Includes bibliographical references and index.

How Archaeology and the Historical Sciences Can Save the World / H. Thomas Foster II, David J. Goldstein, and Lisa M. Paciulli -- Diversity, Standardization, and the State : The Politics of Maize Agriculture in Postclassic Central Mexico / Christopher T. Morehart -- From Historical Ecology to Prehistoric Economy : Modeling the Caloric Landscapes of the Past / Thomas G. Whitley -- Feeding History : Deltaic Resilience, Inherited Practice, and Millennial-Scale Sustainability in an Urbanized Landscape / Carrie A. Hritz and Jennifer R. Pournelle -- Complexity, Rigidity, and Resilience in the Ancient Puebloan Southwest / R. Kyle Bocinsky and Timothy A. Kohler -- Soil Texture and Agricultural Resilience in the Prehistoric Southwest : Farming on Perry Mesa, Arizona / Katherine A. Spielmann, Sharon J. Hall, Melissa R. Kruse-Peeples, Dana K. Nakase, and Jolene E. Trujillo -- Repairing the Damage : Reforestation and the Origins of the Modern Industrial Tree Farm / Emily K. Brock -- Sustainability, Resilience, and Dependency : The Great Plains Model / Sebastian F. Braun -- Southern Slow Foods : Ecological Awareness through Gourmet Heritage / Sarah L. Quick -- A Good Place : Aesthetic Pleasure and Landscape Resilience / Amanda B. Tickner -- Variable Biodiversity from Managed Ecosystems in Long-Term Chronosequences from the Southeastern United States / H. Thomas Foster II.

"Viewing the Future in the Past is a collection of essays that represents a wide range of authors, loci, and subjects that together demonstrate the value and necessity of looking at environmental problems as a long-term process that involves humans as a causal factor. Editors H. Thomas Foster II, Lisa M. Paciulli, and David J. Goldstein argue that it is increasingly apparent to environmental and earth sciences experts that humans have had a profound effect on the physical, climatological, and biological Earth. Consequently, they suggest that understanding any aspect of the Earth within the last ten thousand years means understanding the density and activities of Homo sapiens. The essays reveal the ways in which archaeologists and anthropologists have devised methodological and theoretical tools and applied them to pre-Columbian societies in the New World and ancient sites in the Middle East. Some of the authors demonstrate how these tools can be useful in examining modern societies. The contributors provide evidence that past and present ecosystems, economies, and landscapes must be understood through the study of human activity over millennia and across the globe"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on print version record.