Archaeology & Environment
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission deadline
Biodiversity loss and climate change due to overexploitation of our natural resources is making it increasingly urgent to understand how to interact sustainably with our natural surroundings. Archaeological, anthropological and palaeoecological studies investigating the interactions between humans and their environments can provide the opportunity for us to learn from our past.
Humans have been evolving with their environments for millions of years. While we have adapted to environmental and climatic conditions, we have also engineered our own environments. Early hominins navigated an expanding African grassland on two legs, eventually learning to utilize surrounding stone to create increasingly complex toolkits. Those toolkits facilitated the expansion of our ancestors across the globe, where they were faced with unknown environments, often unforgiving and harsh. Humans then domesticated plants and animals, supporting growing populations, and leading to more intensive modifications of land for agriculture and habitation.
In this Collection, we welcome submissions furthering our understanding of the interactions between humans and our environment, from the origins of ancient hominins up to recent history. We are seeking multi-disciplinary research spanning archaeology, anthropology and palaeoecology, leveraging diverse types of data and approaches. All studies should follow our guidelines for inclusion & ethics in global research (https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/editorial-policies/authorship#authorship-inclusion-and-ethics-in-global-research) and we particularly encourage research on Indigenous archaeology performed with full engagement of relevant stakeholders.
