British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Archaeology and wildlife: past, present and future

Convened by the British Academy and organised as part of the British Association for the Advancement of Science's 2008 Festival of Science, hosted by the University of Liverpool

Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 9.15am - 1.15pm

Convenors: John Gowlett, Professor of Archaeology, University of Liverpool and Terry O'Connor, Professor of Archaeological Science, University of York

Speakers: Dr David Hetherington, Ecology Advisor, Grampian National Park; Dr Philip Piper, University of the Philippines; Earl of Cranbrook, Natural History Museum and International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature; Dr Sam Turvey, Zoological Society of London

Faced with habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, conservationists are realising the importance of understanding the distribution and abundance of wildlife in the past as well as the present, in order to plan for the future. Archaeology provides a much longer-term record than present-day field studies, and shows that our assumptions about the 'natural' wildlife of a region can be quite mistaken. The workshop will explore the problems through examining first the past and present of some key species. It will consider and discuss thorny issues such as 'rewilding' and what actually defines a 'native' species.

The conservation and re-establishment of biodiversity are very major interdisciplinary issues inextricably tied up with assumptions about what is 'natural' or 'native' to a habitat or biome, assumptions that must also be related to the nature of human activities. The first session, concentrating chiefly on the record of temperate regions, will show how the archaeological record has raised difficult policy questions regarding particular species and balancing modern land use with conservation priorities

The second part of the meeting will extend the questions to a more global scale, concentrating on the tropical zones. Fragile rainforest and savannah environments are typical of much of the Equatorial region.

New archaeological research is showing the ways that past peoples co-existed with these distinctive environments, adapted to the challenges they presented, and modified the landscapes of the Tropics. The archaeology of these regions shows the remarkable versatility of people when confronted with an unforgiving environment and large predators, and shows that even prehistoric human impacts on the environment could range from the very subtle to wholesale modification. The event will showcase new research in African savannah and Asian rainforest environments, emphasising human adaptation and environmental impact, and considering the directions of research most impelled by the context of very rapid development.

For further information and details of how to book please see:http://www1.the-ba.net/bafos/events/showevent.asp?EventID=144

This event will be held in the Barkla Lecture Theatre, Chadwick Tower, University of Liverpool. Location details regarding the University of Liverpool's facilities are available from: http://www.liv.ac.uk/maps/

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