Environmental archaeology has historically been central to Mesolithic studies in Britain and Ireland. Whilst processual archaeology was concerned with the economic significance of the environment, post-processual archaeology later rejected economically driven narratives, resulting in a turn away from plant and animal remains. Post-processual narratives focused instead on enigmatic ‘ritual’ items that economic accounts struggled to suitably explain. Processual accounts of landscapes, grounded in economic determinism, were also rejected in favour of explorations of their sociocultural aspects. However, in moving away from plant and animal remains, such accounts lacked the ability to rigorously explore the specificities of particular landscapes and humans actions within them. This paper will bridge this gap by considering how palaeoecological and zooarchaeological analyses can be used to explore human interactions with plants and animals, which were key in developing understandings and relationships that ultimately structured landscapes, influenced past human actions and shaped archaeological assemblages.

中文翻译：

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环境中的人类：中石器时代的英国和爱尔兰的植物，动物和景观

历史上，环境考古一直是英国和爱尔兰中石器时代研究的中心。在过程考古学关注环境的经济意义的同时，后继考古学后来拒绝了经济驱动的叙述，从而导致了对动植物遗骸的转向。后处理叙事集中在经济账目难以恰当解释的神秘“仪式”项目上。以经济决定论为基础的景观过程描述也被拒绝，而倾向于探索其社会文化方面。但是，在远离动植物遗骸的过程中，这种说法缺乏严格探索特定景观的特殊性和其中人类活动的能力。