Book•
Civilizing Climate: Social Responses to Climate Change in the Ancient Near East
01 Jan 2007-
TL;DR: The role of climate change in the origins of agriculture in the Southern Levant has been investigated in this paper, where the authors present a tool for understanding Paleoenvironments of the Near East.
Abstract: 1 Holocent Climate and Society 2 Tools for Understanding Paleoenvironments in the Southern Levant 3 Land and History: Introduction to the Modern Landscape and Historical Framework 4 Paleoenvironments of the Near East: The Retreat of the Pleistocene 5 Holocene Paleoenvironments of the Near East 6 From Hunter-Gatherers to Village Farmers: The Role of Climate Change in the Origins of Agriculture 7 Early Complex Societies: Climate Change and Collapse of Early Bronze Age Societies 8 Empires in the Desert 9 Civilizing Climate
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TL;DR: In this article, stable isotope data from lake and deep-sea sediment cores and from cave speleothems show an overall trend from a wetter to a drier climate during the mid Holocene.
Abstract: The eastern Mediterranean region witnessed changes in human culture of the highest importance between ~9000 and ~2500 cal. BP (7000—500 BC) and over the same time period was affected by very significant shifts in climate. Stable isotope data from lake and deep-sea sediment cores and from cave speleothems show an overall trend from a wetter to a drier climate during the mid Holocene. Superimposed on this trend were multicentennial oscillations in climate, with notable arid phases occurring around 5300—5000 BP, 4500—3900 BP, and 3100—2800 BP (all ages are expressed in calibrated/ calendar years). These phases coincide with major archaeological transitions across the eastern Mediterranean region (Chalcolithic to early Bronze Age, EBA to MBA, and LBA to Iron Age) implying that environmental stress or opportunity may have acted as a pacemaker for cultural change and re-organisation. We use 14C and δ 13C analysis of archaeobotanical samples from two protohistoric sites in Syria to illustrate the linkage between...
313 citations
Cites background from "Civilizing Climate: Social Response..."
...On the other hand, in more or less independent areas, collapse did not occur, since the economy and social organization could adapt, at low cost, to changing environmental conditions generated by rainfall depletion and drought (Collective, 2007; Marro, 2009; Rosen, 2007)....
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...These ruptures occurred only when local political systems failed to decide or implement the changes necessary for adapting to changing conditions, both climatic and cultural (Rosen, 2007)....
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Book•
28 Jun 2012TL;DR: In this article, the past, present, and future of Chinese archaeology are discussed, with a focus on early complex societies and the rise and fall of Chinese civilization in comparative perspective.
Abstract: 1. Chinese archaeology: past, present, and future 2. Environment and ecology 3. Foragers and collectors in the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (24,000-9000 cal. BP) 4. Domestication of plants and animals 5. Neolithization: sedentism and food production in the Early Neolithic (7000-5000 BC) 6. Emergence of social inequality: the Middle Neolithic (5000-3000 BC) 7. Rise and fall of early complex societies: the Late Neolithic (3000-2000 BC) 8. Formation of early states in the Central Plain: Erlitou and Erligang (1900/1800-1250 BC) 9. Bronze cultures of the north frontiers and beyond during the early second millennium BC 10. The Late Shang dynasty and its neighbors (1250-1046 BC) 11. Chinese civilization in comparative perspective.
293 citations
TL;DR: In the Mediterranean region, there is often no clear time gap separating an early-Holocene period of nature-dominated environmental change from a human-dominated late-holocene one as discussed by the authors, which has been the subject of debates that have often been polarised between support for climatic causation and those favouring anthropogenic explanations for changes in vegetation, river flooding, wildfire regimes, etc.
Abstract: In the Mediterranean there is often no clear time gap separating an early-Holocene period of nature-dominated environmental change from a human-dominated late-Holocene one. This mid-Holocene ‘melange’ has been the subject of debates that have often been polarised between support for climatic causation and those favouring anthropogenic explanations for changes in vegetation, river flooding, wildfire regimes, etc. One way to shed light on the causes of mid-Holocene landscape changes is to focus on natural archives, such as lake and cave isotopes, the records of which can be unambiguously attributed to climatic forcing. These primary climate proxies can then be compared and contrasted with secondary or response variables, such as pollen and microcharcoal data, which can be the product of either climate changes or human activity or both, ideally using a multiproxy approach. In addition, synthesised primary palaeoclimate data can be compared with regional-scale climate modelling simulations. Both model output ...
244 citations
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of foundational climate and culture studies in anthropology and track developments in this area to date to include anthropological engagements with contemporary global climate change, arguing that anthropologists need to adopt cross-scale, multistakeholder and interdisciplinary approaches in research and practice.
