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, where modern landscapes differ from those inhabited during the Mid-Late Holocene Caribbean; and will discuss how these changes affect the modern interpretation of past human socioeconomic strategies. A deep-time perspective of human-environment interaction facilitates better understanding of the scope of human strategies leading to either resilient or fragile socioeconomic systems when facing change and crises.
When addressing resource exploitation in foraging groups, we need to consider resource distributi... more When addressing resource exploitation in foraging groups, we need to consider resource distribution on a landscape and the energy costs required for their procurement and eventual incorporation into the social system either as nourishment or as material objects. This resorting to nature to supply needs is one of the main points where cultural and natural systems connect. The situation where one system sustains another is one of the simplest relationships between systems. This relationship can be sustainable or not. I would like to start my presentation dissecting and analyzing the meaning of sustainability as well as two related terms: adaptation and change. After this discussion I will then consider the interaction of climate, landscape and culture as complex adaptive systems in nested hierarchical interacting cycles, before applying it to the study of sustainability of maritime resource exploitation on island environments as seen through the study of Mid-Holocene maritime hunter-gatherers in the Caribbean Archipelago.
Only in exceptional moments can we explore the thoughts of others. Community archaeology projects... more Only in exceptional moments can we explore the thoughts of others. Community archaeology projects, together with the ethical practice of the discipline, foster communication between the academia and the communities. Being part of one of these projects as a research assistant has given me the opportunity of interacting with people of diverse backgrounds, and of learning about their concerns and interests towards archaeology and their historical and cultural heritage. This experience has taught me that the frontier between academia and community is a permeable gray zone. This experience has been transcendental in my formation as an undergraduate student. It is often difficult to discover our professional interests when we learn about the discipline from the abstract teaching of a classroom. Being part of a project has allowed me to apply what I have learned through my studies, and to develop awareness regarding the ethics in archaeological practice and the preservation and conservation of our cultural heritage. From my perspective as an undergraduate student, in this presentation I will be discussing how working as a research assistant in a community archaeology project contributes towards the solid formation of a student, both professionally and as preparation for graduate school.
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Papers by Isabel Rivera-Collazo
change, encourages people to identify with where
they live, opens the door to conversation about climate
change, and helps transform abstract numbers into
tangible, real-life effects for local communities (Funari and
Garraffoni 2016; Schaepe et al. 2017; Zabala et al. 2015).
However, it is also threatened by climate change. Archaeological
sites and other depositories of cultural heritage are
being eroded and destroyed by rising sea levels, wild fires,
floods, melting permafrost, displacement of people, and
many other impacts at local and regional scales (Hambrecht
and Rockman 2017; Rockman 2015). In this article, I
describe the situation of cultural heritage in Puerto Rico, and
the role that grassroots movements can play to engage multiple
stakeholders to catalyze climate and cultural heritage
action at a local level.
reserves, are strongly shaped by thousands of years of intense human activity. This presents an issue for conservation efforts because defining what should be preserved and what should be reconstructed is not straightforward. Using Puerto Rico as case study, this article explores how socioecosystem
dynamics influenced the biotic characteristics of the island at specific archaeological periods and to what extent these processes have affected the environmental resources on the island today. Climatic data, its implications on forest type and cover, and landscape characteristics as seen from
sedimentary records, combined with archaeological data on human–environment interactions over time, from the mid-Holocene to the present are used to investigate these themes. This article brings forth more questions than answers, but it reflects the status of deep-time environmental research
on the island, which is still in its early stages. I argue that, starting from the earliest occupations, human influence has altered the ecology of Puerto Rico so deeply that the natural resources we work toward preserving, conserving, or restoring today cannot be understood without considering the social
contexts that shaped them. In this sense, if the Anthropocene is a proposal to rename the current geological period because of the overwhelming physical
evidence of change that human activity has left behind, then the history of the Puerto Rico supports the proposal for the application of the term since at least 5 ka. Applying the concept would bring the relevance of human activity to the forefront, contributing to the reconsideration of the role of humans
in the formation and preservation of modern ecological systems.
palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological and archaeological records from Angostura, Maruca and Paso del Indio. Our analysis suggests the presence of two different adaptation strategies: settlement relocation and microlandscape modification. Our study concludes that the social response to change cannot be seen as monolithic given that human behavior, even within the same period, addresses the needs of individual groups with different priorities. This multiplicity of responses can indeed enhance resilience as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes. The results can help shed light on the range of adaptation strategies to change encompassed within the manifestations of social resilience or vulnerability.
change, encourages people to identify with where
they live, opens the door to conversation about climate
change, and helps transform abstract numbers into
tangible, real-life effects for local communities (Funari and
Garraffoni 2016; Schaepe et al. 2017; Zabala et al. 2015).
