No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Scenario of Environmental Degradation in the Tell Leilan Region, Ne Syria, During the Late Third Millennium Abrupt Climate Change
Abstract
This paper refines the characterization of the 2200–1900 BC abrupt climate change identified within soil proxy data retrieved on the Habur Plains (N.E. Syria). We compare a selection of soil stratigraphic data from: (1) archaeological contexts in which abandonment sequences above the last Tell Leilan period lib (2300–2200 B.C.) occupation floors provide a continuous record of the depositional dynamics 2200–1900 BC; (2) natural soil contexts in the environs of Tell Leilan that parallel the local site record with changes of soil-forming conditions and landform dynamics at a micro-regional level.
An interpretive model is elaborated to define the environmental variables involved in the dynamic behavior of regional soil systems. Soil attributes produced by redistribution of calcium carbonate, biological activity, movements of solid particles at the soil surface and through the soil, wetting-drying cycles, and wind activity, are all examined.
The soil record of the abrupt climate change reveals a weakening of pedological transformations, an increase of surface crusting and wind intensity, and an aerosol fallout rich in glass shards and calcitic spherules. These features characterize an aridification event unique in comparison to the other environmental changes recorded over the last 8000 years on the Habur Plains. These changes are both greater and different in nature than the effects of the droughts common to the region’s semi-arid Mediterranean climate. The soil degradation differs from the short-term fragilization of soil equilibrium induced by the abandonment of cultivation and land management. The increase of atmospheric dust loading rapidly initiated the hostile environmental conditions that constrained and reduced late third millennium intensified agro-production in North Mesopotamia, and thereby forced the collapse of Akkadian agro-imperialism. General circulation model linkages suggest both the spatial extent and the regional variability of the 2200-1900 BC abrupt climate change.
... At least along the Euphrates, this wetter period may have continued into the third quarter of the third millennium (Rosen and Goldberg 1995). However, further to the east, and much closer to the Cizre-Silopi research area, the second half of the third millennium appears characterized by increasing seasonality in rainfall and by reduced precipitation levels (Courty and Weiss 1997). Closely dated geomorphologic and pedological data from the Wadi Jarrah area of the Khabur basin shows that this process reached its peak from 2200 to 1900 B.C., when the agricultural potential of the region must have been significantly reduced (Courty and Weiss 1997;Weiss et al. 1993). ...
... However, further to the east, and much closer to the Cizre-Silopi research area, the second half of the third millennium appears characterized by increasing seasonality in rainfall and by reduced precipitation levels (Courty and Weiss 1997). Closely dated geomorphologic and pedological data from the Wadi Jarrah area of the Khabur basin shows that this process reached its peak from 2200 to 1900 B.C., when the agricultural potential of the region must have been significantly reduced (Courty and Weiss 1997;Weiss et al. 1993). This agrees well with the sharp decline in precipitation recorded about this time in the Lake Van sedimentary data. ...
... The second explanation for our results pertains only to the final quarter of the third millennium and compounds the preceding: it is likely that the paucity of sites in the Cizre-Silopi plain at this time also reflects a climatically-induced disjuncture of the occupation in the area similar to that postulated by Courty and Weiss (1997) for the Upper Khabur plains of Syria (above). ...
... Much attention has been focused on the Tell Leilan event, the gap in the settlement sequences in tell sites (Tell Leilan, Tell Brak, Tepe Garwa) in northern Mesopotamia about 2200 years ago that marks a rapid change in climate, desertification of the region, the collapse of the irrigation-based economy, and the resulting collapse of the Akkadian Empire (Weiss et al. 1993;Courty, Weiss 1997;Weiss, Bradley 2001;Cul len et al. 2000;deMenocal 2001.669). A similar sce nario was assumed for the collapse of Classic Maya culture (Hodell et al. 1995;deMenocal 2001.670;Haug ...
The article presents the concepts of repeating cycles of rapid climate variability in the Holocene, including rapid cooling cycles, cold events, ice-rafting events, and rapid climate change recorded in palaeoclimate archives. It also discusses the concepts of adaptation strategies embedded in the catastrophic scenarios of collapse on the one hand, and panarchy, resilience, and adaptation cycle on the other, i.e. the processes of transforming social hierarchical structures into dynamic, adaptive entities. In the rapid climate change series we focus on the 9.2 ka and 8.2 ka climate events associated with the Neolithisation process and the transition to farming. The 5.9 IRD event and/or period of rapid climate change from 6000–5200 cal yr BP are associated with the cultural, economic, and demographic collapse of the Early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture in central and western Europe. We also discuss the triad of recent weakening of North Atlantic ocean circulation, decreased solar activity, and the hypothesised transition to a cold period, the well-known historical scenario associated with the transition to Little Ice Age between 1450 and 1850.
... Legitimnost pojasnitev je zagotavljal postulat, da so tako kot »temna obdobja« tudi »podnebne fluktuacije historično dejstvo« (Bell 1971). Velika pozornost je bila namenjena »Leilan dogodku« -prekinitvi v poselitvi okoli leta 2200 pred sedanjostjo v vrsti tell naselbin (Tell Leilan, Tell Brak, Tepe Gawra) v severni Mezopotamiji, ki naj bi označevala hitro podnebno spremembo in dezertifikacijo regije, razpad namakalnega gospodarstva in kolaps akadskega kraljestva (Weiss et al. 1993;Courty, Weiss 1997;Weiss, Bradley 2001;Cullen et al. 2000;deMenocal 2001). Podoben scenarij naj bi veljal tudi za kolaps civilizacije Majev (Hodell et al. 1995;de-Menocal 2001;Haug et al. 2003). ...
7 1.02 Pregledni znanstveni članek Arheologija in nenadne podnebne spremembe v holocenu. Prilagoditvene strategije: med kolapsom in odpornostjo Archaeology and Rapid Climate Changes in Holocene. Adaptive Strategies: Between Collapse and Resilience © Mihael Budja Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za arheologijo; mihael.budja@ff.uni-lj.si Arheo 39, 2022, 7-41 Uvod V obravnavah sedanjih podnebnih anomalij so pretekla dogajanja dosledno spregledana. Zato v tem besedilu predstavljamo in komentiramo klimatološke in arheo-loške koncepte ter pojasnitve, povezane z velikimi pod-nebnimi spremembami in vzroki zanje ter družbenimi prilagoditvami nanje v zadnjih dvanajst tisoč letih. Kli-matologi so v paleoklimatoloških arhivih odkrili nize nenadnih in različno dolgih ohladitev ter suš, toplih ob-dobij in regionalno zamejenih obdobij močnih padavin. Najbolj znane so poznoantična mala ledena doba in mala ledena doba ter vmesno srednjeveško toplo obdobje. V arheoloških študijah so bili ti dogodki običajno povezani z globalnimi okoljskimi katastrofami in kolapsi (gospo-darski, demografski, kulturni, politični) prazgodovinskih Izvleček: V članku predstavljamo holocenske klimatske nize anomalij, »cikel hitrih ohladitev« (tudi »dogodki s plavajočim ledom«, »nenadne podnebne spremembe« in »hladni dogodki«), ter globalne temperaturne trende. Umeščamo jih v časovne (koledarske) sekvence in povezujemo z nadomestnimi podatki v paleoklimatskih arhivih. V nizu nenadnih podnebnih sprememb pozornost namenjamo »9.2 ka« in »8.2 ka« klimatskima dogodkoma, ki ju povezujemo s procesom neolitizacije in prehodom na kmetovanje. Bondov peti, »5.9 IRD dogodek«, oziroma Mayewskijevo obdobje nenadnih podnebnih sprememb »6000-5200 cal yr BP«, pa sta povezana s kulturnim, gospodarskim in demografskim razpadom zgodnje neolitske Linearno trakaste keramike v srednji in zahodni Evropi. Sedanje oslabljeno kroženje morskih tokov v severnem Atlantiku in zmanjšane Sončeve aktivnosti primerjamo s podnebnim dogajanjem ob prehodu v srednjeveško malo ledeno dobo, ki so jo zaznamovala velika podnebna nihanja, povezana s spremenjenimi atmosferskimi kroženji zračnih mas. V nadaljevanju predstavljamo koncepte prilagoditvenih strategij, ki so umeščene med »kolaps«, katastrofični scenarij in »panarhijo«, ki pomeni preoblikovanje družbenih hierarhičnih struktur v dinamične prilagoditvene entitete. Preoblikovanje vključuje »prilagoditveni cikel« in vzpostavitev »odpornosti«. V razmislek ponujamo poskus enačenja ekološkega »prilagoditvenega cikla« s »kulturnim ciklom« in njegovo vpeljavo v arheološke študije. Vključujemo tudi okoljsko-politične interpretacije in scenarije, ki jih je v zadnjih letih objavljal Medvladni odbor za podnebne spremembe pri OZN. Abstract: The article presents Holocene sequence of climate anomalies, the »rapid cooling cycle« (including »glacial events«, »rapid climate change«, and »cold events«), and global temperature trends. In the »rapid climate change« series, we focus on the »9.2 ka« and »8.2 ka climate events« associated with the Neolithisation proces and the transition to farming. The »5.9 IRD event« and/ or »period of rapid climate changes 6000-5200 cal yr BP« are associated with the cultural, economic, and demographic collapse of the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture in central and western Europe. The current weakened North Atlantic circulation and reduced solar activity are compared to climate events during the transition to the mediaeval Little Ice Age, which was characterised by large climate variations associated with altered atmospheric air mass circulations. In the following, we introduce the concepts of adaptation strategies that are embedded between the catastrophic scenario of »collapse« and the »panarchy«, i.e., the transformation of social hierarchical structures into dynamic, adaptive units. The transformation involves an »adaptation cycle« and the creation of »resilience«. An attempt to equate the ecological »adaptation cycle« with the »cultural cycle« and its introduction into archaeological studies was presented. We also present ecological interpretations and scenarios published in recent years by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). kultur in kasnejših civilizacij. V novejših meddisciplinar-nih pojasnitvah so globalni okvir nadomestila regional-na klimatska dogajanja, kolaps pa druge prilagoditvene strategije. Prvi interpretativni nastavki, ki so podnebne spremembe povezovali s civilizacijskimi in kulturnimi trajektorijami, so se izoblikovali že na začetku 20. stoletja. Umeščeni so bili v geografske, klimatološke in arheološke študije. Nenadna sušna obdobja in aridifikacijo so prepoznali kot podnebni in okoljski determinanti ter ju povezali s kata-strofičnim scenarijem propada civilizacij v Egiptu, Me-zopotamiji in Indiji ter vpadi nomadskih ljudstev iz sre-dnje Azije v Evropo (Huntigton 1926; Brooks 1926). V vzporednem, prilagoditvenem scenariju je »teorija oaze« določala razvoj gospodarskih strategij, ki so vključevale
... Эти интерпретации были легитимированы постулатом Барбары Белл о том, что колебания климата представляют собой историческую реальность так же, как и «темные века» (Bell, 1971). Большой акцент был сделан на так называемом событии «Tell Leilan», в результате которого произошло прекращение заселения в северной Месопотамии (например, Tell Leilan, Tell Brak, Tepe Gawra) около 4200 calBP/2200 calBC, что указывает на быстрое изменение климата и опустынивание региона, крах ирригационной системы и Аккадской империи (Weiss et al., 1993;Courty & Weiss, 1997;Weiss & Bradley 2001;Cullen et al., 2000;deMenocal, 2001). Аналогичный сценарий был предложен, на основе рассмотрения исчезновения цивилизации Майя (Hodell et al., 1995;deMenocal, 2001;Haug et al., 2003). ...
