Climate Change - Past Perspectives
Archaeology of Natural Disasters
Over the last 20,000 years, human societies have risen and fallen like the tide; many of them fell or rose because of their ability (or lack of it) to respond to natural disasters. Here are a few of the disasters for which there is archaeological evidence.
CLIMAP Project
The CLIMAP Project was developed in the 1970s by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Climate Change Institute - Prehistoric Archaeology
The Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine is an interdisciplinary project studying the effects of planetary oscillations in climate. Several archaeologists contribute to this project.
Climate Change Linked to Origins of Agriculture In Mexico
This news report in Science Daily describes Dolores Piperno's investigations in the Balsas Valley of Mexico, where evidence of short-term climatic oscillations may have effected social change.
El Nino Southern Oscillation
El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the name given to a climatological effect that has caused havoc in the present and in the past.
Floods, Famine, and Emperors
Archaeologist Brian Fagan proposes what most archaeologists will recognize as an old chestnut: climate change is seen as a--if not the--major determinant of cultural change. This revolutionary book points to the enormous amount of data being gathered on the climatic phenomena known collectively as ENSO--the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
Human Impact on Ancient Environments
Charles Redman's book puts the human actor at the forefront, detailing the impacts that human actions have had on the environment in the past 10,000 years.
Prehistoric Wells at Archaic Sites in the High Southern Plains
During the Altithermal between 7500 and 4000 years ago, Archaic peoples on the high southern plains reacted to a sustained drought by digging wells.
Recent Cosmic Impacts on Earth
In this essay, contributor Thomas F. King describes the work of archaeologist Bruce Masse, who uses the nascent subfield of geomythology to trace world reactions to a postulated comet crash ca 2800 BC.
The Fate of Greenland's Vikings
In Archaeology magazine, Dale Mackenzie Brown discusses Eric the Red's failed colony on Greenland, and proposes that the failure occurred because they were unable to adapt to changing conditions.