Week 2: American Archaeology, P,P, and F, AND The Natural Setting and the Myth of the Pristine Wilderness

Question 1

What is the evidence for human impact in North America?

Answer 1

-Vegetation
-Controlled burns
-Wildlife habitats
-Agriculture
-Fields and features
-Erosion
-Built environment
-Settlements
-Mounds
-Roads and trails

Question 2

What is Denevan’s main argument?

Answer 2

The North American landscape was actively managed by indigenous people. Human landscape modification may have been more visible in 1500 than in 1750, because of the impacts of disease

Question 3

Denevan on wilderness, what’s is the myth of the pristine wilderness, and why should we care?

Answer 3

-Denies agency to indigenous people
-Leads to false reconstructions of past environments
-Which past landscape are we to preserve?