... Эти интерпретации были легитимированы постулатом Барбары Белл о том, что колебания климата представляют собой историческую реальность так же, как и «темные века» (Bell, 1971). Большой акцент был сделан на так называемом событии «Tell Leilan», в результате которого произошло прекращение заселения в северной Месопотамии (например, Tell Leilan, Tell Brak, Tepe Gawra) около 4200 calBP/2200 calBC, что указывает на быстрое изменение климата и опустынивание региона, крах ирригационной системы и Аккадской империи (Weiss et al., 1993;Courty & Weiss, 1997;Weiss & Bradley 2001;Cullen et al., 2000;deMenocal, 2001). Аналогичный сценарий был предложен, на основе рассмотрения исчезновения цивилизации Майя (Hodell et al., 1995;deMenocal, 2001;Haug et al., 2003). ...
... Sulla profondità della crisi delle società complesse si è aperto un dibattito ancora in corso e i modelli proposti variano da regione a regione (Courty, Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoğlu, Marro 2007;Weiss 2012). Il quadro è in realtà complesso e il cambiamento risponde alla combinazione di effetti di contrazione, distruzione e abbandono che causa la riduzione della complessità organizzativa e la dispersione dell'insediamento (Peltenburg 2000). ...
La regione attraversata dal corso superiore del fiume Tigri, in Turchia sud-orientale, è stata per molto tempo un'area poco conosciuta dal punto di vista archeologico. L'intensificarsi delle ricerche sul campo, a partire dagli anni novanta del secolo scorso, ha prodotto le evidenze su cui basare una prima ricostruzione della storia dell'insediamento e della cultura materiale di questi territori, tra le alte terre anatolico-orientali e le pianure mesopotamiche. I risultati degli scavi e le ricognizioni indicano che tra la fine del Bronzo Antico e l'inizio del Bronzo Medio giunge a maturazione un processo di trasformazione e riorganizzazione delle comunità locali. La comparsa di ampi complessi architettonici ed edifici in siti di medio-piccole dimensioni, caratterizzati da un particolare repertorio di oggetti e da ceramiche rosso-brune, potrebbe nascondere la formazione di realtà socio-politiche più strutturate rispetto a quelle del periodo precedente ed essere espressione di quel mondo khurrita che avrebbe avuto proprio nella regione del Tigri, secondo le ricostruzioni storiche, una delle zone di insediamento principale.
... Palaeoclimatic data from this area may thus be also broadly meaningful of the conditions in Central Asia. They indicate a progressive increase in aridity in the second half of the 5th millennium BP (Courty and Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoglu 2007). Two periods of dryness have been recorded (4200-4100 BP and 4050-3850 BP) separated by a half century more humid. ...
During the Final Bronze Age (around 3750/3700 BP), the proto-urban sedentary cultural entity in southern Central Asia—known as the Oxus civilization or Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex—underwent major social transformations in different field aspects leading to a deep cultural change in the middle of the 4th millennium BP. Among the different reasons suggested to explain these sociocultural changes, the hypothesis of global climate change in Central Asia at the beginning of the 4th millennium BP has been emphasized by different scholars. In this paper, I will examine current paleo-environmental data in relation with the climate evolution during the Mid- and Late Holocene. A critical assessment of the hypothesis of climatic change in Central Asia at the beginning of the 4th millennium BP allows to stimulate the discussion anew. I argue that the present data do not support a drastic climate change during the first half of the 4th millennium BP as a responsible factor for the fall of the Oxus civilization, although local environmental modifications should also not be underestimated and further investigated in a more integrated perspective of co-evolution of the ecological environment and the human societies.
... Palaeoclimatic data from this area may thus be also broadly meaningful of the conditions in Central Asia. They indicate a progressive increase in aridity in the second half of the 5th millennium BP (Courty and Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoglu 2007). Two periods of dryness have been recorded (4200-4100 BP and 4050-3850 BP) separated by a half century more humid. ...
This chapter presents the first results and interpretations of a selected dataset of rock carvings from the Karakorum mountains. The research is focused on early Buddhist carvings and their spread and role within networks of the early Silk Roads in Central Asia from the 2nd–1st century BCE. The rock carvings and their archaeological context are studied to gain insight into routes from Gandhara through the Karakorum range. The first part presents the general aims and relevance. The second and third parts describe the analysis and interpretation of the Karakorum dataset, followed by the main points of discussion and conclusions to incite future investigations.
... Palaeoclimatic data from this area may thus be also broadly meaningful of the conditions in Central Asia. They indicate a progressive increase in aridity in the second half of the 5th millennium BP (Courty and Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoglu 2007). Two periods of dryness have been recorded (4200-4100 BP and 4050-3850 BP) separated by a half century more humid. ...
This chapter reveals how ecological zones and their division into steppe and sown, nomadic and sedentary people, helped Russian ethnographers to understand the heritage and urban neighbourhood principles of Bukhara. It charts the launch and significance of ethnographic enquiry into this former oasis city within the context of Eurasianism, and illuminates the notion of soil in Russian thought, together with the central role it played in the study of the interrelationship between environmental factors and socio-cultural changes. The evidence will be used to present ethnographic accounts as a way of transferring knowledge between Asia and Europe, and argue in favour of a flexible approach negotiating between nature and culture, and as a process of hybridization, whereby cultures come together and, by learning from each other, create a pathway towards Eurasian integration and global intellectual interaction.
... Palaeoclimatic data from this area may thus be also broadly meaningful of the conditions in Central Asia. They indicate a progressive increase in aridity in the second half of the 5th millennium BP (Courty and Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoglu 2007). Two periods of dryness have been recorded (4200-4100 BP and 4050-3850 BP) separated by a half century more humid. ...
The Chinese empire experienced a large expansion to the arid regions in the west during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The Hexi Corridor, the Yanqi Basin, the southeastern part of the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin became part of the empire. The expansion of the Han Dynasty was accompanied by the significant intensification of irrigation farming along rivers draining the Qilian, Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses and dating of lake sediments and shorelines revealed that four large lakes in the region experienced falling levels, or were almost or completely desiccating. The level of Zhuyeze Lake was falling rapidly ca. 2100 years before present (a BP), and the accumulation of lake sediments was replaced by an alluvial fan setting in large parts of the basin. Lake Eastern Juyan desiccated ca. 1700 a BP. Lake Bosten experienced low levels and increasing salinities at ca. 2200 a BP. Lake sediments in the Lop Nur region were mostly replaced by aeolian sands during a period of near-desiccation at 1800 a BP. In contrast, records from fifteen lakes farther in the west, north or south of the Han Dynasty realm indicate relatively wet climate conditions ca. 2000 years ago. Thus, dramatic landscape changes including the near and complete desiccation of large lakes in the arid western part of today’s China probably resulted from the withdrawal of water from tributaries during the Han Dynasty. These changes likely represent the earliest man-made environmental disasters comparable to the recent Aral-Sea crisis.
