Archaeological Evidence for Community Resilience and Sustainability: A Bibliometric and Quantitative Review

Matthew J. Jacobson ()
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Matthew J. Jacobson: German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Podbielskialle 69-71, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-24

Abstract: Archaeology is often argued to provide a unique long-term perspective on humans that can be utilised for effective policy-making, for example, in discussions of resilience and sustainability. However, the specific archaeological evidence for resilient/sustainable systems is rarely explored, with these terms often used simply to describe a community that survived a particular shock. In this study, a set of 74 case studies of papers discussing archaeological evidence for resilience/sustainability are identified and analysed using bibliometric methods. Variables from the papers are also quantified to assess patterns and provide a review of current knowledge. A great variety of scales of analysis, case study locations, stressors, resilient/sustainable characteristics, and archaeological evidence types are present. Climate change was the most cited stressor ( n = 40) and strategies relating to natural resources were common across case studies, especially subsistence adaptations ( n = 35), other solutions to subsistence deficiencies ( n = 23), and water management ( n = 23). Resilient/sustainable characteristics were often in direct contrast to one-another, suggesting the combination of factors is more important than each factor taken individually. Further quantification of well-defined variables within a formally-produced framework is required to extract greater value from archaeological case studies of resilience/sustainability.

Keywords: archaeology; resilience; sustainability; citation analysis; collapse; climate change; agriculture; natural resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16591-:d:1000095

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