Torben Rick

Smithsonian Institution · Department of Anthropology

Historical ecology draws on a broad range of information sources and methods to provide insight into ecological and social change, especially over the past ~12,000 years. While its results are often relevant to conservation and restoration, insights from its diverse disciplines, environments, and geographies have frequently remained siloed or under...

Since the 19th century, the study of shell middens has played an important role in archaeological research. Shell midden and broader coastal archaeology have transformed our understanding of human relationships with aquatic habitats, demonstrating the importance of marine environments to human evolution and ecology, the colonization of islands and...

Sea level rise and marine erosion threaten coastal archaeological sites around the world, forcing difficult decisions about how to prioritize which sites to document and analyze. Here we present the results of research at a heavily eroded Late Holocene shell midden at CA-SRI-26, Santa Rosa Island, California. Systematic surface collection and radio...

How do human communities integrate within food webs? Studies characterizing the historical flow of energy among people and local environments can yield important insights into managing sustainable ecosystems. Here, we combine zooarchaeological, bulk tissue, and compound-specific stable isotope data from late Holocene Santa Rosa Island to investigat...

Well known for its relatively mild climate, productive fisheries, agriculture, and dense human settlements, California is being devastated by climate change. Drought, warming temperatures, and other processes are fueling intense fires and water shortages, while increased El Niño Southern Oscillation and other changes pose threats to marine ecosyste...

Understanding the habitats people were fishing in the past is central to evaluating the relationship between coastal environmental change and human behavior. Researchers often use zooarchaeological identification of fishes and modern ecological data to infer the habitats people fished in the past. However, these inferences assume stable environment...

Historical ecology has revolutionized our understanding of fisheries and cultural landscapes, demonstrating the value of historical data for evaluating the past, present, and future of Earth’s ecosystems. Despite several important studies, Indigenous fisheries generally receive less attention from scholars and managers than the 17th–20th century ca...

The places in which people live and spend time are steeped in history, memory, and meaning from the intersection of daily life, environmental interactions, cultural practices, and ritual. Geologic features, plants, animals, and ecosystems merge with these cultural histories, forming critical parts of the landscape and areas of “high cultural salien...

Archaeologists have long emphasized the importance of large-scale excavations and multi-year or even decades-long projects at a single site or site complex. Here, we highlight archaeological field strategies, termed coring, profiling, and trenching (CPT), that rely on relatively small-scale excavations or the collection of new samples from intact d...

Archaeological eggshell is a commonly recorded, yet underutilized material for understanding human-environment interaction in the past. In addition to the use of archaeological eggshell as a paleoenvironmental proxy, archaeologists have innovated important new approaches to the study of archaeological avian eggshell, including the application of sc...

Significance The current biodiversity crisis is often depicted as a struggle to preserve untouched habitats. Here, we combine global maps of human populations and land use over the past 12,000 y with current biodiversity data to show that nearly three quarters of terrestrial nature has long been shaped by diverse histories of human habitation and u...

In a recent paper published in The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, John Terrell (2020) objected to the proposition that islands can offer model systems to study human behavior and ecodynamics. He argues that a review of insular model systems in the study of non-human taxa is empirically flawed and theoretically incoherent and implies tha...

Sturgeon (Acipenser spp.) have long been an important resource for people living in several parts of the world, including the Northwest Coast of North America. Two sturgeon species occur on the Oregon Coast, white (A. transmontanus) and green (A. medirostris), but morphological similarities between the species have generally prevented osteological...

The abundance of marine mollusks found in Pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean has made them enticing sample types for radiocarbon dating. Unfortunately, a paucity of local marine reservoir corrections (ΔR) for most of the region limits building chronologies using marine-based carbonates. Here we present a suite of 33 new ΔR values f...

Genetic analyses are an important contribution to wildlife reintroductions, particularly in the modern context of extirpations and ecological destruction. To address the complex historical ecology of the sea otter ( Enhydra lutris ) and its failed 1970s reintroduction to coastal Oregon, we compared mitochondrial genomes of pre-extirpation Oregon se...

This article emerged as the human species collectively have been experiencing the worst global pandemic in a century. With a long view of the ecological, economic, social, and political factors that promote the emergence and spread of infectious disease , archaeologists are well positioned to examine the antecedents of the present crisis. In this a...

During the last 10 years, we have learned a great deal about the potential for a coastal peopling of the Americas and the importance of marine resources in early economies. Despite research at a growing number of terminal Pleistocene archaeological sites on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, however, important questions remain about the lifeways of...

An accurate understanding of biodiversity of the past is critical for contextualizing biodiversity patterns and trends in the present. Emerging techniques are refining our ability to decipher otherwise cryptic human-mediated species translocations across the Quaternary, yet these techniques are often used in isolation, rather than part of an interd...

Terminal Pleistocene to Middle Holocene sea level rise resulted in a number of changes to coastal ecosystems around the world, providing new challenges and opportunities for coastal peoples. In California, glacial to interglacial sea level rise resulted in some reductions in rocky shore kelp forests, but it also resulted in the formation of estuari...