... In summary, in the semiarid environments where most tells are located, the principal natural agencies and processes affecting them that have been identified by field observation, micromorphology, and elemental, mineralogical, and organic geochemical analyses include (1) organic decay from microbial action in oxidizing conditions that result in the loss of perishable materials, subsequent reduction in the volume and depth of deposits, and deposition of amorphous organic staining; (2) physical disturbance and reworking of deposit structures by burrowing insects, microfauna, animals, and plant or tree roots (Courty and Weiss, 1997;Davidson et al., 2010); (3) dissolution and reprecipitation of salts (gypsum and sodium salts; Maghsoudi et al., 2014) as well as carbonates due to evaporation at the surface or point of contact with plant roots during transpiration; (4) formation of other new or altered minerals such as vivianite in phosphate-and iron-rich deposits and transformation of ash (Weiner, 2010); (5) occasional translocation of fine materials and redeposition, often along edges of voids by water movement; and (6) surface erosion and deposition by wind and water, for example, which may significantly alter the form and height of tells (Rosen, 1986;Davidson et al., 2010). ...
... Palaeoclimatic data from this area may thus be also broadly meaningful of the conditions in Central Asia. They indicate a progressive increase in aridity in the second half of the 5th millennium BP (Courty and Weiss 1997;Kuzucuoglu 2007). Two periods of dryness have been recorded (4200-4100 BP and 4050-3850 BP) separated by a half century more humid. ...
The final centuries BCE (Before Common Era) saw the main focus of trade between the Far East and Europe switch from the so called Northern Route across the Asian steppes to the classical silk roads. The cities across central Asia flourished and grew in size and importance. While clearly there were political, economic and cultural drivers for these changes, there may also have been a role for changes in climate in this relatively arid region of Asia. Analysis of a new ensemble of snapshot global climate model simulations, run every 250 years over the last 6000 years, allows us to assess the long term climatological changes seen across the central Asian arid region through which the classical Silk Roads run. While the climate is comparatively stable through the Holocene, the fluctuations seen in these simulations match significant cultural developments in the region. From 1500 BCE the deterioration of climate from a transient precipitation peak, along with technological development and the immigration of Aryan nomads, drove a shift towards urbanization and probably irrigation, culminating in the founding of the major cities of Bukhara and Samarkand around 700–500 BCE. Between 1000 and 250 BCE the modelled precipitation in the central Asian arid region undergoes a transition towards wetter climates. The changes in the Western Disturbances, which is the key weather system for central Asian precipitation, provides 10% more precipitation and the increased hydrological resources may provide the climatological foundation for the golden era of Silk Road trade.
... Due to the ample water flow from the Tigris and Euphrates, the Mesopotamian sociopolitical organization of urban-based elites was not altered, nor was the subsistence base of cereal agriculture. Despite attempts to mitigate the effects of climate such as irrigation canal dredging, the Akkadian culture collapsed as well and by around 2200 BCE Tell Leilan lay deserted for 300 years (Courty and Weiss 1997;Weiss 2010;Weiss et al. 1993). ...
Federal climate policy in the United States is still in its infancy and is in large part characterized by efforts to reach a consensus on the very existence and causality of climate change. This has stemmed from a sociopoliti-cal rift within the country, with the objectivity and usefulness of science attacked by detractors. Scientists who are most qualified to defend their methods and provide information to policymakers rarely have an institutional incentive to share this knowledge, but should be encouraged to communicate their findings to the public, especially those who receive public funding. By not doing so, they are effectively 1) keeping data and their interpretations within the academy alone, despite their importance to the public welfare, 2) losing public support through inactivity, and 3) potentially harming the future availability of research support in what has rapidly become a politically polarized funding atmosphere. Archaeologists and geoscientists in particular, as repositories of past ecological knowledge established through one method (Western academic) of empirical examination , are well positioned to broadcast to the public a variety of societal responses to long-term environmental change as well as the repercussions of political reorganization in the wake of resource shortage-induced societal collapse. This paper summarizes a few promising public outreach engagements on environment and climate change, and suggests further venues for institutional change at the university level. As an example of how multi-causal socio-ecological processes can be concisely packaged for consumption by the public and policymakers without oversimplifying data, we present a synthesis of regional case studies from the New and Old Worlds. Case studies are connected through anthro-pological processes of cooperation versus exclusion, subsistence shifts, sociopolitical (re)organization and hierarchy, violence, and disease in a preliminary attempt a) to identify the emotional and anecdotal psychology of our own society when it comes to the changing global environment, b) to discuss the issue of scalar differences between ancient and modern ecology, and c) to call on academics to introspectively alter our own attitudes and systems of incentives at the university level.
... During the first half of the third millennium BCE (EB II-III), settlement in the desert reached its peak, with hundreds of habitations, corrals and a variety of installations (Haiman 1991b;Avner 1998Avner , 2002Cohen and Cohen-Amin 1999;Beit-Arieh 2003). In the second half of this millennium, the Near East suffered profound crises, most probably resulting from abrupt climatic change (Butzer 1997;Courty and Weiss 1997;Langgut et al. 2014Langgut et al. , 2016. In the desert, however, many of the EB II-III habitations continued in occupation into the EB IV (2500-2000 BCE) and many new sites were founded (ibid.). ...
The Negev Desert has a rich variety of cult types that can be dated back as long as 9,000 years ago. The article focuses on the types that were dominant in the seventh to third millennia BCE, including standing stone maṣṣebot, open-air sanctuaries, burial grounds and ‘Rodedian’ sites. Descriptions and interpretations of where these cult types enable a comprehensive view in which desert societies reveal intensive cultic activity and fully-developed creeds signifying that they were not only the forerunners of religious concepts but actually influenced theological development in the settled lands of the ancient Near East.
... This led to an ecologically unsustainable spike in food production that, while it lasted, fuelled a period of societal excesses, including military aggression, 6 which later proved difficult to wind back as climate change and increasing soil salinity eroded the productive bases for cities such as Babylon. 7 Speaking to this dilemma, Ellul casts a generally pessimistic picture of the interplay of civilisation and technique, contending that the way they mutually reinforce each other to create a hegemonic 'technological morality' 8 makes the process difficult to interrupt. 9 In similar fashion, many contemporary technocratic measures for protecting agricultural heritage (such as geographic indication or ecological food certifications) are themselves constitutive of technique, and therefore predestined to fail or backfire in achieving socially-resilient environmental goals. ...
Many facets of globalisation are contested on ethical or humanitarian grounds but the defence of local food and agriculture often borders on the spiritual. In particular, the decline or homogenisation of local food and agriculture is often acutely felt because it embodies a spiritual violation of cultural identity and sacredness of the land. The essence of this crisis has been newly characterised in Pope Francis’ latest encyclical Laudato si’, which captures the spiritual relevance of agriculture by characterising the human response to contemporary ecological decline and culinary shifts. In trying to understand how we arrived at our present state, sociologists of faith, such as the late Jacques Ellul have long described how technology comes to dominate over nature in processes such as agricultural development. In his argument, by incrementally drawing humans away from nature and into technological spheres (by engineering tractors, producing agri-chemicals, and genetically modifying plants), alienation from nature is amplified and the scope of ecological crisis broadens. This phenomenon is not new; indeed, most religious texts and creation myths caution against this alienation through parables and commandments. In light of the new public attention being drawn to the spiritual dimension of the ecological crisis, this chapter explores content from Judeo-Christian texts and Cambodian myths that specifically speaks to this phenomenon. The valorisation of the land found, for example, in the book of Exodus referencing Israel as the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’, is typical of religious and pseudo-religious narrative that are integrated with political narratives such as nationalism and cultural patrimony. In this chapter, I address how national metanarratives built on these spiritual-historic characterisations play a role in shaping agriculture and food policy and evaluate the spiritual dimension of a few Cambodian initiatives that attempt to moderate the alienation brought about by industrialisation and globalisation.
... Great emphasis was placed on the so-called 'Tell Leilan event', a disruption in the settlement of many tell sites in northern Mesopotamia (i.e. Tell Leilan, Tell Brak, Tepe Gawra) around 2200 calBC that marks the rapid climate change and desertification of the region, the collapse of the irrigation system and of the Akkadian Empire (Weiss et al. 1993;Courty, Weiss 1997;Weiss, Bradley 2001;Cullen et al. 2000;deMenocal 2001). A similar scenario was proposed for the fall of Mayan civilisation (Hodell et al. 1995;deMenocal 2001;Haug et al. 2003). ...
The 'rapid climate change', 'cycles of abrupt climate shift', and 'cold events' in the Holocene are discussed in relation to the 'collapse of civilisation' concept, and adaptive cycles and the panarchy interpretative model.
... The impact of climate change on Early Bronze Age civilizations in the Near East (2300 to 1900 BC) is discussed by Weiss (1993), Gibbons (1993) and Courty and Weiss (1997). Impacts on the Late Bronze Age is analyzed by Weiss (1982), including some reference to modern patterns of interannual variability. ...
