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. 2021 Jul 27;118(30):e2108537118.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2108537118.

The archaeology of climate change: The case for cultural diversity

Ariane Burke  1 , Matthew C Peros  2 , Colin D Wren  3 , Francesco S R Pausata  4 , Julien Riel-Salvatore  5 , Olivier Moine  6 , Anne de Vernal  4 , Masa Kageyama  7 , Solène Boisard  5
Affiliations

The archaeology of climate change: The case for cultural diversity

Ariane Burke et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is currently driving environmental transformation on a scale and at a pace that exceeds historical records. This represents an undeniably serious challenge to existing social, political, and economic systems. Humans have successfully faced similar challenges in the past, however. The archaeological record and Earth archives offer rare opportunities to observe the complex interaction between environmental and human systems under different climate regimes and at different spatial and temporal scales. The archaeology of climate change offers opportunities to identify the factors that promoted human resilience in the past and apply the knowledge gained to the present, contributing a much-needed, long-term perspective to climate research. One of the strengths of the archaeological record is the cultural diversity it encompasses, which offers alternatives to the solutions proposed from within the Western agro-industrial complex, which might not be viable cross-culturally. While contemporary climate discourse focuses on the importance of biodiversity, we highlight the importance of cultural diversity as a source of resilience.

Keywords: archaeology; climate change; climate science; cultural diversity; resilience.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(A) Time series of global annual change in mean surface temperature for the period from 2006 to 2100 (relative to 1986–2005) from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) concentration-driven experiments for scenarios RCP2.6 (blue) and RCP8.5 (red). Projections are shown for the multimodel mean (solid lines) and the 5–95% range across the distribution of individual models (shading). The number of CMIP5 models used to calculate the multimodel mean is indicated. The mean and associated uncertainties averaged over the 2081–2100 period are given for all RCP scenarios as colored vertical bars on the right-hand side. (B and C) CMIP5 multimodel mean projections for the 2081–2100 period under the RCP2.6 (B) and RCP8.5 (C) scenarios for change in annual mean surface temperature relative to 1986–2005. Adapted with permission from IPCC, 2014: Topic 2—Future Climate Changes, Risk and Impacts, in ref. .
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
A workflow for the archaeology of climate change.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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