However, it is also threatened by climate change. Archaeological
sites and other depositories of cultural heritage are
being eroded and destroyed by rising sea levels, wild fires,
floods, melting permafrost, displacement of people, and
many other impacts at local and regional scales (Hambrecht
and Rockman 2017; Rockman 2015). In this article, I
describe the situation of cultural heritage in Puerto Rico, and
the role that grassroots movements can play to engage multiple
stakeholders to catalyze climate and cultural heritage
action at a local level.
reserves, are strongly shaped by thousands of years of intense human activity. This presents an issue for conservation efforts because defining what should be preserved and what should be reconstructed is not straightforward. Using Puerto Rico as case study, this article explores how socioecosystem
dynamics influenced the biotic characteristics of the island at specific archaeological periods and to what extent these processes have affected the environmental resources on the island today. Climatic data, its implications on forest type and cover, and landscape characteristics as seen from
sedimentary records, combined with archaeological data on human–environment interactions over time, from the mid-Holocene to the present are used to investigate these themes. This article brings forth more questions than answers, but it reflects the status of deep-time environmental research
on the island, which is still in its early stages. I argue that, starting from the earliest occupations, human influence has altered the ecology of Puerto Rico so deeply that the natural resources we work toward preserving, conserving, or restoring today cannot be understood without considering the social
contexts that shaped them. In this sense, if the Anthropocene is a proposal to rename the current geological period because of the overwhelming physical
evidence of change that human activity has left behind, then the history of the Puerto Rico supports the proposal for the application of the term since at least 5 ka. Applying the concept would bring the relevance of human activity to the forefront, contributing to the reconsideration of the role of humans
in the formation and preservation of modern ecological systems.
palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological and archaeological records from Angostura, Maruca and Paso del Indio. Our analysis suggests the presence of two different adaptation strategies: settlement relocation and microlandscape modification. Our study concludes that the social response to change cannot be seen as monolithic given that human behavior, even within the same period, addresses the needs of individual groups with different priorities. This multiplicity of responses can indeed enhance resilience as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes. The results can help shed light on the range of adaptation strategies to change encompassed within the manifestations of social resilience or vulnerability.
When the chronology of the social dynamics surrounding the Caribbean Sea are scrutinized, the pattern that emerges is of land-based economies and dispersed hunter-gatherer sites starting around 14kBP, but there is no evidence of settlement along the coasts or exploitation of marine resources until around 8kBP on the continents, or 7 – 5kBP on the islands. These dates coincide with a general sea level stabilization at 3 – 5 m below msl around 7kya. As sea level rose, shallow coastal areas flooded, transforming the hydrology, oceanography and morphology of the coastlines. Given the rate of eustatic sea-level rise during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, much of the early coastal landscapes around the American continents and the Caribbean Islands should be currently submerged, along with the evidence of human use of ancient coasts. The dry sites we today assume as early reflect settlement patterns that correspond to a relatively late configuration of the coastal morphology.
However, underwater archaeology in the Caribbean has mostly focused on wrecks, if on anything at all, with practically no attention being paid to drowned landscapes. No marine geophysics analysis has been applied to underwater archaeology in the Caribbean so far. Given that early evidence of human activity should be submerged and possibly buried, the application of acoustic remote sensing techniques is the most time and cost effective survey method. Among these, high-resolution multi-channel and 3D seismic reflection surveying, in particular 3D Chirp systems, have proven to be very useful for the investigation of drowned landscapes as they can provide detailed stratigraphic information and visualization of buried archaeological objects. Even though no local studies have been conducted yet, this presentation focuses on the northeastern corner of the Caribbean Archipelago, at the contact between the Greater and the Lesser Antilles (Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and the Anegada Passage), identifying areas with the highest potential for preservation of submerged landscapes and associated sites, from a geoarchaeological perspective. While side-scan sonars are useful to observe the sea floor and to identify shipwrecks or fishing technology, I emphasize on the potential of seismic surveys with sub-bottom profilers for the identification of buried ancient landscapes and associated sites, particularly in shallow, low-energy environments. This type of study and preliminary evaluation will serve as a basis to establish a solid collaborative research program that will permit a more complete understanding of the socio-natural dynamics of the peopling of the Caribbean region.