In this report, we use several tools to document recent large scale trends in Middle East hydrology. Four interelated aspects are investigated: 1) upland snow cover in the Zagros and Taurus mountains, 2) runoff and discharge in the Tigris, Euphrates and other rivers, 3) rainfed agriculture in the Fertile Crescent and 4) irrigated agriculture using river waters. The primary tools used in this work are conventional climate data sets, a 1982 to 1998 time series of composited AVHRR satellite data and a simple hydrology model run with a monthly time step on a 5 kilometer grid. We show that interannual variation in winter temperature has a significant influence on the extent of winter snow cover by shifting the snow line. The hydrology model, including snowmelt, predicts the timing and magnitude of river discharges. Watersheds at different elevations discharge a fraction of rainfall ranging from 10 to 60 percent. Statistical correlation of climate and satellite data indicates that winter minimum temperature influences the density of April and May rainfed crop vegetation in the northern border region of the Fertile Crescent. Winter precipitation controls the density of the April, May and June crop density in the Fertile Crescent and in marginal lands on the steppe. Spring rains control natural steppe grasses in April and May. Multi-scale analysis of AVHRR and Landsat images allowed us to estimate the trend in irrigated area. Rapid increases in irrigated lands occurred between 1992and 1998 in large new "plantations", in traditional river bank locations and in thinly distributed areas in Mesopotamia. Recent growth in irrigated land has increased evaporative water losses to levels comparable with river discharges. Along the lower Balikh, irrigation has decreased due to upstream withdrawals. In the final section, the model is used to predict the sensitivity of river discharge and rainfed agriculture to cooler/warmer, wetter/dryer conditions.
... Research into the social effects has largely focused on two approaches. First, archaeologists have examined material culture (dis)continuities (ceramic chronologies) and demography (inhabited area) (e.g., Courty and Weiss, 1997;Weiss, 2000;Ristvet and Weiss, 2005). This approach has led to criticisms that the "crisis" may be merely a contrivance of incomplete archaeological surveys and ceramic topology issues (e.g., Porter, 2007: 107). ...
The Early to Middle Bronze Age transition in Northern Mesopotamia has received great attention for the apparent concurrence of aridification, deurbanisation, and the end of the Akkadian empire around 2200 BCE. Our understanding of the “crisis” has been almost exclusively shaped by ceramics, demography, and subsistence. Exchange and the associated social networks have been largely neglected. Here we report our sourcing results for 97 obsidian artefacts from Urkesh, a large urban settlement inhabited throughout the crisis. Before the crisis, six obsidian sources located in Eastern Anatolia are represented among the artefacts. Such a diversity of Eastern Anatolian obsidians at one site is hitherto unknown in Mesopotamia. It implies Urkesh was a cosmopolitan city with diverse visitors or visitors with diverse itineraries. During this crisis, however, obsidians came from only two of the closest sources. Two to three centuries passed before varied obsidians reappeared. Even when an obsidian source reappears, the raw material seems to have come from a different collection spot. We discuss the likely exchange mechanisms and related social networks responsible for the arrival of obsidians at Urkesh and how they might have changed in response to climatic perturbations and regional government collapse.
This master thesis is based on the soil micromorphological study of the sedimentary samples from Anta 1 de Vale da Laje site, located in Tomar, Portugal. The site of Anta 1 de Vale da Laje is one of the sites currently under study within the research framework of the projects Landscape occupation strategies during the Holocene in the Middle Tagus (Es.Ter.Tejo) and Moving tasks across shapes: the agro-pastoralists spread from and into the Alto Ribatejo (MTAS). Asides the stratigraphic problems of the site, it remained unclear the modification successions in time, of the monument and the processes that can be attributed to their sequencing, which were scopes of the abovementioned projects. Micromorphological study of human impact and natural processes on the environment has been reliant on the interpretation from the study of the undisturbed palaeosols. This study applied the methodological approach of soil micromorphological analyses to understand both the stratigraphic sequence and the evolution of the megalithic tomb of Anta 1 de Vale da Laje site where stratigraphic continuity and discontinuity were observed. The result of the analyses recognized six (6) periods of activities and three (3) phases of site evolution, as well as identification of human activities relating to agricultural practices, constructions and natural processes such as weathering, leaching, and erosion resulting from impact of rainfall.
For decades, archaeologists and historians have debated explanations for the socio-cultural transitions that occurred throughout much of the Near East around the turn of the 2nd millennium BC. One culture-historical explanation that was popularized more than half a century ago is cultural diffusion via mass migration, particularly of the Amorites, an ambiguous population whom some consider responsible for initiating and spreading Middle Bronze Age culture. Although today’s scholarly consensus has, in the main, departed from such perspectives, the spectre of the Amorites persists. The present work scrutinizes the textual and material records upon which assumptions of Amorite ethnicity and shared material culture are based. Based on a longue dureé contextual approach to the archaeological record, we test the problematic Amorite Hypothesis and underlying assumptions. We argue for mainly long-term indigenous trajectories toward social complexity from the perspective of the southern Levant.
The second half of the 3rd millennium BCE witnessed one of the most serious climatic events during the Holocene. Evidence gathered from all over the northern hemisphere of the world shows that the climate became warmer on a global scale towards the end of the millennium. The glaciers started melting causing the levels of the oceans to rise. The high sea level led to a general rise of the groundwater table. The immediate effect for the people in some of these northernmost regions was a considerable decrease of arable lands with famine and local migrations in its wake. The temperate zones, mountain ranges and their valleys saw a considerable improvement enjoying sufficient precipitation to maintain agriculture without being covered by snow for most months of the year. The northern highlands and central Europe flourished.
The end of the 3rd millennium BC in the Levant has been interpreted as a time of settlement collapse and dislocation. A variety of theories have been proposed to account for this, such as climate change and landscape degradation, natural disaster and population movements. This article will review the archaeological evidence for this period in the Levant and offer new insights into what potentially occurred at the end of the 3rd millennium BC.
Pedological and palynological data from Eneolithic and Bronze Age settlements in the steppe zone of eastern Ukraine show that the transition from the mild climate of the Atlantic period (6,500–5,500 BP) to the more continental climate of the Subboreal was marked by considerable impoverishment of the floristic composition and by reduction or disappearance of several mesophilic and thermophilic taxa. Within this general background, there were also rhythmic oscillations between wet climate stages marked by expansion of forest-steppe, with dry climate stages marked by expansion of steppes. Five such shifts have occurred between 5,500 and 2,500 BP. The strongest aridification occurred between about 4,100 and 3,500 BP. It is marked by the decrease of humus accumulation, biogenic activity and chemical weathering in the soils, which became rather loess-like and contain deep desiccation fissures. Pollen data show sharp reduction of forest areas, significant xerophytization of steppe vegetation, and drying of flood plain swamps. The forest-steppe landscapes of the Early Subboreal were replaced by Artemisia-Gramineae steppes representing the shift through three phyto- geographic subzones. None of the Holocene climatic fluctuations was as sharp and contrasting when compared with the preceding and following stages. In studied regions, no major paleoenvironmental changes were observed within that interval that could be clearly ascribed to human impact. The Mid-Subboreal aridification is therefore considered to be of natural origin.
The increased number of archaeological activities, underway as a result of the projected construction of the Ilisu dam to be built along the Tigris river in southeastern Anatolia, have brought to light numerous structures associated with the material culture of the late third millennium to mid second millennium BC. The assemblages are characterised by a local variety of pottery, the so-called 'Red Brown Wash Ware', usually found in contexts associated with materials similar to those available from contemporaneous periods in northern Mesopotamia, northern Syria and Anatolia. As a consequence, this paper investigates the apparent cultural interactions which took place between the Mesopotamian and Anatolian regions during the above-mentioned period, drawing on recent data obtained at the site of Hirbemerdon Tepe located along the upper Tigris river valley in southeastern Anatolia. Through this overview, an additional objective is to bring to a broader public the material culture of this relatively little known yet increasingly significant region of the ancient Near East.
The Middle Helladic period has received little attention, partially because of scholars' view of it as merely the prelude to the Mycenaean period and partially because of the dearth of archaeological evidence from the period. In this book, Helène Whittaker demonstrates that Middle Helladic Greece is far more interesting than its material culture might at first suggest. Whittaker comprehensively reviews and discusses the archaeological evidence for religion on the Greek mainland, focusing on the relationship between religious expression and ideology. The book argues that religious beliefs and rituals played a significant role in the social changes that were occurring at the time. The arguments and conclusions of this book will be relevant beyond the Greek Bronze Age and will contribute to the general archaeological debate on prehistoric religion.
From the Euphrates Valley to the southern Peruvian Andes, early complex societies have risen and fallen, but in some cases they have also been reborn. Prior archaeological investigation of these societies has focused primarily on emergence and collapse. This is the first book-length work to examine the question of how and why early complex urban societies have reappeared after periods of decentralization and collapse. Ranging widely across the Near East, the Aegean, East Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes, these cross-cultural studies expand our understanding of social evolution by examining how societies were transformed during the period of radical change now termed 'collapse.' They seek to discover how societal complexity reemerged, how second-generation states formed, and how these re-emergent states resembled or differed from the complex societies that preceded them. The contributors draw on material culture as well as textual and ethnohistoric data to consider such factors as preexistent institutions, structures, and ideologies that are influential in regeneration; economic and political resilience; the role of social mobility, marginal groups, and peripheries; and ethnic change. In addition to presenting a number of theoretical viewpoints, the contributors also propose reasons why regeneration sometimes does not occur after collapse. A concluding contribution by Norman Yoffee provides a critical exegesis of 'collapse' and highlights important patterns found in the case histories related to peripheral regions and secondary elites, and to the ideology of statecraft. After Collapse blazes new research trails in both archaeology and the study of social change, demonstrating that the archaeological record often offers more clues to the 'dark ages' that precede regeneration than do text-based studies. It opens up a new window on the past by shifting the focus away from the rise and fall of ancient civilizations to their often more telling fall and rise.
