Dating fluvial processes from historical data and artifacts

Geographers have long used historical data and artifacts to reconstruct past landscapes. Many of the same data can provide powerful tools for dating stream processes over the past century or so but applications can range from months to millennia. Historical techniques are important not only to mainstream geomorphological investigations but also to fluvial applications in environmental management. The approach is useful for human-induced fluvial changes as well as for those occurring naturally. This paper is intended as an introduction to several of the primary techniques.