ABSTRACT
Within palaeoecological research, cultural landscapes are generally understood as those transformed by human action, a conceptualization particularly influenced by the work of Carl Sauer. Global overviews present evidence of accelerating and destructive human impacts over time. While in one sense this is an important and unarguable message, it should not be read in a deterministic way. Further, recent work at a range of scales shows considerable spatial and temporal variability. Three themes – colonization, hunter-gatherer/agricultural impacts and post-industrial changes – are reviewed. In each of these, rethinking of substantive and epistemological issues is under way, and constant methodological refinement is occurring. Vigorous debate over the timing and effects of human impacts in the South Pacific and elsewhere contributes to a rethinking of the concept of colonization. Similarly, clear demarcations between huntergatherer and agricultural impacts are difficult to maintain, and there is considerable variability within each of the categories. High resolution of the record of the past few hundred years in some parts of the world is facilitating a shift from inductive to deductive approaches within this field of research. Important issues within the three fields include the re-emergence of environmental agency, the importance of multiple palaeoecological proxies, and the influence on interpretation of spatial bias in concentrations of research.