Following up on an earlier paper demonstrating statistically significant relationships between measures of recurring political-economic crises (hinterland incursions, trade collapses, economic contractions, and regime transitions) and a measure of climate deterioration (the interaction of falling Tigris-Euphrates river levels and years of warming/ drying), the inter-relationships among these variables are examined more closely for the 34001000 bce period. Theoretically focused on a test of Tainters diminishing marginal return theory of societal collapse, additional indicators are introduced encompassing population (urban population size, urban popula-tion growth rate) as a proxy for diminishing marginal returns, two measures of centralization/ fragmentation (including imperial size), and the indicators used for the climate interaction term in the earlier paper. The multivariate logit outcome for interactions among and between the 11 variables reinforces the earlier findings linking climate deterioration to political-economic crises, extends the climate deterioration linkage to fragmentation and population decline, and finds relatively strong support for the Tainter derived expectation that diminishing marginal returns and fragmentation are closely linked but that both are less closely linked to recurring political-economic crises than might otherwise have been anticipated.
Accurate construction of archaeological stratigraphy has long been recognized as crucial in providing a solid chronocultural framework for discussing past behavioral activities and their linkages with geological processes (Gasche and Tunca, 1984; Harris, 1979). As a consequence, a major effort during excavation has been directed toward the definition of individual strata and their spatial variations. This goal has been accomplished through careful observation of the properties of the sedimentary matrix and its organization in three-dimensional space. The interfering effects of natural agents and human activities on the accumulation of the sedimentary matrix has been considered by some to conform to the principle of stratigraphic succession—as elaborated by earth scientists—and thus conforming to geological laws (Renfrew, 1976; Stein, 1987). Others have strongly argued that the rules and axioms of geological sedimentation cannot be applied to archaeological layers because they are produced by people and thus constitute an entirely distinct set of phenomena (Harris, 1979; Brown and Harris, 1993). Understanding the processes involved in the formation of archaeological stratification has also long been a question of passionate debate, with the views of human or natural deposition being opposed to the theory of biological mixing (Johnson and Watson-Stegner, 1990). These contradictory perceptions have been tentatively reconciled by the recognition of the inherent general complexity of archaeological stratigraphy, that can be isolated into its lithostratigraphic, chronoslratigraphic, and ethnostratigraphic components (Barham, 1995; Gasche and Tunca, 1984).
The sediments of Lake Van, the fourth largest terminal lake on earth, located at the eastern end of the Taurus Mountain Range show an undisturbed continuous record of chemically precipitated carbonate varves, which provide: a, a yearly carrier for changes in environmental proxy like δ18O, Sr/Caand Mg/Ca of authochthonous precipitated carbonates which allow to detect short term climatic variations, b, a continuous, non floating varve chronology back to 13,700±356 yrs BP. Calculations based on an isotopic-hydrologic balance model show that temperature fluctuations are less important for the isotope enrichment in Lake Van than changes of the relative humidity. Thus a paleohumidity curve of Lake Van can be estimated and compared to a Mg/Ca record which is found to be a proxy for lake salinity. Lake Van sediments indicate a first period of cold and arid climate between 12,600–10,460 yrs BP. During this time humidity decreased by 0.17 or 30% (no temperature shift) or 20%, if temperature is reduced by 5 °C. A second phase of climatic change also occurred: in a first period (4,190–3,040yrs B.P.), slightly reduction in lake level and humidity mark a regional climate shift toward more continental climate with reduced precipitation. In a second period (3,040– 2,000 yrs B.P.), precipitation increased again, but humidity remained at a level reduced 5% below that encountered today.
Le domaine d’intérêt de ce travail concerne la symbiose homme - milieu en domaines semi-aride et aride, les interactions entre le développement des sociétés et l’évolution du milieu naturel, l’aptitude de l’Homme à s’adapter ou à tempérer les effets de nouvelles contraintes environnementales, à coloniser l’espace et à s’y intégrer. Les recherches ont pour objet de mieux comprendre quel a pu être l'impact de l'environnement et de ses changements sur le développement des sociétés humaines, d’apprécier jusqu'à quel point l'homme a été capable de modifier (parfois involontairement) le milieu dans lequel il vivait ou d’en atténuer les contraintes, de saisir quand et comment il a su ou dû acquérir des techniques lui permettant peu à peu de mieux profiter des potentialités de ce milieu tout en cherchant, éventuellement, à le préserver. Elles se fondent sur une étude conjointe des différentes composantes du milieu naturel (état actuel, héritages, évolution), des vestiges archéologiques et des connaissances historiques, et tentent de retracer la complexité des liens d'interdépendance entre homme et milieu naturel au cours de l'Holocène.
Ce faisant, ces recherches conduisent également à évaluer la rapidité et l’ampleur des transformations qui ont affecté les milieux naturels d’une part, les sociétés humaines d’autre part. Certes, les liens d’interdépendance existent et sont d’autant plus étroits que l’on pénètre plus avant dans le domaine aride. On s’aperçoit que les stratégies d’adaptation, qui se révèlent de nos jours encore d’une grande flexibilité, s’affinent parallèlement. Il s’avère par ailleurs que la réponse de ces milieux fragiles aux modifications, qu’elles soient d’origine naturelle ou liées aux effets des activités humaines, n’a pas forcément la gravité qu’on veut trop systématiquement lui attribuer. Et l’on peut se demander si les explications de type “catastrophiste” souvent invoquées pour expliquer certaines césures historiques ne découlent pas plus d’un effet de “mode” ou de “surmédiatisation” de la recherche que d’une réalité bien peu perceptible dans les faits.
C’est pour essayer de répondre à ces questions qu’il s'est révélé nécessaire d’initier une recherche couvrant à la fois un espace assez vaste pour être représentatif de la réalité – la diversité géographique – et un laps de temps long, correspondant à la durée totale de l’Holocène, afin d’intégrer le moteur essentiel de l’évolution : la dynamique. Ces travaux doivent beaucoup à J. Besançon, L. Copeland, F. Hours, S. Muhesen et P. Sanlaville qui ont pratiqué l’interdisciplinarité, en associant notamment la géomorphologie et la préhistoire. Si leurs centres d’intérêt ont porté surtout sur le Pléistocène, ils se sont aussi intéressés aux époques plus récentes et ont ouvert la voie à ces travaux.
The term Anthropocene generally indicates the period of the human history that began with the Industrial Revolution; from that time, the massive anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels has led to an increasing impact on the climate system. However, over the last 8,000 years, ice cores have recorded an abnormal increase in greenhouse gases dating from the spread of agriculture in a vast region of the Old World. Indeed, this event may backdate the beginning of human influence on the Earth’s climate to the early Holocene. In a general perspective, this assumption is acceptable and in the present paper is argued through case studies from the Po Plain in northern Italy ranging from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age and dating to the Atlantic and the Subboreal periods. These cases will be compared with others of the same period distributed along the arid circum-Mediterranean region (Sahara and Near East). In any case, terrestrial archives (landscapes, soils, sediments), and the archaeological sites they contained, suggest a complex response of the pre-protohistoric civilizations to the constraints of climate change. During this long period, the anthropogenic control of the environment, while rising with time on a global scale, did not display a linear trend. But it occurred through an alternating series of successes and failures; in particular, the latter was determined by the inability to adapt to climate change and/or by the over-exploitation of natural resources beyond the limits of environmental sustainability.
The analysis of more than 24000 charcoal fragments from the Bronze Age layers at Emar allow palaeobotanical reconstructions. The charcoal fragments suggest that during the Bronze Age, the riverine gallery forest was more extensive than today and consisted of a greater variety of taxa, including Populus (poplar)/Sa\ix (willow), Tamarix (tamarisk), Alnus (alder) during the Early Bronze Age, Fraxinus (ash) in Early Bronze Age layers, Platanus (plane) and Ulmus (elm). The discovery of Olea (olive) in Early Bronze Age layers, Vitis vinifera (grapevine) within Late Bronze Age strata and Ficus (fig) wood in Early and Late Bronze Age layers may indicate their cultivation. There is little evidence for the potential Pistacia-a/mowi woodland steppe away from the Euphrates, which suggests that it was probably degraded. Coniferous wood, like Cupressus (cypress), Cedrus (cedar) and Pinus brutia/halepensis (Calabrian/ Aleppo pine) were probably imported. It is of note that pine planks used for Early Byzantine coffins were of a different species than the attested Bronze Age pine fragments.
Recent excavations in the upper Tigris River valley have yielded an increasing number of archaeological data that have been helping archaeologists in the recon-struction of ancient histories in this specific region. Among these projects, the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project has focused its attention on a funda-mental phase of occupation — the Middle Bronze Age — that characterises the site as well as numerous other settlements in the upper Tigris River valley. The present article will emphasise the role played by Hirbemerdon Tepe, located along the western bank of the upper Tigris river valley in southeastern Turkey, at botha local and inter-regional level during the Middle Bronze Age period that shows an increase in long-distance commercial exchanges between Mesopotamian and Anatolian polities. More specifically, an in-depth analysis will be given to the large architectural complex discovered on the site’s High Mound and on a pre-liminary interpretation of the material culture found within it.