Museum-based archaeological research is multifaceted due to the diverse excavation histories, sampling strategies, curation practices, and available documentation for museum collections. Museum-based studies provide an opportunity to analyze previously excavated materials from sites that were historically destroyed or are no longer accessible for f...

The island laboratory concept has long been an important construct in island archaeology, with an emphasis on human biogeography and issues of isolation, connectivity, interaction, evolution, and extinction. The Pacific Coast of Alta and Baja California contains several offshore islands that offer a framework for evaluating a variety of cultural an...

The eastern oyster ( Crassostrea virginica ) is an important proxy for examining historical trajectories of coastal ecosystems. Measurement of ~40,000 oyster shells from archaeological sites along the Atlantic Coast of the United States provides a long-term record of oyster abundance and size. The data demonstrate increases in oyster size across ti...

From mobile hunter-gatherers to a series of state societies, Mediterranean climate regions (MED) around the world have been critical areas for human and biological evolution for millennia. Comprised of five regions on six continents, the MED are important today for human settlement, global food production, transportation, industry, and tourism, but...

We live in an age characterized by increasing environmental, social, economic, and political uncertainty. Human societies face significant challenges, ranging from climate change to food security, biodiversity declines and extinction, and political instability. In response, scientists, policy makers, and the general public are seeking new interdisc...

Understanding the causes and consequences of previous climate changes is essential for testing present-day climate models and projections. Archaeological sites are paleoenvironmental archives containing unique ecological baselines with data on paleoclimate transformations at a human timescale. Anthropogenic and nonanthropogenic forces have destroye...

The shells of marine mollusks represent promising metagenomic archives of the past, adding to bones, teeth, hairs, and environmental samples most commonly examined in ancient DNA research. Seminal work has established that DNA recovery from marine mollusk shells depends on their microstructure, preservation and disease state, and that authentic anc...

This Plan frames the biological and cultural significance and provides the short- and long-term goals, objectives, and priority actions for the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve.

A synthetic history of human land use Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth's surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts)....

Abstract. The shells of marine mollusks represent promising metagenomic archives of the past, adding to bones, teeth, hairs, and environmental samples most commonly examined in ancient DNA research. Seminal work has established that DNA recovery from marine mollusks depends on their shell microstructure, preservation and disease state, and that aut...

The productive woodlands, estuaries, and coastlines of the Middle Atlantic region of North America have been home to Native Americans from the Paleoindian period to the modern day. Inhabitants of this region adapted to broad environmental changes, including the emergence of Chesapeake Bay when rising seas drowned the Susquehanna River valley around...

From the icy shores of Labrador to the warm mangroves of the Florida Keys, North America’s Atlantic Coast was a magnet for human subsistence and settlement for millennia. North America’s Atlantic Coast is a land of diversity united by rich coastal and terrestrial ecosystems that were home to a wide variety of Native American societies and distinct...

Billfish from the families Xiphiidae (swordfish) and Istiophoridae (marlins and sailfish) are large, often pelagic fishes that are highly migratory. Although some billfish have been the target of global commercial and sport fisheries for decades, prehistoric billfish foraging is relatively rare, but includes systematic swordfish (Xiphias gladius) a...

Late Pleistocene estuaries, palaeoecology and humans on North America's Pacific Coast - Volume 93 Issue 372 - Jon Erlandson, Torben Rick, Amira Ainis, Todd Braje, Kristina Gill, Leslie Reeder-Myers

Forty years ago, Knut Fladmark (1979) argued that the Pacific Coast offered a viable alternative to the ice-free corridor model for the initial peopling of the Americas—one of the first to support a “coastal migration theory” that remained marginal for decades. Today, the pre-Clovis occupation at the Monte Verde site is widely accepted, several oth...

Kayak surveys in estuarine environments: addressing sea-level rise and climate change - Volume 93 Issue 370 - Leslie A. Reeder-Myers, Torben C. Rick

The Farallon Islands are a cluster of small islands ∼32 km off the coast of San Francisco Bay. These islands total < 1 km² in area and lack surface freshwater, but are home to scores of breeding seabirds and seals and sea lions. At least three archaeological projects have been conducted on Southeast Farallon, focusing on the islands’ two known arch...

Archaeobotanical remains recovered from a large ∼8000-year-old-shell midden (CA-SRI-666) on Santa Rosa Island provide the first ancient plant data from this large island, shedding light on ancient patterns of plant use, subsistence, and sedentism. Faunal data from shell midden samples retrieved from three site loci contain evidence for harvesting o...

Spanish arrival to Alta and Baja California in AD 1542 marked the beginning of widespread ecological changes for California Island ecosystems. Over several centuries, Native peoples were removed to mainland towns and missions, intensive commercial fisheries and ranching operations developed, and numerous exotic plants and animals were introduced. T...

In spite of their potential significance to early human migrants and maritime foragers, small islands often are overlooked in archaeological research projects in favor of mainland coastal and large island counterparts. One excellent example of this is found off the northwestern coast of Baja California, México. Despite the wealth of data from islan...

