Anthropocene studies; Archaeology as environmental humanities; Climate change; Religion and ecology; Archaeology and environmental medicine; Environmental ethics
摘要
This paper calls for archaeological engagement with the ethical dimension of past:present:future global environmental discourse and Anthropocene studies. In contrast to the recent chronological focus of archaeology’s engagement with Anthropocene studies, and its often rather generalised call for recognising the relevance of historically attested adaptive responses to climate change to current challenges, it highlights the need to examine the individual contributing and resulting factors of climate change and extreme environmental events. It advocates an approach that combines archaeology’s traditional focus on the practical and material elements of disaster management, with one that explores historical epistemologies of human:non-human care and entanglement, and socio-religious and collective ideological movements as driving forces behind historically specific environmental ethics. In relation to the ‘non-human’ element of the human:non-human:environment configuration there is special emphasis not only on non-human animals, but also conceptualisations of divine, ‘supra-human’, and numinous entities and spheres such as gods, spirits, and sacred places which are essential for attaining fully syncretic perspectives on diachronic environmental ethics. A key argument is that recognition of the multi-directional dynamics of human:environment entanglement, drawing on developments within religious studies, the environmental and medical humanities, as well as environmental health discourse, is crutical for achieving more widespread engagement with environmental activism, and movement towards long term behavioural changes that ultimately reduce global suffering and increase environmental, economic and human wellbeing.
目次
Abstract 449 Introduction 449 Archaeology, Environmental Humanities and Anthropocene studies 451 Past:present:future adaptation to climate change and weather stress 453 Water management as response to climatic-environmental stress 453 Environmental archaeology’s ethical responsibility? 454 Religion and environmental ethics 456 Environmental ethics as secular religion: archaeologies of enchantment and sacred landscapes 459 Conclusion 460 Acknowledgements 461 Funding 461 References 462
