Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience

Drylands are still widely perceived as marginal areas, unsuitable for food production and long-term human settlement. This view, reinforced by mainstream global land use models, stands in sharp contrast with archaeological and ethnographic evidence showing that sustainable agriculture and pastoralis...

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Autores: Ruiz-Giralt, Abel, Jiménez Arteaga, Carolina, Parque Pérez, Óscar, D'Agostini, Francesca
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/72900
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dry.2025.10015
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Drylands
Livelihood systems
Resilience
Archaeology
Traditional ecological knowledge
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spelling Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilienceRuiz-Giralt, AbelJiménez Arteaga, CarolinaParque Pérez, ÓscarD'Agostini, FrancescaDrylandsLivelihood systemsResilienceArchaeologyTraditional ecological knowledgeDrylands are still widely perceived as marginal areas, unsuitable for food production and long-term human settlement. This view, reinforced by mainstream global land use models, stands in sharp contrast with archaeological and ethnographic evidence showing that sustainable agriculture and pastoralism have long existed even in hyperarid regions. In this perspective article, we argue for the importance of applying archaeology to build a long-term narrative of land use management in drylands, highlighting the relevance of nonmechanized, resilient subsistence strategies as forms of biocultural heritage and sustainable alternatives rooted in indigenous priorities put in place over centuries. We contend that archaeology is key to shifting this narrative by documenting long-term socio-ecological adaptation in drylands. To this end, we present a range of archaeological methodologies that have helped trace techno-cultural developments in drylands, challenging persistent assumptions about the limits of human occupation and food production in arid environments.AR-G is a postdoctoral fellow in the project CAMP funded by the European Union (ERC CoG 2022, CAMP-101088842). CJ-A is a recipient of a Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdocs from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. OP is a postdoctoral fellow in CASEs at UPF. FD is a Kew Research Fellow at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.Cambridge University Press2026202620252026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dry.2025.10015https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésCambridge prisms: drylands. 2025;2:e17.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/ERC/101088842© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:10230/729002026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
title Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
spellingShingle Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
Ruiz-Giralt, Abel
Drylands
Livelihood systems
Resilience
Archaeology
Traditional ecological knowledge
title_short Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
title_full Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
title_fullStr Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
title_full_unstemmed Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
title_sort Deep-time perspectives on drylands: archaeology as a lens for understanding long-term livelihood systems and resilience
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ruiz-Giralt, Abel
Jiménez Arteaga, Carolina
Parque Pérez, Óscar
D'Agostini, Francesca
author Ruiz-Giralt, Abel
author_facet Ruiz-Giralt, Abel
Jiménez Arteaga, Carolina
Parque Pérez, Óscar
D'Agostini, Francesca
author_role author
author2 Jiménez Arteaga, Carolina
Parque Pérez, Óscar
D'Agostini, Francesca
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Drylands
Livelihood systems
Resilience
Archaeology
Traditional ecological knowledge
topic Drylands
Livelihood systems
Resilience
Archaeology
Traditional ecological knowledge
description Drylands are still widely perceived as marginal areas, unsuitable for food production and long-term human settlement. This view, reinforced by mainstream global land use models, stands in sharp contrast with archaeological and ethnographic evidence showing that sustainable agriculture and pastoralism have long existed even in hyperarid regions. In this perspective article, we argue for the importance of applying archaeology to build a long-term narrative of land use management in drylands, highlighting the relevance of nonmechanized, resilient subsistence strategies as forms of biocultural heritage and sustainable alternatives rooted in indigenous priorities put in place over centuries. We contend that archaeology is key to shifting this narrative by documenting long-term socio-ecological adaptation in drylands. To this end, we present a range of archaeological methodologies that have helped trace techno-cultural developments in drylands, challenging persistent assumptions about the limits of human occupation and food production in arid environments.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2026
2026
2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dry.2025.10015
https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900
url https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72900
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dry.2025.10015
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge prisms: drylands. 2025;2:e17.
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/ERC/101088842
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
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