Environmental Change in Prehistory: An Interdisciplinary Examination of the Impact of the 6th Millennium BP Climate Transition on Human Populations
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: World Art Studies and Museology
Abstract
The proposed network will bring together archaeologists and climate scientists with expertise in the early and mid Holocene in order to investigate one of the most interesting but understudied cultural shifts in prehistory occurring in much of the Mediterranean after 6000 calibrated BP (4000 calibrated BC). In Europe, the Near East, Cyprus and North Africa archaeologists have documented widespread changes in settlement patterns and social and economic behaviour. Traditional interpretations of these changes have favoured regionally specific cultural explanations but increasingly, archaeological and environmental data recovered from excavations of 6th millennium BP sites are supporting and supplementing the growing body of climatic data indicating that the 6th millennium BP was a period of profound and irreversible climatic change. A forum which brings together key contributors to the debate is therefore timely and essential if we are to gain greater understanding of this emerging area of intellectual importance.
The study of past climatic and environmental change and its impact on human societies will become increasingly relevant as we move into the 21st century. Discussion of responses to rapid climatic and environmental change is essentially absent from the debate, yet the past provides us with comparisons which may prove relevant in the future. The geographically widespread climatic and environmental changes evident between ~6000 and 5000 BP provide us with an opportunity to explore the impacts of changes in climatic and environmental conditions on societies which, while remote in time, share many characteristics with historical and modern societies.
The results of this research will thus be of wide interest, not only amongst archaeologists and climate scientists, but also potentially, historians, art historians, human geographers and anthropologists researching modern human responses to environmental change.
The study of past climatic and environmental change and its impact on human societies will become increasingly relevant as we move into the 21st century. Discussion of responses to rapid climatic and environmental change is essentially absent from the debate, yet the past provides us with comparisons which may prove relevant in the future. The geographically widespread climatic and environmental changes evident between ~6000 and 5000 BP provide us with an opportunity to explore the impacts of changes in climatic and environmental conditions on societies which, while remote in time, share many characteristics with historical and modern societies.
The results of this research will thus be of wide interest, not only amongst archaeologists and climate scientists, but also potentially, historians, art historians, human geographers and anthropologists researching modern human responses to environmental change.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit from this research?
There is potential for the results of this research to be of very wide interest over the long term. One of the principal aims of the network is to engage academics in future collaborative and cross-disciplinary research that will examine, in different ways, how societies responded culturally to a changing environment. Organizations that are concerned with the effects of climatic and environmental changes on human populations, and with adaptation to these changes, will be the key beneficiaries of the outcomes of the network and of future research resulting from the network. For example, research arising from the network may inform organisations and policy makers considering the importance of appropriate ways of developing long-term perspectives on climate change and human adaptation for sustainable development and development planning, (e.g. the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the UK Department for International Development) . It will be important in future to expand and develop links, already established by the Co-investigator, Dr Nick Brooks with these organisations, in order to provide key opportunities to highlight the real relevance of archaeology to contemporary social, economic and environmental problems, and to inform high-level decision-making on some of the most important issues of 21st century.
What will be done to ensure that they benefit from this research?
As mentioned in the Impact Plan, public dissemination of the results of the project will be pursued via existing contacts with the broadcast and print media, building on previous media engagement with the research of the Co-investigator (Nick Brooks) on climate change and Saharan archaeology. Recent academic work by Nick Brooks has highlighted the importance of studies of past environmental change and human adaptation, drawing lessons from studies of the Middle Holocene desiccation of the Afro-Asiatic desert belt for research and policy on 21st century climate change and adaptation (Brooks 2006, Heyd and Brooks 2009, Brooks, in Press). The dissemination of the results of the network will also target organizations that are concerned with the impacts of climatic and environmental changes on human populations, and with adaptation to these changes.
