Photo courtesy of: Photo Unit National Monuments Service, Ireland
Posted on 11/25/2014 5:49:56 AM PST by SunkenCiv
"Our evidence shows definitively that the population decline in this period cannot have been caused by climate change," says Ian Armit, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bradford, and lead author of the study.
Graeme Swindles, Associate Professor of Earth System Dynamics at the University of Leeds, added, "We found clear evidence for a rapid change in climate to much wetter conditions, which we were able to precisely pinpoint to 750BC using statistical methods."
According to Professor Armit, social and economic stress is more likely to be the cause of the sudden and widespread fall in numbers. Communities producing bronze needed to trade over very large distances to obtain copper and tin. Control of these networks enabled the growth of complex, hierarchical societies dominated by a warrior elite. As iron production took over, these networks collapsed, leading to widespread conflict and social collapse. It may be these unstable social conditions, rather than climate change, that led to the population collapse at the end of the Bronze Age.
According to Katharina Becker, Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at UCC, the Late Bronze Age is usually seen as a time of plenty, in contrast to an impoverished Early Iron Age. "Our results show that the rich Bronze Age artefact record does not provide the full picture and that crisis began earlier than previously thought," she says.
"Although climate change was not directly responsible for the collapse it is likely that the poor climatic conditions would have affected farming," adds Professor Armit. "This would have been particularly difficult for vulnerable communities, preventing population recovery for several centuries."
The findings have significance for modern day climate change debates which, argues Professor Armit, are often too quick to link historical climate events with changes in population.
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
Photo courtesy of: Photo Unit National Monuments Service, Ireland
I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop -- the study says one thing, the excerpt here says something else.
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The source press release is linked from the graphic shown above.
Professor of Earth Systems Dynamics?
“What are you doing standing out in the rain with no umbrella?”
“I’m a Professor of Earth Systems Dynamics.”
“Oh.....I thought you were just an idiot.”
That's not to overlook collateral effects, of course, Wider access to good weaponry implies signficant changes in social and political structure, and ultimately political power, as masses of heavy infantry trumped the palace charioteers. The emergence of the modern horse and the rise of real cavalry is also a factor.
So it was Peak Bronze?
Archaeologists and environmental scientists ... have shown that the changes in climate that scientists believed to coincide with the fall in population in fact occurred at least two generations later.
So, clearly, this means that the cratering of the human population brought about climate change.
How do I get a gubmint grant to study this?
Was iron that much more available and cheaper to process?
> Was iron that much more available and cheaper to process?
No, it wasn’t. Meteoritic iron was the main source for a long while; bronze is more complicated to make, but can be made at much lower temperatures. The fact is, there’s no clean break anyway — the breakdown into stone/copper/bronze/iron ages is a 19th century just-so story.
Peak Bronze, and the end of Big Bronze.
Thanks, I knew iron is tougher but never heard it was cheaper or more available during the time period. I appreciate the info.
The problem wasn’t expense so much as technology. Bronze was the only game in town for mass production, iron was pretty much something that had to be found. Smelting is still pretty old, and fabricated iron has been found in Egyptian Old Kingdom contexts, but it was from meteoritic sources. Bronze in the Med was big biz, although the sources for the components are still not settled. Probably the search for copper and tin drove exploration, but there’s really no way to prove that. Tin was mined in Britain, copper in Cyprus and elsewhere, and the Mycenaean Greeks colonized in Sicily and other spots in the western Med. By the time of the Peloponnesian War hoplite soldiers’ shields were round and bronze, while during the so-called Bronze Age Greek shields were wicker frameworks covered with leather.
No, it wasn’t. Meteoritic iron was the main source for a long while; bronze is more complicated to make, but can be made at much lower temperatures. The fact is, there’s no clean break anyway — the breakdown into stone/copper/bronze/iron ages is a 19th century just-so story.
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I read at one time that the reason the moslems worship a the black stone of Kaaba —reportedly a meteorite— is because they likely used meteorites to make the famous hard flexible saracen swords. These meteorites were made of iron plus several trace metals that gave them their hardness and flexibility. That that art of making those swords was lost. That the closest modern equivalent is stainless steel.
Today the clasp that holds black stone is made of american made stainless steel.
Is there any truth to this in your opinion?
This can’t possibly be true. Climate Change causes Everything. Why, just a few months ago it murdered a black yoot in Ferguson, Missouri. So.... see? It causes Everything.
Real nice post SunkenCiv and thank you as always...
Do you have an opinion on Scott Wolter’s “America Unearthed” episode where he suggested bronze age people came to a Lake Superior island to mine copper?
There was a lot of precolumbian copper mining in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and it was suggested years ago that it might have been mined and shipped to the Med. Now U.P. copper turns up in digs in Central America. That doesn’t mean it didn’t make it across the Atlantic, but there’s no direct evidence for it.
The temple complex at Mecca not surprisingly used to be a lot different. Although attributed to Abraham, the only way that makes sense is if the events of part of Abraham’s life took place around there. The big stone cube that is covered with cloth during the Hajj used to be the base for a large, buddha-like statue of some deity; there was a staircase built in near one corner for access to the top; a number of other statues of deities stood around the area. All of that has vanished due to the whole thing having been taken over by the Big Ol’ Mo for his new cult. The name of El is found in the OT, and in the archive of Ugarit (”El laughs with his whole heart and snaps his fingers”) but the bloodthirsty critter now called Allah is entirely a perverted invention of Mohammed, with just a few superficial details plagiarized from older sources.
The black stone in the Kaaba is generally said to have fallen from the sky, which is possible, but one wonders whether that’s actually been established scientifically (wild guess is, no), and if so, why that particular stone was singled out remains mysterious.
The problem with all of the explanations is, there was no hard end to the Bronze Age, and it’s an outmoded notion in the first place. Drews’ book is around here (I think Hoffa’s body is under the same pile, I’m not a great housekeeper), but I’ve never found his these compelling for a few different reasons. Mainly, the use of spears and arrows goes back at least 15,000 years in the Nile basin alone (a Stone Age town was burned to the ground, leaving the building outlines in the form of post holes and hearth stones, plus many thousands of spent arrow- and spearheads), and even a stone head will kill a horse. Chariot warfare was used to enable fast-moving archery attacks (swing in, fire away, make the getaway) which helps illustrate that particular point. Archery, dart-throwing, and slingstones were preferred for a long time in the Near East, by the classical period they were still in use, cheap, and everyone learned how to use all of them as children. The Parthians used them successfully against Iron Age Roman armies more than once.
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