The intensification of fieldwork in northern Mesopotamia, the upper region of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, has revealed two
cycles of expansion and reduction in social complexity between 4400 and 2000 BC. These cycles include developments in social
inequality, political centralization, craft production and economic specialization, agropastoral land use, and urbanization.
Contrary to earlier assessments, many of these developments proceeded independently from the polities in southern Mesopotamia,
although not in isolation. This review considers recent data from excavations and surveys in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria,
and southeastern Turkey with particular attention to how they are used to construct models of early urban polities.
The Holocene fluvial and archaeological records in the valleys draining the south-eastern piedmont of the Taurus range present several contrasted phases, interrupted by transition and/or rupture periods. The low terrace records identified in the Middle Euphrates valley between Halfeti and Karke- mish give the following results 1 ) a pre-Holocene incised topography is dated Upper or Late Pleistocene, 2) Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene alluviation deposited sands and silts forming a "high terrace" (+8-10 m) fossilising the previous incision, 3) at mid-Holocene the valley was forested and the landscape stable, 4) at the end of the 5th mill. BC, erosion and incision preceded the instalment of new settlements on the valley floor, 5) high floods followed this incision, 6) during the 2nd mill. BC or only in its second half, the river deposited a +4 m terrace, which was followed by incision during the first centuries of the 1st mill. BC.
The comparison with previous works realised within the Turkish and Syrian Middle Euphrates basin shows similarities and differences in the chronology of events and in the interpretation of the possible climatic significance of the changes observed Discussion then tries to take into account 1) the records of global and regional climatic changes, 2) the sizes and geographic characters of the watersheds studied, 3) their position in the whole Euphrates basin, 4) the specific history of man's occupation of the land.
Recent decades have seen a resurgence of interest in human ecodynamics—the relationship among climate, environment, and culture. Most published research concentrates on the potential causal role of climate and environment in culture change. We approach the issue from the other side: The archaeological record often incorporates important, sometimes unique, proxy records of climate, of environment, and of change in both. We detail four case studies, from South America, Southwest Asia, North America, and the Shetland Islands. In each case, the paleoclimatic and/or paleoenvironmental data resulted from multidisciplinary archaeological projects whose major objective was to understand past human behavior. Nevertheless, in each case, the projects generated important information about the natural world in the past. Often, these data play a role in modeling future climatic and environmental change of potential significance to humans. We note a growing use of archaeological proxy data by climate scientists and pred...
This paper provides an initial evaluation of the settlement dynamics in the area around Tell Leilan (Northern Jazira) during the Islamic period based on the study of the ceramic material collected during the 1995 survey campaign. It concentrates on the description of ceramic groups and diagnostics, and is thus able to give a reliable dating for the Islamic period occupation in the region and allows us to trace an outline of settlement development in this rural landscape. The resulting patterns are discussed in the wider context of archaeological investigations in Northern Mesopotamia and Syria generally, and compared with data derived from textual sources which have generally provided a partial and incomplete account.
Significant cataclysms occurred frequently throughout the history of northern Syria and the Jazira, and had severe short- and long-term implications on the region's economy and the social structure. This paper uses the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian, a Patriarch of Antioch in the late twelfth century a.d., as a representation of environmental and climatic catastrophes taking place in northern Syria and the Jazira in the third and early second Millennium b.c. The proportions, general frequency and the clustering tendency of the different disasters in the Chronicle are treated in detail, as well as their general economic, environmental and social significance. The article argues that diversified subsistence and a high degree of flexibility were essential for ancient Mesopotamian societies to absorb the many risks that life in this marginal semiarid environment involved.
The study of early agricultural soils using micromorphology is outlined. The effects of tillage due to modern agriculture are reviewed and the results from four experiments in ‘prehistoric cultivation’ are presented. These are used in the interpretation of prehistoric agricultural practices, based on a study of soils from various archaeological sites in north‐west Europe. It is suggested that microfabric features, varying according to soil texture, can be diagnostic of tillage. Microfabric type, textural features (e.g. coatings) and structure are, taken together, better indicators of ancient tillage than single features.
The collapse of Early Bronze Age society in the southern Levant (at ca. 2200 B.C.) coincided with a severe shift toward a drier climate. This significantly altered the hydrological regime and undermined the intensive agricultural system, leading to decreased agricultural yields. However, we cannot assume that the collapse of a social system is an automatic and unavoidable response to climatic degradation, especially since later preindustrial states functioned within this same drier environmental setting. It is more productive to examine some of the explanations for the failure to adapt to the new environmental conditions. These might have included the combined factors of overspecialization in agricultural production, elite control over surplus resources, removal of labor from the agricultural sector, slow response time in the perception of catastrophe, the ability of the elite to profit from short-term environmental stress, and the direction of energy toward increased religious activity, rather than technological innovations.
Archaeological and soil-stratigraphic data define the origin, growth, and collapse of Subir, the third millennium rain-fed agriculture civilization of northern Mesopotamia on the Habur Plains of Syria. At 2200 B. C., a marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, subsequent to a volcanic eruption, induced a considerable degradation of land-use conditions. After four centuries of urban life, this abrupt climatic change evidently caused abandonment of Tell Leilan, regional desertion, and collapse of the Akkadian empire based in southern Mesopotamia. Synchronous collapse in adjacent regions suggests that the impact of the abrupt climatic change was extensive.
Although long considered to be of marginal importance to global climate change, tropospheric aerosol contributes substantially
to radiative forcing, and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol in particular has imposed a major perturbation to this forcing. Both
the direct scattering of shortwavelength solar radiation and the modification of the shortwave reflective properties of clouds
by sulfate aerosol particles increase planetary albedo, thereby exerting a cooling influence on the planet. Current climate
forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate is estimated to be –1 to –2 watts per square meter, globally averaged. This perturbation
is comparable in magnitude to current anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing but opposite in sign. Thus, the aerosol forcing
has likely offset global greenhouse warming to a substantial degree. However, differences in geographical and seasonal distributions
of these forcings preclude any simple compensation. Aerosol effects must be taken into account in evaluating anthropogenic
influences on past, current, and projected future climate and in formulating policy regarding controls on emission of greenhouse
gases and sulfur dioxide. Resolution of such policy issues requires integrated research on the magnitude and geographical
distribution of aerosol climate forcing and on the controlling chemical and physical processes.
A second season of a new programme of excavations at Tell Brak in northeastern Syria took place from mid-March to late May 1995. Our sincere gratitude for continuing support goes especially to the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, in particular in Damascus to the Director-General, Professor Dr Sultan Muhesen, the Director of Excavations, Dr Adnan Bounni, and to all their colleagues who assisted us in many ways. We also thank Sd Jean Lazare of the Antiquities Office in Hasake and Sd Ass'ad Mahmud of Der ez-Zor Museum. Our representative was again Sd Hussein Yusuf who provided invaluable assistance in all aspects of our work, for which we are very grateful. Funding was generously provided by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and the British Academy, to all of whom sincere thanks are expressed.
The excavation team in 1995 comprised Dr Roger Matthews (excavations director), Ms Helen McDonald (registrar and pottery specialist), Professor Farouk al-Rawi (epigraphist and archaeologist), Dr Susan Colledge (palaeobotanist and environmentalist), Dr Keith Dobney (zooarchaeologist), Dr Wendy Matthews (micromorphologist), Ms Fiona Macalister (conservator), Ms Kim Duistermaat, Mr Geoffrey Emberling, Mr Nicholas Jackson, Mr Tom Pollard (archaeologists), Ms Amy Emberling and Mr Jake Emberling (camp support).
There is a duality between climate and general circulation. Southern Europe belongs at present to the dry summer Mediterranean climatic zone, situated between the woodland suboceanic climate of the cooltemperate zone, (which is related to the transient eddies associated to the polar front), and the dry climates of the high pressure subtropical belt. Any change in the general circulation resulting, for example, from changes in the boundary conditions which characterized it, will lead to a change of the overall climatic pattern. Such changes, as occured 125,000 YBP (peak of last interglacial), 18,000 YBP (maximum glacial advance of the Wurm), 9,000 YBP (peak of Holocene interglacial) and as expected from a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 in the mid-21th century, will be reviewed in order to stress the potential subsequent change in the vulnerability of the environment to desertification in these regions.
The environmental significance given in the literature to paleosols (buried and relict soils) is first discussed. Most pedological features and some other soil components such as charcoal and phytoliths, present in paleosols possess some environmental significance. The Pleistocene climatic sequences can be recorded in complex pedological units (succession or imbrication of pedological features). Some textural and calcitic units are presented and interpreted. In situ disturbance or sedimentary processes may totally erase pedological features, which explains their common absence in relict soils.
Soils at the crests of moraines are commonly used to estimate the relative ages of moraines. However, for various pedologic and geomorphic reasons, soil development at crest sites may not truly reflect the time since moraine formation; for example, some crest soils on moraines of greatly different age are similar in morphology and development. Soil catena data for soils at several sites aligned downslope from the crest can greatly improve on the usefulness of soil data for estimating moraine ages. For this purpose, the authors use the weighted mean catena profile development index, which condenses field data for all of the soils in each catena into a single value.