Worldwide, prehistoric hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists translocated a variety of animals and plants to islands. Translocations enhanced island ecosystems, introducing animals and plants used for food or raw materials. We review recent zooarchaeology, genetics, and stable isotope data to evaluate the evidence for ancient translocations to the...

Archaeologists have long been interested in understanding the antiquity and evolution of human occupation of the world’s islands, but relatively limited attention has been given to small islands. With evidence for human occupation at least 13,000 years ago, California’s eight Channel Islands have a long record of coastal settlement and land use, bu...

Archaeological materials in museum collections provide an excellent opportunity for researchers to investigate social, cultural, and environmental change. However, the precision of the archaeological analysis and interpretation is dependent on a firm understanding of the site chronology. The Par-Tee site (35CLT20), located on the northern Oregon Co...

This article provides a review of recent anthropological, archeological, geographical, and sociological research on anthropogenic drivers of climate change, with a particular focus on drivers of carbon emissions, mitigation and adaptation. The four disciplines emphasize cultural, economic, geographic, historical, political, and social‐structural fa...

Research on human‐environment interactions that informs ecological practices and guides conservation and restoration has become increasingly interdisciplinary over the last few decades. Fueled in part by the debate over defining a start date for the Anthropocene, historical disciplines like archeology, paleontology, geology, and history are playing...

This article provides a review of recent anthropological, archaeological, geographical, and sociological research on anthropogenic drivers of climate change, with a particular focus on drivers of carbon emissions, mitigation and adaptation. The four disciplines emphasize cultural, economic, geographic, historical, political, and social-structural f...

The submersion of Late Pleistocene shorelines and poor organic preservation at many early archaeological sites obscure the earliest effects of humans on coastal resources in the Americas. We used collagen fingerprinting to identify bone fragments from middens at four California Channel Island sites that are among the oldest coastal sites in the Ame...

This paper assesses research from cultural anthropology, archaeology, geography, and sociology to define social science concepts relevant to climate change drivers and the factors that influence the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation strategies. The paper presents significant ways in which these four social science disciplines—often underre...

Biological invasions are one of the great threats to Earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity in the Anthropocene. However, species introductions and invasions extend deep into the human past, with the translocation of both wild and domestic species around the world. Here, we review the human translocation of wild plants and animals to the world’s islan...

Santa Cruz Island contains a remarkable array of cultural and biological resources and a rich tradition of research across the social and biological sciences and humanities. Given dramatic changes in climate forecast in the coming decades of the Anthropocene, however, many questions remain about the sustainability and future of island ecosystems an...

The short-tailed albatross Phoebastria albatrus was nearly driven to extinction in the early 20th century, but is one of the most common seabirds found in coastal archaeological sites in Japan, the Aleutian Islands, and the Channel Islands off southern California. Today, this species nests on only 2 islands off southern Japan and spends the majorit...

Rats and mice are among the most successful mammals on earth, with some of these species thriving in and around human settlements or areas disturbed by human activities. Here, we present morphological, taphonomic, and chronological data on two mice (Peromyscus nesodytes [extinct] and P. maniculatus [extant]) from a trans-Holocene sequence at Daisy...

Historical ecology provides information needed to understand contemporary conditions and make science-based resource management decisions. Gaps in historical records, however, can limit inquiries and inference. Unfortunately, the patchiness of data that poses challenges for today’s historical ecologist may be similarly problematic for those in the...

In a controversial study published in Nature, Holen et al. (2017) claim that hominins fractured mastodon bones and teeth with stone cobbles in California ∼130,000 years ago. Their claim implies a human colonization of the New World more than 110,000 years earlier than the oldest widely accepted archaeological sites in the Americas. It is also at od...

Chesapeake Bay is home to highly productive marine ecosystems that were a key part of Native American subsistence for millennia. Despite a number of archaeological projects focused on Chesapeake Bay prehistory, key questions remain about the nature of human use of the estuary through time and across space. Recent work at 7 shell middens on the Rhod...

Crassostrea virginica is one of the most common estuarine bivalves in the United States’ east coast and is frequently found in archaeological sites and sub-fossil deposits. Although there have been several sclerochronological studies on stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in the shells of this species, less is known about δ15N values within their she...

The intensive commercial exploitation of California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) has become a complex, multimillion-dollar industry. The fishery is of concern because of high harvest levels and potential indirect impacts of sheephead removals on the structure and function of kelp forest ecosystems. California sheephead are proto-gynous hermaph...

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Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and is famous for its once extensive and now severely degraded eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations, along with a number of other important fisheries including crabs, rockfish, and menhaden. Here we explore the historical ecology of Native American subsistence and land use str...

Understanding how human activities have influenced the foraging ecology of wildlife is important as our planet faces ongoing and impending habitat and climatic change. We review the canine surrogacy approach (CSA)—a tool for comparing human, dog, and other canid diets in the past—and apply CSA to investigate possible ancient human resource provisio...

Significance Oysters are important organisms in estuaries around the world, influencing water quality, constructing habitat, and providing food for humans and wildlife. Following over a century of overfishing, pollution, disease, and habitat degradation, oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere have declined dramatically. Despite prov...