“Sense of place” as an anthropological, geographical, and philosophical construct has been a focus of research in recent decades, particularly following the publication of Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places. Simultaneously, the emergence of the concept of social-ecological systems and their value in the application of conservation and restoration practices has highlighted the unique benefits of recognizing the interconnectedness of social and ecological spheres. Real and metaphorical parallels identified between social and ecological systems in terms of “health,” “resilience,” and adaptive responses help to promote understanding and to communicate corresponding processes and traits across these systems. Extending from an earlier concept of “Cultural Keystone Species,” and drawing on the recognition of “sense of place” as an important construct, here we propose the recognition of “Cultural Keystone Places” (CKPs): places of high cultural salience for a particular group of people at a particular time and critical to their identity and well-being. We define and characterize cultural keystone places, provide three case examples, and discuss the significance and potential applications of CKPs in biocultural conservation and renewal.

Rapid climate change in the Himalaya threatens the traditional livelihoods of remote mountain communities, challenges traditional systems of knowledge, and stresses existing socio-ecological systems. Through semi-structured interviews, participatory photography, and repeat photography focused on climate change and its impacts on traditional livelihoods, we aim to shed light on some of the socio-cultural implications of climate related change in Manang, a remote village in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Western Nepal. Observed changes in temperature, precipitation, permanent snow cover, and glacial extent directly inform villagers’ perceptions of and adaptations to Himalayan climate change. Adaptation strategies include a shift from traditional agropastoral practices to a more diversified blend of agropastoralism, tourism services, and cash-crop production. Climate change has tipped the scales in favor of the production of fruits and vegetables, cash crops previously unsuitable to the local climate. Diversification of livelihood strategies signifies transformation within the socio-ecological system of Manang and may enable greater resiliency to long-term climatic change. Continued development of relevant, place-based adaptations to rapid Himalayan climate change depends on local peoples’ ability to understand the potential impacts of climate change and to adjust within complex, traditional socio-ecological systems.

We use published zooarchaeological evidence to discuss the various hypotheses concerning the past distribution of huemuls in Patagonia, southern South America. We then use these data to evaluate the interactions between this cervid and hunter-gatherers during the Holocene. The zooarchaeological record shows that huemul mainly inhabited forested and forest–steppe ecotonal environments during the Holocene. Huemul were hunted in exceptional circumstances during the early occupation of Patagonia. Its presence in the zooarchaeological record of South Patagonia increases after 9500 BP and is more frequent after 2200 BP. However, the taxonomic contribution of the species' bone remains to the archaeological record is always low. The few assemblages where there are a high number of huemul bones would have been the result of opportunistic hunting episodes. This in turn suggests that hunting of huemul had little or no influence on the animal’s regional distribution over time. However, the progressively greater human presence in some forested areas towards the end of the Holocene could have affected huemul populations at the local scale. The zooarchaeological information presented in this paper illustrates interspecific and long-term relationships and, hence, could serve as essential information in future management strategies for huemul in Argentina and Chile.

Different but complementary foraging adaptations existed in the Payunia volcanic and the Andean highland (or mountain) subregions of southern Mendoza, Argentina during the late Holocene. We employ an evolutionary ecological perspective to study the zooarchaeology of foraging adaptations after 4000 BP. Seasonal exploitation of guanaco (Lama guanicoe Müller) in the mountains appears to have been sustainable, which relates to high productivity of mountain river valley bottoms during the late Holocene. The mountains were a productive, seasonally available resource patch. A greater diversity of fauna in the Payunia subregion resulted in a different foraging strategy with larger diet breadth. Despite mounting evidence that human population growth occurred during the late Holocene, there is little evidence of resource depression of high-ranked resources, such as the guanaco. Application of foraging theory models in this context clarifies that hunting decisions occurred in the context of two factors, strategies informed by traditional ecological knowledge and the context of landscape ecology.

