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The technofossil record of humans
Open accessAbstract
As humans have colonised and modified the Earth’s surface, they have developed progressively more sophisticated tools and technologies. These underpin a new kind of stratigraphy, that we term technostratigraphy, marked by the geologically accelerated evolution and diversification of technofossils – the preservable material remains of the technosphere (Haff, 2013), driven by human purpose and transmitted cultural memory, and with the dynamics of an emergent system. The technosphere, present in some form for most of the Quaternary, shows several thresholds. Its expansion and transcontinental synchronisation in the mid 20th century has produced a global technostratigraphy that combines very high time-resolution, great geometrical complexity and wide (including transplanetary) extent. Technostratigraphy can help characterise the deposits of a potential Anthropocene Epoch and its emergence marks a step change in planetary mode.
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“these so-called technofossils ( 28 ) provide annual to decadal stratigraphic resolution ( 22, 19 ), far greater than can be obtained from first and last appearances of fossil taxa, which have traditionally provided the most common means of correlating stratal sections ( 29 ).”
From The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene (2016) · cites this paper as [28]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Waters, C. N., Barnosky, A. D., & Haff, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- British Geological Survey (GB)
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Venue
- The Anthropocene Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-01-07
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 34-43
- ISSN
- 2053-0196 (ISSN-L)
- 2053-020X
- OpenAlex
- W2161092780
- Cited by
- 272
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8
- FWCI
- 17.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- The Anthropocene Review (publishedVersion)
- NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) (acceptedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (bgs05001)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Keywords
- technosphere, Anthropocene, anthropogenic landscapes, cultural memory, Quaternary
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