Abstract: This review provides an overview of foundational climate and culture studies in anthropology; it then tracks developments in this area to date to include anthropological engagements with contemporary global climate change. Although early climate and culture studies were mainly founded in archaeology and environmental anthropology, with the advent of climate change, anthropology's roles have expanded to engage local to global contexts. Considering both the unprecedented urgency and the new level of reflexivity that climate change ushers in, anthropologists need to adopt cross-scale, multistakeholder, and interdisciplinary approaches in research and practice. I argue for one mode that anthropologists should pursue—the development of critical collaborative, multisited ethnography, which I term “climate ethnography.”
225 citations
Cites background from "Civilizing Climate: Social Response..."
...On a deep time scale, archaeologists have a strong history of investigating climate change and its relationship with cultural dynamics— resilience and decline, florescence and social structure (Anderson et al. 2006, Cruikshank 2005, Rosen 2007, Redman 1999)....
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...Rosen (2007) demonstrates the need to consider how belief and cosmology shaped local perceptions of climate change from the Terminal Pleistocene through the Late Holocene, and Cruikshank (2005) elaborates how sentient belief magnifies and transforms the cultural implications and human understanding…...
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TL;DR: A wealth of recent studies, not previously synthesised, suggest that the peninsular littoral offered a rich resource base for thousands of years of human occupation in the region, and also that Arabia witnessed some of the world's earliest seafaring and maritime exchange activities, and played a role in Bronze Age maritime trade that has often been underestimated as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Arabian Peninsula occupies a critical position at the intersect of several major Old World landmasses. Inland aridity and a major coastal perimeter have long made maritime activities critical to Arabia’s cultural trajectory. A wealth of recent studies, not previously synthesised, suggest not only that the peninsular littoral offered a rich resource base for thousands of years of human occupation in the region, but also that Arabia witnessed some of the world’s earliest seafaring and maritime exchange activities, and played a role in Bronze Age maritime trade that has often been underestimated. Maritime activities were closely linked to developments in agriculture, which not only fuelled trade and exchange, but were also impacted on by the dispersal of domesticates along early maritime corridors. While regional specialisation has to some degree prevented consideration of the maritime prehistory of the peninsula as a whole, it is clear that there are interesting parallels, as well as important differences, between cultural trajectories in different parts of the peninsula.
205 citations
Cites background from "Civilizing Climate: Social Response..."
...The impact of the climatic changes probably depended heavily upon local social systems and agricultural strategies (Rosen 2007; Rosen and Rosen 2001)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: Scour Below Pipelines Scour around a single slender pile Scour Around a Group of Slender Piles Examples of More Complex Configurations ScourAround Large Piles Scouraround Breakwaters Scour at Seawalls Ship-Propeller Scour Impact of Liquefaction
Abstract: Scour Below Pipelines Scour Around a Single Slender Pile Scour Around a Group of Slender Piles Examples of More Complex Configurations Scour Around Large Piles Scour Around Breakwaters Scour at Seawalls Ship-Propeller Scour Impact of Liquefaction.
749 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1992
TL;DR: Construction Processes.
Abstract: Construction Processes. Line-of-Balance Models. Queueing Systems. Method Productivity Delay Method. Process Modeling Concepts. Building Process Models. System Definition. Extended Modeling Concepts. Modeling Work Task Durations. Simulation. Typical Repetitive Processes. Building Construction Models. Heavy Construction Models. Sensitivity Analysis. Noncyclic Networks. Appendices. Problems. Bibliography. Index.
453 citations
TL;DR: A review and synthesis of the literature and current events reveal that we are living in an age of divorce and remarriage as discussed by the authors, and that record numbers of individuals are involved in complex step relationships for which they are often unprepared and ineffectively coping.
Abstract: A review and synthesis of the literature and current events reveal that we are living in an age of divorce and remarriage. Stepfamilies and step relationships are a recurring entity in American society. Furthermore, record numbers of individuals are involved in complex step relationships for which they are often unprepared and ineffectively coping. Society's tendency to place a premium on the nuclear family creates aspecial burden for the stepfamily and the relationships therein. Awkward descriptive problems, confused kinship patterns, and conflicting roles and allegiances tend to contribute to a feeling of deviancy among members of stepfamilies which, in turn, complicates adjustment and interpersonal relationships. Remarriage generally creates confusion and anxiety among all members of a stepfamily but is especially stressful for the adolescent and the stepmother. This article reveals some of the current trends, practices, and problems of remarriage. The impact of these social patterns on members of a st...
111 citations
01 Jan 2002
20 citations
NEC1
TL;DR: The two reviews in this issue agree in positive aspects as much as they do, however, the two reviews do differ in some key aspects, which will be the focus of the author's response.
7 citations