Mapping past human land use using archaeological data: A new classification for global land use synthesis and data harmonization
PLoS ONE, vol. 16, pp. e0246662
Abstract
In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.
Authors 63
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Emily Louise Hammer corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Near East Languages and Civilizations and the Price Lab for the Digital Humanities, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats · Universitat Pompeu Fabra · University of the Witwatersrand
Affiliation as printed
ICREA-CaSEs-Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
ICREA–CaSEs–Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
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University of Glasgow · University of Plymouth
Affiliation as printed
Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, United Kingdom
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Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
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Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
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University of the Witwatersrand
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School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
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Barrett Honors College, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
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Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPNA/IPAS), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
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Universitat Pompeu Fabra · University of the Witwatersrand
Affiliation as printed
Department d'Humanitats, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
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Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
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Department of Historical, Philosophical and religious Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
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Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
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UE CISOR CONICET UNJu, Argentine National Science Council (CONICET), Argentina
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Czech Academy of Sciences · Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Prague
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Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences Prague, Czech Republic
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Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
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University of Johannesburg · University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Maryland, United States of America
Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
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Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel, Germany
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College of Arts & Sciences, Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tusla, Oklahoma, United States of America
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School of Geography, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
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School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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Department of Archaeology, Cotton University, Guwahati, India
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Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
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Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology, Universitat zu Koln, Cologne, Germany
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Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
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Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Czech Academy of Sciences · Masaryk University · Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany
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Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
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Department of History and Political Science, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda
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University of Bern · Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research · Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
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Institute for Archaeolgical Scienes, Bern University, Bern, Switzerland
Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Keil, Germany
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Bern University, Bern, Switzerland
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Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats · Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Affiliation as printed
ICREA-Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
ICREA–Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
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University of the Witwatersrand · University of Cambridge
Affiliation as printed
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Witwatersrand, South Africa
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Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
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University of Arkansas at Little Rock
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Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America
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Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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University of Naples - L'Orientale · National Research Council
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Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies, University of Naples L'Orientale, Naples, Italy
Institute of Heritage Science, National Research Council of Italy, Montelibretti, Rome, Italy
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Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems, Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
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School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
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Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
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Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
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Laboratório de Arqueologia dos Trópicos, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
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Department of Archaeological Science and Conservation, Moesgaard Museum, Højbjerg, Denmark
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Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats · Universitat Pompeu Fabra · University of Cambridge
Affiliation as printed
ICREA-Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
ICREA–Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh · University of Edinburgh
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School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Tropical diversity, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Department of Physical Geography, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
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Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Nanterre, France
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University of the Witwatersrand
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School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America
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School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá
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Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Amazonas, Brazil
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Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT · Bioversity International
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The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Lima, Peru
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Department of Maritime History and Marine Archaeology, Tamil University, Tanjore, India
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University of the Witwatersrand
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School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Witwatersrand, South Africa
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Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
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Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel, Germany
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