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Topic · Anthropology

Archaeology and Natural History

Archaeology and Natural History is a research topic within Anthropology. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the resilience of traditional irrigation communities in the Southwest USA, focusing on water sustainability, hydrologic interactions, cultural heritage, and ecosystem services. It delves into the social-ecological systems supporting community resilience, climate adaptation, and the management of biodiversity. The research also includes archaeological investigations and emphasizes the importance of traditional irrigation in maintaining community livelihoods and culture.

  • Traditional Irrigation
  • Water Sustainability
  • Community Resilience
  • Hydrologic Interactions
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Climate Adaptation
  • Archaeological Investigations
  • Social-Ecological Systems
  • Biodiversity Management
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
74% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Archaeology and Natural History

Which countries lead Archaeology and Natural History research?

By volume, the United States and Mexico publish the most (766 and 91 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 766 works
  2. 2 Mexico 91 works
  3. 3 Canada 37 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 34 works
  5. 5 France 30 works
  6. 6 Argentina 20 works
  7. 7 Spain 18 works
  8. 8 ?? 16 works
  9. 9 Russia 15 works
  10. 10 Australia 12 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: 73.8%Mexico: 8.8%Canada: 3.6%United Kingdom: 3.2%6 others listed: 10.6%74%largest
United States766 · 73.8%Mexico91 · 8.8%Canada37 · 3.6%United Kingdom34 · 3.2%6 others listed110 · 10.6%

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

Which institutions lead Archaeology and Natural History research?

By volume in 2022-now, United States Geological Survey publishes the most Archaeology and Natural History research, followed by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and University of Florida.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 27 works
  2. 2 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 22 works
  3. 3 University of FloridaUnited States 11 works
  4. 4 University of ArizonaUnited States 11 works
  5. 5 The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 10 works
  6. 6 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 9 works
  7. 7 Film IndependentUnited States 8 works
  8. 8 University of New MexicoUnited States 8 works
  9. 9 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 8 works
  10. 10 United States Department of AgricultureUnited States 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Archaeology and Natural History?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Archaeology and Natural History include George Davey Smith, Paul M. Thompson and Stephen R. Carpenter.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  3. 3 Stephen R. Carpenter United States 165k citations
  4. 4 J. Nielsen France 139k citations
  5. 5 B. Allen Germany 134k citations

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

What are the most cited papers in Archaeology and Natural History?

The most cited paper in Archaeology and Natural History is "Monitoring the vernal advancement and retrogradation (green wave effect) of natural vegetation" (John Wilson Rouse, 1973), with 1,767 citations. Next come "Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1860" (944) and "Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache" (865).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Monitoring the vernal advancement and retrogradation (green wave effect) of natural vegetation John Wilson Rouse · NASA STI Repository (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Open access 27 Nov 1973 1,767
2 Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1860 Levi S. Peterson, Richard Slotkin · Western Historical Quarterly 1974 944
3 Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache Sarah B Johnson, Keith H. Basso · Journal of American Folklore 1998 865
4 Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire Harold K. Steen, Stephen J. Pyne · Western Historical Quarterly 1984 784
5 Sinuosity of Alluvial Rivers on the Great Plains Stanley A. Schumm · Geological Society of America Bulletin 1963 662
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Archaeology and Natural History research done?

The largest centres of Archaeology and Natural History research in 2022-now are Mexico City (Mexico), Washington D.C. (United States), Reston (United States) and Los Angeles (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Reston.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 Mexico CityMexico 38 works
  2. 2 Washington D.C.United States 31 works
  3. 3 RestonUnited States 27 works
  4. 4 Los AngelesUnited States 20 works
  5. 5 TucsonUnited States 18 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 17 works
  7. 7 AustinUnited States 12 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 12 works
  9. 9 GainesvilleUnited States 11 works
  10. 10 AlbuquerqueUnited States 9 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. RestonUS · 26.6 works107×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Archaeology and Natural History than the world average.

See Archaeology and Natural History on the map

Where is the best place to study Archaeology and Natural History?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Arizona, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and The University of Texas at Austin score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 9.48%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of ArizonaThe University of Te…University of FloridaUniversidad Nacional…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ArizonaUnited States 60.514.6%16.8×10 -1.2%
2Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 46.57.6%23.1×22 +6.1%
3The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 39.313.4%12.9×10 +94.7%
4University of FloridaUnited States 31.17.8%11.1×12 +0.6%
5University of New MexicoUnited States 17.54.0%33.3×8 +34.3%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Archaeology and Natural History, country by country

Is Archaeology and Natural History research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2015.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Archaeology and Natural History as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0058% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Archaeology and Natural History0.0045% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Archaeology and Natural History over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Archaeology and Natural History10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

Discussion

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