A model describing the layout of Early Bronze Age Mesopotamian states is synthesized using a range of off-site and on-site data from Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. These allow the description of the basic settlement patterns, land use, and exchange systems of an early state system. The hypothesis is tested that Bronze Age settlements in this zone of rain-fed farming tended not to exceed 100 hectares, an area which was capable of accommodating between 10,000 and 20,000 people. Detailed off-site surveys and landscape archaeology suggest that these settlements were provisioned by intensively farmed zones of cultivation that surrounded the central settlement and by tributary secondary or satellite communities. This main production zone was just capable of supporting the population of the prime site, but the constraint of labour and the frictional effect of distance meant that food produced farther away than some 10-15 km made only a minor contribution to the main settlement. As a result, settlements tended not to expand beyond a certain size. Even then, the maximizing effect of intensive crop production in such areas of highly variable rainfall and episodic major droughts made these communities very vulnerable to collapse.
The Jazira forms an extensive semi‐arid area within the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It has been settled and cultivated for over 8,000 years and the typical soil, the Calcic Xerosol, can produce cereal crops in most years. Crops are mainly watered by rainfall alone. Mature soil profiles can develop within 5–6,000 years. Analysis of soil phosphates, and extensive sherd sampling techniques, have shown that the ploughsoil has been enriched by animal wastes and settlement refuse, possibly as a result of both pasturing of animals and manuring in antiquity.Earlier chalcolithic settlement and agricultural systems appear to have been extensive, but by the Early Bronze Age land use had intensified with each settlement showing evidence of a surrounding halo of sherd scatters. Such scatters appear to correspond to episodes of maximum population or urbanization.
Continuous pollen and isotopic records were established for core BAN 84 09 GC retrieved from the anoxic Bannock Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean. On the basis of two 14C dates, they document the palaeoclimate between about 25.7 ka B.P. and 5.2 ka B.P. in the northern borderlands of the Ionian Basin. The upper half of the core has been redeposited.The isotopic record displays a correlation with pollen percentages that is strong and positive for Artemisia (sage-brush) and negative for Quercus (oak). The last glacial maximum and the deglaciation are identified by these combined taxa, together with Chenopodiaceae. The glacial maximum around 18 ka B.P. (which has elsewhere been dated from 20 to 15 ka B.P.) has pollen percentages that are high for Artemisia and low for Quercus. The climate in the pollen source area was arid, cold in winter, briefly warm in summer and sustained the vegetation of a semi-desert. The onset of deglaciation after 18 ka B.P. coincides with that of the decline in Artemisia pollen percentage. However, this decline does not indicate reduced aridity, because it is accompanied by a pollen percentage rise of the even more arid herbs Chenopodiaceae and Ephedra. Throughout the deglaciation from 18 to 11 ka B.P., the aridity progressively increases, culminating at 11 ka B.P. This trend is briefly interrupted by a more humid event, shown by a peak in Artemisia pollen percentage and a smaller peak in oak; these two peaks are coeval with the Bölling-Alleröd chronozone (13-11 ka B.P.). Maximum aridity occurs during the Younger Dryas chronozone (11-10 ka B.P.). Afterwards, the oak pollen percentage begins a steady increase, and its maximum value is coeval with the lowest isotopic value, dated at 8760 ± 170 yr B.P. This period was one of high moisture, warm summers, and, according to altitude, mild to cool winters. This climate sustained forests that were Mediterranean in the lowlands and warm temperate in the uplands. A high pollen concentration is observed during this period and reveals the presence of sapropel S1, which is otherwise unrecognizable in this entirely black core. During the following period between 8760 ± 170 and 5200 yr B.P., the δ180 reverts to slightly higher values and the Quercus pollen percentage decreases, while the pollen percentage of the wetter Ostrya, the oriental hornbeam, increases. The high pollen concentration during the deposition of sapropel S1 cannot have been caused by increased pollen input into the sea, this pollen being wind-borne, nor by increased pollen production for all taxa, both trees and herbs. We conclude that it is entirely due to increased preservation of this allochtonous organic material by the deep anoxia of the bottom water, below a thick anoxic water column. The coincidence of sapropel deposition with warm and humid local climate as well as with the second global meltwater pulse suggests that the cessation of bottom-water ventilation was due to decreased surface water density, resulting from less saline incoming Atlantic surface water, increased local runoff, and warmer winters.
Cet article expose les résultats de l'étude paléogéographique du Haut Khabur, conduite d'abord sur l'ensemble de la région puis sur une micro-région test : le bassin méridional du ouadi Rijlet Aaoueji. Les caractères généraux des milieux de sédimentation et de la couverture pédologique sont présentés dans une première partie. L'étude micro-régionale a permis de reconnaître six phases paléogéographiques pour les dix derniers millénaires. Au début de l'Holocène (phase 1) le dépôt extensif de limons d'inondation coïncide avec le développement de sols sous des conditions plus humides et plus chaudes que les actuelles. La phase 2 (ca. 8000-7000 B.P.) est synchrone d'une aridification. La phase 3 (ca. 7000-5000 B.P.) est marquée par une nette augmentation de l'humidité traduite dans les sols et dans l'histoire du comblement alluvial. La phase 4 (ca. 5000-3800 B.P.) enregistre une détérioration progressive des conditions climatiques, accélérée par l'intensification de l'exploitation des sols. Le repérage d'aménagements hydrauliques suggère que l'Homme s'est efforcé de compenser la réduction naturelle du flux hydrique. Au début de la phase 5 (ca. 3800-3500 B.P.) une aridification soudaine, synchrone de la chute de cendres volcaniques entraîne une dégradation profonde des paysages et une détérioration sévère des conditions d'utilisation des sols. Le retour à des conditions semblables aux actuelles se produit progressivement à partir de 3500 B.P. et perdure jusqu'à nos jours (phase 6). Les conclusions de cette étude soulignent le rôle prédominant des fluctuations climatiques sur l'évolution rapide des ambiances pédo-sédimentaires
Soil micromorphology has been a recognized technique in soil science for some 50 years and experience from pedogenic and palaeosol studies first permitted its use in the investigation of archaeologically buried soils. More recently, the science has expanded to encompass the characterisation of all archeological soils and sediments and has been successful in providing unique cultural and palaeoenvironmental information from a whole range of archaeological sites.
Several prolonged droughts in the Sahel and tropical Mexico during the past 14,000 years were coincident with large injections of fresh water into the northern North Atlantic Ocean. The link between these phenomena lies in the thermohaline circulation of the oceans: input of fresh water decreases salinity leading to reduced North Atlantic Deep Water formation and anomalies of sea surface temperature of the kind associated with decreased rainfall in the northern tropics. Ice-sheet disintegration, the most important source of fresh-water input to the oceans, should therefore be considered explicitly in models of past and future climate.
Calcitic pendents occurring beneath coarse clasts were investigated from a well drained profile, near Ny-Ålesund (Spitsbergen), developed on fluvio-glacial deposits with a few carbonate rock fragments. Micromorphological study was combined with mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic investigations to determine the relationships of calcitic pendent characteristics to soil conditions. Calcitic pendents are observed at all depths beneath clasts and display a succession of five types of laminae with strongly differentiated overall characteristics. The number of laminae and their specific attributes are nearly unchanged with depth and with the petrographic nature of the host clast. Each lamina consists of weakly differentiated micro-laminae that are grouped into six morphological facies.
Thirty-two distal tephra layers that are interbedded in Quaternary loess at 13 sites in the Channeled Scabland and Palouse were sampled as part of a regional study of the stratigraphy and chronology of dominantly windblown sediments on the Columbia Plateau. An electron microprobe was used to determine the elemental composition of volcanic glass in all of the samples and also to determine the composition of ilmenite in 14 of them. Two of the distal tephra layers correlate with Glacier Peak eruptions (11,200 yr B.P.), five with Mount St. Helens tephra set S (13,000 yr B.P.), and nine with Mount St. Helens tephra set C (ca. 36,000 yr B.P.) based on analysis of glass and ilmenite in reference pumices from Glacier Peak, Mount St. Helens, Mount Mazama, Mount Rainier, and Mount Jefferson, on the calculation of similarity coefficients for comparisons of both glass and ilmenite reference compositions with those of distal tephras, and on considerations of stratigraphic position. The composition of glass and ilmenite and the stratigraphic position of one distal tephra layer in the loess suggests that it is from an eruption of Mount St. Helens at least several thousand years older than the set C eruptions. Glass composition and stratigraphic position of a distal tephra at another site in loess suggested a possible correlation with some layers of the Pumice Castle eruptive sequence at Mount Mazama (ca. 70,000 yr B.P.), but similarity coefficients on ilmenite of only 45 and 48 fail to support the correlation and show why multiple correlation methods should be used. Similarity coefficients higher than 96 for both glass and ilmenite establish a correlation with Mount St. Helens layer Cw for distal layers in two widely separated sites. These layers are in sedimentary successions that are closely associated with giant floods in the Channeled Scabland. The 36,000 yr B.P. radiocarbon age of the Mount St. Helens set C establishes a minimum limiting date for an episode of flooding that predates the widespread late Wisconsin floods. A correlation of distal tephra layers at two other sites in the Scabland and Palouse establishes a chronostratigraphic link to a still-older episode of flooding within the Brunhes Normal Polarity Chron. Six distal tephra layers in pre-late Quaternary loess that are not correlated with known or dated eruptions have compositions and distinctive stratigraphic positions relative to magnetic reversal boundaries that make them key markers for future work.