There is potential for the results of this research to be of very wide interest over the long term. One of the principal aims of the network is to engage academics in future collaborative and cross-disciplinary research that will examine, in different ways, how societies responded culturally to a changing environment. Organizations that are concerned with the effects of climatic and environmental changes on human populations, and with adaptation to these changes, will be the key beneficiaries of the outcomes of the network and of future research resulting from the network. For example, research arising from the network may inform organisations and policy makers considering the importance of appropriate ways of developing long-term perspectives on climate change and human adaptation for sustainable development and development planning, (e.g. the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the UK Department for International Development) . It will be important in future to expand and develop links, already established by the Co-investigator, Dr Nick Brooks with these organisations, in order to provide key opportunities to highlight the real relevance of archaeology to contemporary social, economic and environmental problems, and to inform high-level decision-making on some of the most important issues of 21st century.
What will be done to ensure that they benefit from this research?
As mentioned in the Impact Plan, public dissemination of the results of the project will be pursued via existing contacts with the broadcast and print media, building on previous media engagement with the research of the Co-investigator (Nick Brooks) on climate change and Saharan archaeology. Recent academic work by Nick Brooks has highlighted the importance of studies of past environmental change and human adaptation, drawing lessons from studies of the Middle Holocene desiccation of the Afro-Asiatic desert belt for research and policy on 21st century climate change and adaptation (Brooks 2006, Heyd and Brooks 2009, Brooks, in Press). The dissemination of the results of the network will also target organizations that are concerned with the impacts of climatic and environmental changes on human populations, and with adaptation to these changes.
Organisations
Publications
Brooks N
(2012)
Beyond collapse: climate change and causality during the Middle Holocene Climatic Transition, 6400-5000 years before present
in Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography
Clarke J
(2016)
Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the 'long' 4th millennium BC: A comparative study of environmental and archaeological evidence
in Quaternary Science Reviews
| Description | Archaeologists and environmental scientists from around the world gathered in Norwich in 2011 to examine the evidence for rapid and severe environmental changes between about 4000 BC and 3000 BC, driven by global changes in climate, and to look at how these affected human societies. The work focused on the Mediterranean region and adjacent areas, in particular the regions encompassing modern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, and also northern Africa including the Sahara and its fringes. In all of these areas climate change ultimately resulted in the establishment of drier conditions. The workshops and resulting analyses for the paper achieved three significant outcomes. First, they enabled us to refine the chronology of environmental changes in this period. Whereas it is increasingly acknowledged that the 4th millennium BC was a period of significant climatic and environmental change, we identified widespread evidence that this period of climatic and environmental transition commenced in Africa around 4400 BC, and in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean around 4200 BC, Across the 20 terrestrial records analysed for the paper, aridity occurs at 4100/4200 BC, 3600/3700 BC and 3100/3300 BC. In marine records, aridity is implied at 4500/4600 BC, 3200/3300 BC and 2900/3000 BC. Second, while the overall trend was one of drying, there was considerable variation in how these global changes manifested themselves in the different regions examined. During this transitional period these regions variously experienced abrupt drying, interspersed with periods of intense rainfall ('deluges'), and high winds. Third, the workshops revealed evidence of how people apparently responded to these environmental change, with their responses depending on a variety of factors that mediated opportunities and constraints including culture, environment, technology, population, and resource availability. This allows us to develop models of human-environment interaction that acknowledge the role of climatic and environmental change in the development of human societies without being narrowly deterministic. |
| Exploitation Route | This work has significant potential for engaging the public in issues of climate change and its impacts on human societies. It can contribute to the wider debate about how people and societies in different parts of the world may be affected by and respond to climate change over the course of the twenty first century. It provides us with insights into how changes in resource availability driven by climate change may impact on human populations and lead to changes in the formal and informal institutions that play key roles in structuring society. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Security and Diplomacy,Other |
