QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS | 卷:136 |
Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the 'long' 4th millennium BC: A comparative study of environmental and archaeological evidence | |
Article | |
Clarke, Joanne1  Brooks, Nick2  Banning, Edward B.3  Bar-Matthews, Miryam4  Campbell, Stuart5  Clare, Lee6  Cremaschi, Mauro7  di Lernia, Savino8  Drake, Nick10  Gallinaro, Marina9  Manning, Sturt11  Nicoll, Kathleen12  Philip, Graham13  Rosen, Steve14  Schoop, Ulf-Dietrich15  Tafuri, Mary Anne16  Weninger, Bernhard17  Zerboni, Andrea7  | |
[1] Univ E Anglia, Dept Art Hist & World Art Studies, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England | |
[2] Univ E Anglia, Climat Res Unit, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England | |
[3] Univ Toronto, Anthropol, Toronto, ON M5S 2S2, Canada | |
[4] Geol Survey Israel, IL-9550 Jerusalem, Israel | |
[5] Univ Manchester, Sch Arts Languages & Cultures, Manchester M13 9PL, Lancs, England | |
[6] Deutsch Archaeol Inst, Orient Abt, Podbielskiallee 69-71, D-14195 Berlin, Germany | |
[7] Univ Milan, Dipartimento Sci Terra A Desio, Via L Mangiagalli 34, I-20133 Milan, Italy | |
[8] Univ Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento Sci Antichita, Via Volsci 122, I-00185 Rome, Italy | |
[9] Univ Sassari, Dipartimento Storia Sci Uomo & Formaz, I-07100 Sassari, Italy | |
[10] Kings Coll London, Dept Geog, Strand Campus, London WC2R 2LS, England | |
[11] Cornell Univ, Dept Class, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA | |
[12] Univ Utah, Dept Geog, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA | |
[13] Univ Durham, Dept Archaeol, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE, England | |
[14] Ben Gurion Univ Negev, Archaeol, POB 653, IL-84105 Beer Sheva, Israel | |
[15] Univ Edinburgh, Old Med Sch, Sch Hist Class & Archaeol, Teviot Pl, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Midlothian, Scotland | |
[16] Univ Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento Biol Ambientale, Ple Aldo Moro, I-500185 Rome, Italy | |
[17] Univ Cologne, Inst Ur & Fruhgeschichte Weyertal 125, D-50923 Cologne, Germany | |
关键词: Eastern Mediterranean; Middle Holocene; Near East; North Africa; Rapid climate change; Societal change; | |
DOI : 10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.003 | |
来源: Elsevier | |
【 摘 要 】
This paper explores the possible links between rapid climate change (RCC) and social change in the Near East and surrounding regions (Anatolia, central Syria, southern Israel, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and eastern and central Sahara) during the 'long' 4th millennium (similar to 4500-3000) BC. Twenty terrestrial and 20 marine climate proxies are used to identify long-term trends in humidity involving transitions from humid to arid conditions and vice versa. The frequency distribution of episodes of relative aridity across these records is calculated for the period 6300-2000 BC, so that the results may be interpreted in the context of the established arid episodes associated with RCC around 6200 and 2200 BC (the 8.2 and 4.2 kyr events). We identify two distinct episodes of heightened aridity in the early-mid 4th, and late 4th millennium BC. These episodes cluster strongly at 3600-3700 and 3100-3300 BC. There is also evidence of localised aridity spikes in the 5th and 6th millennia BC. These results are used as context for the interpretation of regional and local archaeological records with a particular focus on case studies from western Syria, the middle Euphrates, southern Israel and Cyprus. Interpretation of the records involves the construction of plausible narratives of human-climate interaction informed by concepts of adaptation and resilience from the literature on contemporary (i.e. 21st century) climate change and adaptation. The results are presented alongside well-documented examples of climatically-influenced societal change in the central and eastern Sahara, where detailed geomorphological studies of ancient environments have been undertaken in tandem with archaeological research. While the narratives for the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean remain somewhat speculative, the use of resilience and adaptation frameworks allows for a more nuanced treatment of human climate interactions and recognises the diversity and context-specificity of human responses to climatic and environmental change. Our results demonstrate that there is a need for more local environmental data to be collected 'at source' during archaeological excavations. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
【 授权许可】
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