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Topic · Paleontology

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies is a research topic within Paleontology. Science Explorer counts 40k research works in it since 1950. 36.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on radiocarbon dating, isotopic analysis, and agricultural origins research. It covers topics such as the development of radiocarbon calibration curves, domestication and early agriculture, nitrogen isotopes in archaeology, and the impact of climate change on agricultural practices. The papers also delve into the use of stable isotopes for reconstructing ancient diets, tracking human and animal mobility, and understanding the origins of plant cultivation.

  • Radiocarbon Dating
  • Agricultural Origins
  • Isotopic Analysis
  • Domestication Studies
  • Archaeological Residue Analysis
  • Stable Isotope Analysis
  • Carbon Cycle Dynamics
  • Strontium Isotopes
  • Neolithic Transition
  • Ancient Agriculture
Research works
40k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
14k
per year above
Top-10% rate
36.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+22%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.2k and 805 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 805 works
  3. 3 France 514 works
  4. 4 China 500 works
  5. 5 Russia 386 works
  6. 6 Spain 355 works
  7. 7 Germany 313 works
  8. 8 Italy 234 works
  9. 9 Australia 201 works
  10. 10 Argentina 169 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 26.1%United Kingdom: 17.1%France: 10.9%China: 10.6%6 others listed: 35.2%26%largest
United States1,231 · 26.1%United Kingdom805 · 17.1%France514 · 10.9%China500 · 10.6%6 others listed1,658 · 35.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Department of Archaeology publishes the most Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research, followed by Oxford Archaeology and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Department of ArchaeologySri Lanka 160 works
  2. 2 Oxford ArchaeologyUnited Kingdom 74 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 64 works
  4. 4 Amt für ArchäologieSwitzerland 54 works
  5. 5 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 50 works
  6. 6 Institute of ArchaeologyChina 45 works
  7. 7 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 44 works
  8. 8 Constructing ExcellenceUnited Kingdom 44 works
  9. 9 Israel Antiquities AuthorityIsrael 41 works
  10. 10 Thames Valley Archaeological ServicesUnited Kingdom 40 works

Who are the leading researchers in Archaeology and ancient environmental studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Archaeology and ancient environmental studies include Hai Cheng, Bernd Kromer and William M. Gardner.

  1. 1 Hai Cheng China 2.9k citations
  2. 2 Bernd Kromer Germany 2.7k citations
  3. 3 William M. Gardner United States 2.7k citations
  4. 4 Alex Bayliss United Kingdom 2.6k citations
  5. 5 Christopher Bronk Ramsey United Kingdom 2.4k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research done?

The largest centres of Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Paris (France) and Colombo (Sri Lanka). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xinhui District, Frauenfeld and Colombo.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 201 works
  2. 2 London United Kingdom 170 works
  3. 3 Paris France 170 works
  4. 4 Colombo Sri Lanka 164 works
  5. 5 Oxford United Kingdom 120 works
  6. 6 Buenos Aires Argentina 83 works
  7. 7 Moscow Russia 77 works
  8. 8 Jerusalem Israel 73 works
  9. 9 Madrid Spain 66 works
  10. 10 Novosibirsk Russia 61 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Xinhui DistrictCN · 20.2 works355×
  2. FrauenfeldCH · 54.6 works263×
  3. ColomboLK · 163.8 works48×
  4. TarragonaES · 36.5 works27×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Archaeology and ancient environmental studies than the world average.

See Archaeology and ancient environmental studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Archaeology and ancient environmental studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Tübingen, Universitat Rovira i Virgili and University of Algarve score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%50%100%mean 51.9%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Tübingen: 32, 60.3%Universitat Rovira i Virgili: 14, 72.7%University of Algarve: 10, 66.5%University of Haifa: 27, 42.5%Universidad de Cantabria: 9, 68.4%Leiden University: 20, 55.5%Durham University: 39, 34.7%Masaryk University: 14, 37.6%Australian National University: 31, 42.0%Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel: 28, 38.8%Universitat Rovira i…University of AlgarveUniversity of TübingenUniversity of Haifa
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of TübingenGermany 71.460.3%12.7×32 +110.2%
2 Universitat Rovira i VirgiliSpain 67.872.7%14.0×14 +65.4%
3 University of AlgarvePortugal 65.466.5%17.9×10 +79.2%
4 University of HaifaIsrael 60.742.5%18.0×27 +84.2%
5 Universidad de CantabriaSpain 59.868.4%12.0×9 +22.3%
6 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 59.355.5%8.6×20 +46.5%
7 Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 57.534.7%16.0×39 +21.9%
8 Masaryk UniversityCzechia 57.537.6%8.3×14 +273.5%
9 Australian National UniversityAustralia 57.442.0%9.4×31 +24.7%
10 Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielGermany 56.838.8%18.5×28 +23.1%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Archaeology and ancient environmental studies research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 22% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Archaeology and ancient environmental studies.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.