Forest And Civilization

Editorial Review

This book is an attempt to reinterpret world history and it presents a diversity of stories concerning the relationship between the forest and human beings from the viewpoint of environmental archaeology. Leading scholars have conducted a fundamental enquiry into our global environment. Their alternative cultural traditions provide us with a fresh perspective from which critically to clarify the assumptions in the western legacy that have generated both the technological achievements and the environmental problems so emblematic of Western civilisation. Forest and Civilisations exposes us to important ideas inherited from ancient peoples' relationship with forests and gives us an opportunity to draw inspiration from them in defining a new world view.

Professor Yoshinori Yasuda has been a professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies in Kyoto (IRCJS) since 1994. He was also appointed professor at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University in 1997 and since then has been a leader of the Yangtse River Civilisation Programme. He won the Chunichi cultural prize. His numerous publications are many books on environmental archaeology and related subjects.