Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology is a multidisciplinary journal that explores the vital role of environmental archaeology in understanding the complex relationship between human societies and the natural world. Among the many fields that comprise the contemporary practice of archaeology, the most exciting is environmental archaeology; the field has never been as interesting and relevant as it is today, with its relevance stemming from the combination of sophisticated theoretical approaches with powerful analytical procedures borrowed from the natural sciences, such as chemistry, genetics, biology, and the earth sciences.

Led by Field Chief Editor Tim Denham from Australian National University, Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology welcomes research contributions in various domains of environmental archaeology (archaeological isotope analysis, archaeobotany, human bioarchaeology and paleopathology, landscapes and geological processes, and zooarchaeology), which bridge the gap between past and present humans, and environmental challenges faced by our planet. For the first time in the history of the discipline, archaeologists are being called to the public arena to contribute to important debates. Topics include, but are not limited to:

connections between Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions and past human practices
the pace of ancient migrations
the resilience of landscapes in the face of human management and climatic change
the role of ancient societies in shaping contemporary biomes
the role of past environments in shaping human health, with special reference to diet, demography and pathogens

The world today is going through a deep social and environmental crisis that threatens the very future of mankind on Earth. With almost 8 billion people, rising social inequality, rampant extinction of animals and plants - some of them yet unknown to science - resource depletion, and adverse health outcomes, among other things, the connections that our species have established with the natural world during the millennia have become a matter of interest to scientists and the public at large. So dramatic is such a crisis that there is an emerging consensus that the Earth may have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene.

The journal welcomes submissions that support and advance SDG 15: Life on Land, which aims to protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss. This journal contributes to enhancing our understanding of the historical context and long-term consequences of human-environment interactions, thereby informing strategies for sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation.

Manuscripts that do not significantly contribute to the advancement of environmental archaeology as listed in the domains above, or the understanding of human-environment interactions in the context of sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation, are considered out of scope for Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Frontiers’ journals require that manuscripts primarily comprising computational studies of public data, must include appropriate validation. Please refer to the Frontiers Standards for research methodology policy, for more information. Manuscripts not adhering to these standards will not be considered.

Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology is dedicated to advancing developments in the field of environmental archaeology by providing unrestricted access to articles and disseminating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public, thus fostering scientific breakthroughs for the future. We are a group of editors based in different parts of the world with a large experience in field and laboratory research, in some cases in places that have been traditionally overlooked by archaeology. We particularly want to promote environmental archaeology from researchers based in the Global South, as well as Indigenous scholars who are doing cutting edge and relevant research which does not often get published in English.

Impact

Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology

Archaeological Isotope Analysis