Movement of mineral dust by the atmosphere has been underway for ages, but efforts to assess its magnitude and significance have come largely in the last century. Attempts to identify and understand effects of the dust on soils are even more recent, mostly in the last 30 years. Airborne movements have several forms. Dust is transported by large storms that can be spectacular. Dust is also moved by smaller pulses and in a rather continuous flux. Most movement is within continents or from continents to nearby oceans, but fine dust (fine silt and clay) is carried from one continent to another. Prime sources of the dust are the deserts and semi-arid regions of the world. For example, large quantities of dust are carried out of the Sahara every year.
Regions beyond the present or past penetration of the Indian and African monsoons have experienced several large and abrupt climatic fluctuations over the past 13 14C kyr.Pollen and lake records from West Asia (Western Tibet and Rajasthan), East Africa (Ethiopia) and West Africa (Western Sahara, Sahel and subequatorial Africa) were selected on the basis of chronological control, sensitivity of both site and environmental indicators to climate change, the continuity of the record, and interdisciplinary control of the palaeoclimatic interpretation.Conditions wetter than those of today prevailed during the early-mid-Holocene period, but major dry spells are recorded at all sites during the intervals ∼ 11.0–9.5 kyr BP, ∼ 8–7 kyr BP and 3–4 kyr BP. Several records also suggest dry events of minor amplitude around 6 kyr BP. Potential boundary forcings of insolation and sea surface and tropical land surface conditions are discussed. The solar radiation accounts for the general envelop of the post-glacial monsoon fluctuations, but explains neither the timing nor the amplitude of the short-term changes. In spite of apparent covariation between fluctuations in sea surface conditions in the North Atlantic and the monsoon record, no direct mechanism could be found relating the intensity of the oceanic thermohaline conveyor belt to the monsoon strength. Changes in tropical land surface conditions (soil moisture negative feedback, and changes in CH4 production from wetlands) provide a more satisfactory hypothesis for explaining abrupt reversal events.
This experimental study examines the micromorphological changes resulting from confined swelling and shrinking of aggregated samples. Two factors, namely bulk density (two levels) and sample composition (five levels) were considered. Thin sections were cut and the microfabrics studied in detail both qualitatively and quantitatively. A broad range of significant and systematic microfabric changes were observed. With an increase in the activity and content of the clay fraction, the void volume (especially those >30 μm) decreased drastically whereas the shape changed from compound packing voids to occluded planar voids and vughs. Aggregates were flattened at contacts, became more angular and showed evidence of fusion into compound units. Related distribution patterns were altered from dominantly matrigranic to matrigranoidic, fragmoidic and porphyric with scattered vughs. There was a gradual closing of voids and a concomitant coalescence of aggregates. Plasmic fabrics showed mainly an increase in long (> 10 μm) and narrow (<5 μm) but sharply defined plasma separations. High bulk density resulted in a more vigorous and conspicuous expression of fabric unit deformation and movement. The pedological implications are discussed in relation to the dynamic properties of clay-water interactions, stress-strain regime of swelling soils, and the concept of plastic deformation of soils according to the Mohr-Coulomb theory of failure.
Profiles of four recent soils and of eleven soils buried under archaeological sites of known ages were investigated in an area between the Ghaggar Valley and the northern piedmont of the Arawalli Hills in northwestern India. The principal approach was through study of micromorphology. Data were also obtained on mineralogies of several size fractions.Characteristics shared by the recent and buried soils indicate that essentially the same processes operated in their formation. The oldest soils are buried under Protohistoric sites and thus were formed at least 5000 years ago. They are developed on sediments rich in sand-sized mica flakes which indicate an alluvial origin. Others are buried beneath historic sites with ages ranging from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. These soils and the recent ones have a silt fraction low in mice. Major features of both buried and recent soils are attributed to biological activity, reflected in extensive channeling and additions of excrements throughout profiles. Local distribution of clay, silt and carbonates indicates translocation of these components. Furthermore, the forms of calcitic features indicate modifications of various kinds. Evidence of biological activity as expressed in characteristics of the soils becomes progressively weaker from older to younger profiles. Soil development seems to have weakened over that period as well. These changes are correlated with the decline with time in the proportions of mica flakes in coarse fractions. The decline is attributed to lack of alluvial sedimentation since the Protohistoric period and to greater transport and winnowing of sediments by wind. We believe this has reduced fertility of the soils formed during the last 4000 years.
A wildfire in February 1986 destroyed most of an afforested research catchment in the southwestern Cape region of South Africa. The hydrological consequences of the fire were quantified using monitored pre-fire and post-fire stream flow and sediment data from the burned catchment and a nearby control catchment. Soil loss and soil wettability were also measured.In the first year after the fire, weekly stream flow totals increased by 12%, quick flow volumes increased by 201%, peak flow rates increased by 290% and catchment response ratio increased by 242%. Soil loss on overland flow plots ranged from 10 to 26 t ha−1, and suspended sediment and bedload yields each increased roughly four-fold following the fire.Wettability of the soils was greatly reduced by the passage of fire. Surface soil layers (0–10 mm) were burned clean of any inherent water repellency by the passage of a hot fire, but more severe repellency, in broader bands, was induced in deeper soil levels by the heating of the soil. It is postulated that the widespread development of water repellency in the soil led to overland flow during larger rainstorms, which in turn caused the markedly altered hydrological behaviour of the catchment and the high soil losses relative to the unburned condition.
Measurement of soil splash erosion on an event-based scale under natural rainfall was carried out on a field plot. Kinetic energy of precipitation was calculated according to a model that incorporates horizontal terminal velocities of raindrops induced by wind speed. A digital raingauge with a high output resolution was used to measure precipitation. Erosivity indexes were worked out based on the assumption that those minutes with the highest energy input in an event are decisive for soil detachment.
To assess the specific contribution of micromorphology, a literature review of the period 1990-1991 was carried out. The main features of the experiments were analyzed, eg soil material properties, soil initial state and rainfall characteristics. Techniques for monitoring crust development and standards of description and illustration were also examined. A limitation of many experiments was the lack of recognition of crusting stages. The lack of clear description, good illustration and definition of diagnostic features induced misunderstanding of widely used concepts. Nevertheless, microscopy has played a major role in understanding of the various processes involved. Microscopically-defined crust types can be identified in the field using morphological diagnostic features. Methodological recommendations for future micromorphological studies are made and research opportunities are also suggested. -from Authors
An analysis is made of the likely contribution of smoke particles from biomass burning to the global radiation balance. These
particles act to reflect solar radiation directly; they also can act as cloud condensation nuclei, increasing the reflectivity
of clouds. Together these effects, although uncertain, may add up globally to a cooling effect as large as 2 watts per square
meter, comparable to the estimated contribution of sulfate aerosols. Anthropogenic increases of smoke emission thus may have
helped weaken the net greenhouse warming from anthropogenic trace gases.
Values for the precession and obliquity of the earth 9000 years ago indicate that the global average solar radiation for July 9000 years ago was 7 percent greater than at present. When the estimated solar radiation values are used in a low-resulation climate model, the model simulates an intensified continent-scale monsoon circulation. This result agrees with paleoclimatic evidence from Africa, Arabia, and India that monsoon rains were stronger between 10,000 and 5000 years ago than they are today.
La chute de l’empire d’Akkadé: hommes et milieux au Moyen-Orient. Les Nouvelles de l
- S Cleuziou
Environnements géologiques dans le nord-ouest de l’lnde
- M A Courty
Ancient people-Lifestyles and cultural patterns In: Transactions 15th Meeting of the International Soil Science Society, Symposium B “Micromorphological indicators of anthropological effects on soils
- M A Courty
- P Goldberg
- R I Macphail
Holocene lakes and prehistoric settlements of the western Faiyum
- F Hassan
- F. Hassan
The geological map of Syria
- B Y Ponomarev
- A S Bivshev
Environmental change at the end of early Bronze Age Palestine
- A M Rosen
- AM Rosen
Environmental dynamics In: Understanding natural and anthropogenic causes of desertification in the Mediterranean basin
- M A Courty
- N Fedoroff
- M K Jones
- P Castro
- J Macglade
How will future climate changes differ from those of the past Global changes in the perspective of the past
- D Rind
Late Third Millennium Collapse in Southwest Asia
- Harvey Weiss
- Chance Causality
La chute de l’empire d’Akkadé, les volcans d’Anatolie et la désertification de la vallée du Habur
- J.-J Glassner
- J-J Glassner
The environmental factor Approach to the interpretation of paleosols Factors of soil formation: a fiftieth anniversary retrospective
- G J Retallack
Morphology and distribution of textural features in arid and semi-arid regions
- N Fedoroff
- M A Courty
Entre droite épigraphique et gauche archéologique, y-a-t-il une place pour la science? Les Nouvelles de l
- H Weiss
- M A Courty
Evidence of volcanic loading of the atmosphere and climatic response
- H Sigurdsson