People in the Mountains: Current Approaches to the Archaeology of Mountainous Landscapes

by Andrzej Pelisiak (Editor), Marek Nowak (Editor), Ciprian Astaloș (Editor)

Mountain landscapes were first exploited by farming populations at the very beginning of the Neolithic. However, there are controversies regarding when and where these specific types of human behaviour developed as a result of adaptation processes to these special environments. The aim of People in the Current Approaches to the Archaeology of Mountainous Landscapes is to present research results from different scientific contexts. To discuss these issues, and to study different aspects of human activity in the mountains and adjacent regions we incorporate archaeological, botanical, zooarchaeological and ethnological information. The chapters explore, among many other themes, several principal areas of environmental history and human impact in mountain environments; specificities of different mountain landscape zones; long-term changes of human activity in different mountain regions, and the origins of such changes; seasonal herding, and short and long-distance transhumance; exploitation of different raw materials e.g. siliceous raw material, salt etc.; mountains as borders, roads and zones of contact; creation of new customs, rights and social relations; symbolic and ritual locations in the mountains; dialogue between different methodological perspectives and analytical methods. The book consists of 15 chapters prepared by 27 authors from 10 countries. The chapter topics cover mountains located in Europe, America and Asia.

Table of Contents

Introduction – by Andrzej Pelisiak, Marek Nowak and Ciprian Astaloş

The mountainous landscape as a viable alternative for the Neolithic – by Paweł Valde-Nowak

From people to landscapes. The Fluturnum Archaeology and anthropology in the Tasso-Upper Sagittarius valley (Italy, The Province of L’Aquila – AQ) – by Francesca Romana Del Fattore, Anna Rizzo and Alessandro Felici

Long-range versus short-range prehistoric pastoralism. Potential of palaeoecological proxies and a new record from western Emilia, northern Apennines, Italy – by Lionello F. Morandi and Nicholas P. Branch

An archaeology of the mountains in Maramureș, the beginning of a long-term project – by Radu-Alexandru Dragoman, Dan Pop, Bogdan Bobînă, Marius Ardeleanu, Călin Şuteu and Ciprian Astaloş

barrier or border? Tiszapolgár, Bodrogkeresztúr, Petreşti and Trypillia-Cucuteni Cultures – by Taras Tkachuk

The settlement and economy of the prehistoric communities of the Zvolen Basin and surrounding areas in the Western Carpathians (Slovakia) – by Noémi Beljak Pažinová

Recent discoveries in the High Bieszczady Mts. – by Andrzej Pelisiak

Pollen indications of human activity in the Polish Western Carpathians during the Neolithic period – by Marek Nowak

The settlement of the Corded Ware Culture and early phases of the Mierzanowice culture in the Carpathian Mountains – by Paweł Jarosz

Re-fitting the Past – Urn Graveyards in the Carpathian Foothills – by Marta Korczyńska and Klaus Cappenberg

The Sudetic resource base in the economy of early medieval societies – by Ewa Lisowska

Beginnings of mountain settlement in Czech Republic – a case study from the Bohemian Forest – by Katarína Kapustka, Matthew Walls and Jan Eigner

An Approach to understand the significance of the Cultural landscape of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India – by Bina Gandhi Deori

Fog, mountain and human-environment interactions in Lomas de Lachay, Peru – by Piotr Kalicki, Tomasz Kalicki and Piotr Kittel

234 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2018