6 - Sustainability Flashcards
Skara Brae - context
Island of Orkney, Scotland
Prone to natural disaster + extreme weather events
High, salty winds = salty, inedible heath
Severe storms, low temperatures, hail, and swell
Food sources - fish, raised animals (sheep, goats, fed with red kelp)
Grew wheat and barley (fenced enclosures + composting to enrich the soil)
Lack of trees - construction materials primarily stone, in addition to driftwood and whale bones
Archeologists describe Skara Brae as having 3 phases with periods of a lack of occupation in between, some 100-200 years long.
Skara Brae - prehistoric status
Used metal tools, though existing in the Neolithic (stone age) period
Unable to assert whether tools were bronze or steel due to extreme levels of rust
Phase 1, Skara Brae, 3085-2870 BCE
Round stall-walled clustered buildings (classic design feature of early Neolithic cultures globally - simple, compact)
Roofs were ground-hugging to withstand high winds
Non-perishable waste materials (stone, bone, shell, hair, fiber, plant husks) were piled around the village as insulation and windbreak
The walls of the buildings were built hollow, then extra insulative material was poured into the centres.
Abandoned (roughly 2870) after an unknown large-scale catastrophe (that impacted places as far away as Turkey and Iraq)
Phase 2 Skara Brae 2800-2665
Reoccupied, likely due to favourable climate change
New village built on top of existing one, re-using a lot of the old materials
Built new rectangular-shaped houses, which created:
* the ability to share walls with other buildings
* More useable interior space (spatial efficiency)
Connected houses with underground passages for use in extreme weather
Extensive and centralised drainage systems that connected houses into a central sewer as an attempt to solve water management issues
Abandoned after major flooding event
Phase 3 Skara Brae 2550-2345 BCE
Reoccupation after more than 100 years
No redesign, settlers repaired and cleaned the existing site
Successful until the volcano Hekla in Iceland erupted and destroyed human and animal life across Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden + Finland, lowering temperatures for two years.
Settlers at Skara Brae largely survived, but the land became barren, so the village was abandoned
Returned (left stepping stones).
Subsequent tsunami that flooded the village entirely.
Abandonded ever since.
Polynesian expansion + exploration
Begain with 40 000 year-old Lapita culture
Expansion to the Pacific (and potentially the Americas) over 3000 years.
Began slowly, then accelerated from home islands in Tonga + Samoa, before reaching Rapa Nui + New Zealand
Fuelled by mastery of ship building technology + navigation
Outriggers became catamarans w multiple sails
Carried food crops and livestock, but ultimately developed to suit the new environment
Canon/standard explanation of Rapa Nui
Settled around 800CE, by a small group that grew slowly
Began building Moai statues in connection with religious belief
Extreme population increase to about 15-20K people - causing rapid deforestation
Ecology and local culture collapses, causing warefare and destruction
Population collapses to about 3K people, which were encountered by European colonists in the 1700s
Issues with the standard explanation of Rapa Nui
People arrived much later than 800 - probably more like 1200 (similar to settlement of NZ)
No evidence for 15-20K people living on Rapa Nui - population rapidly expanded to a limit of about 3K people
Rapid population crash came after European contact (likely disease).
Palm trees did cover most of the island - but there was a balance of heath and meadow
Evidence for rapid deforestation came from inaccurate and incomplete core samples.
It is known now that deforestation was gradual, occured in phases + had periods of reforestation.
The deforestation was eventually total, but a major contributing factor to this was drought and subsequent wildfires
+ the polynesian rat - controversial, but some believe the rats destroyed/ate palm seeds
2 cultural phases of Rapa Nui
1 The building of the Moai - ended when a combination of deforestation + loss of water supply forced the population to move
Cultural revolution - created a new religious belief in response to cultural and ecological crises
2 The Birdman system (carving and painting) - centered around the new water source
Presence of sweet potato in diet - possible evidence of contact with the Americas, despite
no linguistic or genetic evidence
Indigenous Agriculture
VERNACULAR FARMERS
Contentious - issue of definition
Sophisticated approach to gathering resources: replanting, clearing, built dams as irrigation, composting and the sowing of seeds
Anthropologists describe an Indigenous ‘wheat belt’ where settlements were larger + more permanent, and native grasses a vital part of the diet
Agriculture is defined as a set of practices that relate mostly to European agricultural technology: ploughing soil, domesticating plants, orderly planting
BUT Indigenous peoples’ aproach to agriculture:
* sustainable
* avoided disturbing the soil
* utilised existing resources
* intensely local + flexible
* ensured a diversity of food and fibre sources instead of ecouraging a monoculture
Issues with contemporary Australian agriculture
- Destruction and depletion of soil (AUS has some of the oldest and most nutriet poor soil on earth)
- Insense water needs of imported crops
- Weed infestations (actually a feature of thedefinition of archeological agricultural system )
- Vulnerability to disease (monoculture)
- Alientation of local farmers + creation of massive conglomerates
- Reliance on chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides) carbon + nitrogen into soil
Regenerative agriculture
Begain in the 1980s as an academic conepts, but put into practice by farmers
Revolves around looking at Indigenous practices (particualry around encouraging diverse native grasses and not disturbing the soil)
Basic principles of regenerative agriculture
- Avoid disturbing soil
- Covering soil by a variety of native grasses, use those as primary food for grazing animals
- Carefully monitor stock levels
- Encourage biodiversity + discourage monoculture
- Limit chemical inputs
- Consider the welfare of the community + farmer as part of the system
