The Remembered Land : Surviving Sea-level Rise after the Last Ice Age
Author(s): Jim Leary
How did small-scale societies in the past experience and respond to sea-level rise? What happened when their dwellings, hunting grounds and ancestral lands were lost under an advancing tide? This book asks these questions in relation to the hunter-gatherer inhabitants of a lost prehistoric land; a land that became entirely inundated and now lies beneath the North Sea. It seeks to understand how these people viewed and responded to their changing environment, suggesting that people were not struggling against nature, but simply getting on with life – with all its trials and hardships, satisfactions and pleasures, and with a multitude of choices available. At the same time, this loss of land – the loss of places and familiar locales where myths were created and identities formed – would have profoundly affected people's sense of being. This book moves beyond the static approach normally applied to environmental change in the past to capture its nuances. Through this, a richer and more complex story of past sea-level rise develops; a story that may just have resonance for us today.
Review(s):
“[Leary's] engaging book combines an effective synthesis of previous research with thought-provoking analysis, deftly conveyed with an evocative, imaginative turn of phrase.” -Current Archaeology
“Leary's imaginative, well-constructed work provides a unique insight into the environmental history of the North Sea. The author breathes life back into a forgotten land, flora, fauna, and people, connecting that which cannot be seen to the present as well as shedding light on the process that allows for this reconstruction. … His holistic approach to understanding past environmental change touches upon numerous facets and allows readers to see into the complexity of change and its long-term impact. … This impressive work is a welcome addition to the understanding of the complex history of environmental change in and beyond the North Sea since the last Ice Age. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.” - CHOICE
ISBN: 9781474245906