The archaeology of global environmental change

Recent, widely recognized changes in the Earth system are, in effect, changes in the coupled human-environment system. We have entered the Anthropocene, when human activity - along with solar forcing, volcanic activity, precession, and the like - must be considered a component (a 'driver') of global environmental change (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Levin 1998). The dynamic non-linear system in which we live is not in equilibrium and does not act in a predictable manner (see Fairhead, chapter 16 this volume for further discussion of non-equilibrium ecology). If humankind is to continue to thrive, it is of utmost importance that we identify the ideas and practices that nurture the planet as well as our species. our best laboratory: experimentation requires time we no longer have. Thus the integration of our understanding of human history with that of Earth system is a timely and urgent task.