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes are used to address the dietary relationship between humans and two canid species at the Uyak site (KOD-145) on Kodiak Island, Alaska: dog (Canis familiaris) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes). We assess the relative contribution of marine and terrestrial protein to each species’ diet as a measure of their dietary relationship to people, using zooarchaeological data, food web data, and ethnohistoric observations to interpret the results. The results suggest that dogs and foxes had different diets: the dogs are consistently enriched in both ¹³C and ¹⁵N, which indicates a heavy dependence on marine protein, while the fox samples produced both marine and terrestrial isotope values. Data from this project have the potential to expand our understanding of human-canid relationships in this island environment and in the greater context of island ecology, and contribute some of the first isotopic data for small terrestrial mammals in the Gulf of Alaska.

Caste-based Hindu coastal fishers of Bangladesh have developed their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), environment and resource friendly practices, and worldviews through years of social learning, and interaction with their immediate ecosystem. This article is based on 21-month long participatory field research with the fishers of Thakurtala fishing village, Moheskhali Island, Cox’sbazar district, located along the Bay of Bengal. Eight important categories of fishers’ TEK systems are examined: water color, wind direction and current, lunar periodicity, sediment and topography, celestial navigation, birds and animals, mangroves, and fishing sites. Fishers make their decisions about fishing at a certain site using practical heuristic rules. The sequence of learning and transmission of TEK at different age strata is examined. Policy makers would benefit from TEK of the experienced coastal fishers.

While uncertainty remains as to the relative importance of the factors that propelled Neolithization at different sites, a model is gaining traction that proposes that cereal cultivation was adopted in part to produce alcohol for competitive feasting. The model ties together the emergence of two key phenomena – cereal cultivation and social inequality – and is supported by a variety of archaeological and ethnographic data. However pharmacological theory has not yet been explicitly deployed in the presentation of the model; rather its development has relied on a common-sense understanding of the effects of alcohol and its cross-cultural importance in social life. Our aim in this paper is to bring understandings of drug use from pharmacology and related disciplines to bear upon the challenge of explaining Neolithization. We find that pharmacological theory sheds light on the importance of alcohol and other mood-altering products of Neolithic farming. In particular there is support for some influence of pharmacoactivity on Neolithic social evolution, which might extend beyond a role in feasting to include modulation of responses to status hierarchies, increased residential densities, and more intense work schedules. We propose that pharmacological influences be incorporated into models of the Neolithic transition.

The reasons why people adopt unsustainable agricultural practices, and the ultimate environmental implications of those practices, remain incompletely understood in the present world. Archaeology, however, offers unique datasets on coincident cultural and ecological change, and their social and environmental effects. This article applies concepts derived from ecological resilience thinking to assess the sustainability of agricultural practices as a result of long-term interactions between political, economic, and environmental systems. Using the urban center of Gordion, in central Turkey, as a case study, it is possible to identify mismatched social and ecological processes on temporal, spatial, and organizational scales, which help to resolve thresholds of resilience. Results of this analysis implicate temporal and spatial mismatches as a cause for local environmental degradation, and increasing extralocal economic pressures as an ultimate cause for the adoption of unsustainable land-use practices. This analysis suggests that a research approach that integrates environmental archaeology with a resilience perspective has considerable potential for explicating regional patterns of agricultural change and environmental degradation in the past.

Wudang Mountain is a Daoist sacred mountain and a UNESCO heritage site in central China. This study investigates the wild edible plants (WEPs) sold in local yecaiguan (‘wild food resturants’) and examines the relationship between wild edible plants, local villagers, and pilgrimage on the mountain. Adding WEPs from forest and abandoned farmlands to restaurant menus has assisted local villagers in participating in heritage tourism, adapting to rapid social changes resulting from the heritage industry, and maintaining the local community. These wild food plants have also been involved in the construction of the memory, images, narratives, and myths surrounding the sacredscapes of the mountain, which are fundamental to pilgrims’ experience of the site. Through WEPs, villagers help tourists and pilgrims visit and experience this sacred mountain in multisensory and embodied ways, and help protect the mountain’s heritage, including local knowledge, in a living system.