Prehistory and Quaternary Research

Abstract

Prehistory and Quaternary Research are comprehensive, interdisciplinary sciences that study specific time periods. It is extremely important for prehistory to cooperate with Quaternary research because one of its major tasks is to understand the ancient environment that served as the stage for human lives. On the other hand, the Quaternary period, formerly called the Anthropogene, today basically refers to the same period of time as when the Homo genus evolved. An increasing number of animal and plant remains are being excavated at archaeological sites from the Holocene, and environmental archaeology research on this period, which actively uses the analyses of various natural sciences while aiming to elucidate human activities and the ancient environment that served as their stage, is flourishing. On the other hand, it is also necessary to make clear the influence upon human activities of environmental events. When doing so, first it is necessary to examine the temporal relationship between human activities and environmental events. Chronology, connecting them, plays a major role in this.