Environmental archaeology

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Environmental archaeology is the study of the long-term relationship between humans and their environments. Various sub-disciplines are involved to document and interpret this relationship, including paleoethnobotany, geomorphology, palynology, geophysics, landscape archaeology, human biology and human ecology. Environmental archaeology has seen a surge of interest in recent years, as it is one of the few disciplines that is able to provide empirical evidence to show how humans have responded to rapid climate change in the past.

Environmental Archaeology has emerged as a named discipline only in the last 30 years. It has rapidly grown in significance and is now seen as a major component to most excavation projects. Many Universities teach the subject as a standard course component and also as a seprate degree. One leading university in this field is Royal Holloway University of London where the discippline is taught as part of an Environmental Archaeology degree.