ABSTRACT
Human societies have adapted to changing environments and long- and short-term climate change since before the Ice Age began some 2.6 million years ago. A major revolution in paleoclimatology (the study of ancient climate) has transformed our knowledge of ancient climate, especially during the past 15,000 years since the end of the Ice Age. This has made it possible to look at ancient human adaptations to both long- and short-term climate change on a much more detailed scale. Chapter 8 describes some of these new understandings of ancient climate change and their impact on humanity. Much of the new research is concerned with sustainability and resilience, as we look at examples of both successful adaptation and survival, and at societies which ran into trouble. These are fundamental issues in today’s archaeological research.
