The Archaeology of Climate Change

This collection of fourteen papers, prefaced by an introduction from the editors, introduces key aspects of the archaeology of climate change, a rapidly expanding field of scientific endeavor that examines past societal responses to climatic and environmental challenges. Archaeological evidence for the ways past societies responded to climatic and environmental challenges also contributes to contemporary debates, in particular regarding environmental policy and questions of ecological as well as societal sustainability. An understanding of how premodern social systems were able to deal with these challenges, in different ways at different levels, from households to states, can offer valuable insights into the problems and challenges we have to address today. The articles reprinted here reflect many aspects of this set of concerns, taking into account aspects such as land-use, land-management and landscape transformation; questions of sustainability at both micro- and macro scales; resilience and fragility; and the dynamics of social and cultural power set within their broader socio-ecological context.