Torben C. Rick & Jon M. Erlandson (ed.). Human impacts on ancient marine ecosystems: a global perspective.

Piper, Philip J.

TORBEN C. RICK & JON M. ERLANDSON (ed.). Human impacts on ancient marine ecosystems: a global perspective. x+320 pages, 61 illustrations, 36 tables. 2008. Berkeley & Los Angeles (CA): University of California Press; 978-0-520-25343-8 hardback 35 [pounds sterling].

Over the last two decades or so there has been a growing recognition amongst zooarchaeological practitioners that the study of ecological communities across space simply providing baseline data on former human economies and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, and that it has genuine application in modern biological conservation efforts. This new approach to the research of human and environmental impacts on past faunal communities is exemplified by Lyman's (2006) paper 'Paleozoology in the service of conservation biology' in which he outlines the potential contributions zooarchaeologists/palaeoecologists can make to environmental management strategies.

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In this impressive collection, the editors, Torben Rick and Jon Erlandson, have drawn together a series of papers dedicated to similar issues. The focus is more specifically on the part zooarchaeologists can play in modelling the long-term role people have played in fashioning contemporary marine ecosystems, and its importance to fisheries management and conservation. A global perspective is ensured, with 13 substantial papers whose many authors from zooarchaeological and ecological backgrounds combine information on prehistoric, historical and modern commercial marine fisheries from South Polynesia, the Americas, the north Atlantic, Iberia and South Africa and address outstanding issues.

In Chapter 1 Erlandson and Rick outline the crisis facing marine fisheries, the archaeological background to studies of human impacts on ecological systems and set out the research framework for the succeeding papers. There is a strong focus on ecological theory and the imbalances and knock-on effects caused by the over-exploitation of different trophic levels within natural food webs.

Anderson (Chapter 2) leaves us in no doubt about the immense impact the colonisers of New Zealand and its surrounding islands have had on the native terrestrial and marine faunas. Once they had decimated the Moa bird populations they turned their attention to marine mammals, sea birds and fish. Bur even in this seemingly clear-cut example of human over-exploitation Anderson cautions against neglecting the potential role climatic variability might have played in temporal alteration in faunal community composition that could mirror human impacts. A similar pattern of ecological degradation is recorded on the Caribbean Islands by Fitzpatrick et al. (Chapter 7). The early islanders appear to have targeted top level terrestrial predators first and then moved down the food chain and into the oceans. The increasing pressure on fish stocks was exacerbated by the indirect effects of land clearance that caused erosion and sedimentation of coral reefs. In contrast, the rich marine faunas of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska (Corbett el. al. Chapter 3) and Santa Barbara, California (Rick et al. Chapter 4) were resilient enough to sustain relatively intensive human predation for centuries without any obvious local extinction.

An alternative explanation for variations in the community composition and structure of fish bone assemblages is presented by Reitz et al. (Chapter 6). In their study of 13 000 years of fishing tradition in coastal Peru they argue that climatic oscillations and ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) events have had, and continue to have, more profound effects on fish populations than human predation.

Finally, Nordic settlers of the North Atlantic (Perdikaris & McGovern, Chapter 9) appear to have had varying effects on sea bird and marine mammal populations in the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. Their greatest long-term impact though (see also Bailey et al. Chapter 10) was during the ninth and tenth centuries AD with the introduction of pelagic fishing and the fish trade that laid the foundations for the establishment of modern marine fisheries.

These few examples demonstrate that untangling the effects of human predation within ecological food webs is complex and the outcomes variable, dependent on a multitude of interwoven natural and anthropic factors. But the case studies also reveal that it is possible, in many cases, to identify and interpret the long-standing role people have played in shaping the world in which we live.

Overall, this is a well-presented volume, rich in data and containing plentiful ecological background information and palaeoecological research useful to those studying terrestrial as well as marine ecosystems. It is clearly designed to demonstrate the potential of zooarchaeology for understanding past human impacts to practitioners within the discipline. This is of course a necessary first step: after all it is up to us to convey to the wider scientific community the inter-disciplinary importance of our research. Or in the words of Rick and Erlandson 'move archaeological data out of the realm of the esoteric and into a field that plays a crucial role in creating a better and more sustainable planet'--well, let us raise a glass to that!

Reference

LYMAN, R.L. 2006. Paleozoology in the service of conservation biology. Evolutionary Anthropology 15: 11-19.

PHILIP J. PIPER

Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines

(Email: phil_piper2003@yahoo.ie)