| URL | http://ecip.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | In 2012 Nick Brooks (co-Investigator on the ECiP Network), set up Garama 3C Ltd, a consultancy service on a wide range of issues related to climate change, with a particular focus on climate change and international development. The name "GARAMA" was chosen to represent the activities on which our work focuses: Guidance and Analysis, Risk Assessment, Mainstreaming, and Adaptation. Garama is also the name of an archaeological site that has played a key role in furthering our understanding of how dramatic changes in climate can shape human societies. Garama was the principal settlement of the Garamantes, a culture that flourished in the central Sahara between about 2500 and 1500 years ago. The first evidence of permanent settlement at Garama dates from just after 1000 BCE, and coincides with the final drying of springs and lakes in this part of the Sahara. Instead of abandoning an increasingly inhospitable landscape or fading into obscurity, the Garamantes innovated and adapted by developing sophisticated irrigation systems and adopting agriculture. They formed the Garamantian Tribal Confederation, the first indigenous Saharan civilisation outside of Egypt, and challenged Rome for control of North Africa. The Garamantes provide us with some of the strongest evidence of how climate change can result in profound societal change, through its impacts on environmental constraints and opportunities, and are an object lesson in adaptation on a societal scale. The remains of ancient Garama can be seen today at the edge of the modern Libyan town of Germa/Jarmah. For more information on the Garamantes, see these articles in Archaeology magazine and National Geographic. (The Garamantes were far from perfect, and their story was far from happy in the end, so they also force us to think about the impacts, costs and sustainability of different adaptation pathways - the point is to learn from, and not to emulate, them and their ilk). While there is widespread agreement that global warming should remain below 2º C above the late pre-industrial average global surface temperature, current policy regimes are likely to produce a warming of around 4º C by the late 21st century. The last time the world was 2º C warmer than in the recent past, sea-levels were 4-6 m higher than today. The last time the world was 3º C warmer, some 3.3 million years ago, sea-levels were 20-30 m higher. To find a time when temperatures were 4º C higher than today, we have to go back many more millions of years to a time when the face of the Earth was very different, meaning that we have no sensible analogues. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Engagement with UK Department for International Development funded 'Climate Smart Agriculture Programme' for Southern and Eastern Africa. Nick Brooks has been (2016) commissioned to write a review of transformational adaptation and its relevance for Eastern and Southern Africa. This review will cite the work of the ECiP network (specifically Clarke and Brooks 2015) and will use examples from the work of the network to illustrate transformational adaptation and the idea of 'thresholds of viability' (e.g. for agriculture). Transformational adaptation is an emerging and problematic issue in the area of international development, and it is anticipated that this review will be widely read. The target audience will be development practitioners and policy makers, not academics. |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Garama training courses on Climate Change Adaptation & Mainstreaming, run by Nick Brooks |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Training courses held 1-2 times per year at Garama office in Norwich, UK and delivered to various clients including, in 2012-2015, private sector (MWH, La Hulpe, Belgium; Adam Smith International, London and Pretoria, South Africa), African Development Bank (Tunis, Tunisia), Government of Mozambique (Maputo, Mozambique). Findings from ECiP network used in these training courses to illustrate rapid climate change and 'transformational adaptation' in context of possible climate change challenges for international development. Total audience ~90 over this period, including staff of government ministries including finance, planning, environment, agriculture, transport & communications; multilateral development banks; investment banks; United Nations agencies; government departments responsible for deliver of international aid; independent consultants. These activities brought the results of the ECiP work, and its potential implications for 21st century decision-making, to the attention of decision makers in the fields of international development and national economic development. |
| URL | http://www.garama.co.uk/training/ |
| Description | UEA short course on Climate Change and International Development. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Over period 2011-14 Nick Brooks presented multiple sessions on each annual course, including material based on work of ECiP network to illustrate issues around rapid climate change and adaptation. This course targets development professionals with similar backgrounds to those attending the Garama courses. Courses averaged ~12 participants resulting in estimated reach of 48 decision makers from diverse backgrounds and countries. |
| Description | Nick Brooks' seminar at Priestly Centre, University of Leeds, 27 January 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | "Tell me the good news about the end of the world" - Reflections of a climate change consultant. The seminar included discussion of work of ECIP network on Middle Holocene transition as analogue/comparator for 21st century climate change, and lessons for adaptation. Seminar audience ~50 people. Slides and audio track to be uploaded to departmental website |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Participation in TV documentary series on civilisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Jo Clarke and Nick Brooks are in discussion with a science documentary film-maker who is keen to include the results of the ECiP network in an episode on the 'rise of civilisation'. Discussions are well-developed and filming of content relating to the ECiP work is expected to take place in autumn 2016 . This is expected to influence wider debates about the rise and nature of civilisation, with implications for ideas around the concepts of progress and modernity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |