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Climate change? Archaeology and Anthropocene
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This archaeological perspective uses marine debris on drift beaches in Norway and Iceland as a lens for thinking about how human activity shapes environments across time. It connects archaeological methods to contemporary Anthropocene concerns, including plastic pollution.
Abstract As we pass into an age of the Anthropocene, archaeologists, as scholars of other disciplines, are driven to consider how this physical and ideological climate change affects our craft, or how archaeology can contribute with knowledge and insight of significance in a shifting world. Basing its arguments on research conducted on marine debris and drift beaches in northern Norway and Iceland, the aim of this article is to imagine what kind of alternative ways of doing and thinking archaeology the current climate is calling for. With reference to this material, which conspicuously manifests both obstacles and promises for an ‘Anthropocene archaeology’, the article will question the worth of some perspectives traditionally considered essential to our discipline, while simultaneously building on confidence in a sincerely archaeological imagination.
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Plastic pollution: archaeological perspective on an Anthropocene climate emergency
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This paper advocates for an archaeological perspective on plastic pollution, treating plastics as artefacts amenable to visual analysis and archaeological science while also serving as stratigraphic chronological markers in the Anthropocene. The author argues that plastic pollution threatens natural and cultural heritage sites and that archaeologists must engage with this emerging research and conservation challenge.
Human-environment interactions in the Anthropocene – a case study on reservoir sediments in Central Europe
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Researchers analyzed sediment cores from Central European reservoirs to reconstruct a century of changing sediment fluxes, heavy metal contamination, and microplastic inputs linked to human land use change and climate-driven erosion. Microplastics appeared in cores beginning in the mid-20th century, with accelerating accumulation rates tracking regional industrialization and plastic production growth.
Anthropocene: What, When and How?
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This Swedish-language thesis examines the concept of the Anthropocene — the proposed geological epoch defined by human impacts on Earth — reviewing its scientific definition and potential stratigraphic markers. It provides context for understanding how plastic pollution is one of the defining markers of human influence on the planet.
Waste Journeys
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This multidisciplinary study examined plastic waste as a material of the Anthropocene by tracing the journeys of plastic objects across cultural, natural, marine, and terrestrial landscapes, exploring how plastic's resilience makes it a defining and problematic artifact of modern civilization.
Rethinking geological concepts in the age of plastic pollution
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This paper proposes reframing traditional geological concepts—from sedimentology to stratigraphy and the Anthropocene epoch—in light of widespread plastic integration into sedimentary environments. Plastics are described as emerging stratigraphic markers that alter erosion, transport, and deposition patterns, threatening marine biodiversity and challenging the view of rocks as purely natural inorganic formations.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.