Ecological Theory and Archaeological Environments:
The World is a Whole Lot More Complex Than We Were Told
Clements, F. E. 1936
Nature and Structure
of the Climax. Journal of Ecology 24: 252 - 284.
Gleason, H. A. 1939
The individualistic
concept of the plant association. American Midland Naturalist
21: 92 - 110.
Daubenmire, R. 1966
Vegetation:
Identification of Typal Communities. Science 151
(21 January): 291 - 298.
Vogl, Richard J. and Cottam, Grant and Robert McIntosh 1966
Vegetational
Continuum. Science 152 (22 April): 546 - 547.
King, Francis B. and Russell W. Graham 1981
Effects
of Ecological and Paleoecological Patterns on Subsistence and Paleoenvironmental
Reconstructions. American Antiquity 46 (1): 128 -142.
Graham, R. and Grim, E. C. 1990
Effects
of global climate change on the patterns of terrestrial biological
communities. Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE) 5: 289 -
292.
There are a lot of readings but they are short. The first two by
Clements and Gleason lay out the argument. Daubenmire defends Clements
from the Continuum approach of Vogl, Cottam and McIntosh. King and
Graham, and Graham and Grim explore implications. The issues covered
here generated a heartfelt controversy that led the way to our modern
dynamic view of the world. These ideas were enthusiastically presented
and enthusiastically defended. I will review this controversy, illustrate
with some data sets and discuss the implications for archaeology
and the environment in general.