The Holocene
An Environmental History
3. Edition January 2014
376 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
Written for a wide audience of earth scientists and climatologists, The Holocene: An Environmental History provides undergraduates with a much-needed coherent scientific account of the great transformation of nature that has taken place in the last 10,000 years. Demonstrating the importance of decadal variability in the context of anthropogenic climate change and forecasting, this updated third edition covers the rapid developments in paleoclimatology and paleoecology, new results and methodologies in the field, and the strengths and weaknesses of climate models in the context of decadal variability.
The Holocene provides students, researchers and lay-readers with the remarkable story of how the natural world has been transformed since the end of the last Ice Age around 15,000 years ago. This period has witnessed a shift from environmental changes determined by natural forces to those dominated by human actions, including those of climate and greenhouse gases. Understanding the environmental changes - both natural and anthropogenic - that have occurred during the Holocene is of crucial importance if we are to achieve a sustainable environmental future.
Revised and updated to take full account of the most recent advances, the third edition of this classic text includes substantial material on the scientific methods that are used to reconstruct and date past environments, as well as new concepts such as the Anthropocene. The book is fully-illustrated, global in coverage, and contains case studies, a glossary and more than 500 new references.
List of Technical Boxes
Preface to the Third Edition
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter 2 RECONSTRUCTING HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENTS
Chapter 3 THE PLEISTOCENE PRELUDE (>11,700 Cal. yr BP)
Chapter 4 EARLY HOLOCENE ADAPTATIONS (11,700-6000 Cal. yr BP)
Chapter 5 THE FIRST FARMERS
Chapter 6 THE TAMING OF NATURE (6000-1000 Cal. yr BP)
Chapter 7 THE IMPACT OF MODERN TIMES (1000-0 Cal. yr BP)
Chapter 8 THE ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE: A HOLOCENE PERSPECTIVE
Appendix: Radiocarbon calibration table
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
"This excellent book should be mandatory reading for any student taking a palaeobased environmental change module, and academics will also very much enjoy reading Neil Roberts' fine prose." (The Holocene, 1 October 2014)
