While climate researchers struggle to refine their projections of the changing global climate and to anticipate the social impact of those shifts, a growing number of scientists are realizing that the past may contain valuable lessons about our future.
Humans have faced environmental changes before. In fact, those changes molded every facet of life—what food could be cultivated, what kind of clothing and shelters were required, what goods were produced—and most likely played a role in determining which civilizations thrived and which perished. In the distant past, climate variations may have shaped the very nature of our species. Earth scientists and climatologists are joining forces with archaeologists and anthropologists to build a comprehensive understanding of the climate record that is written into our own past. “Climate change is one of the most neglected aspects of human history,” says Brian Fagan, an anthropologist who has written multiple books on the topic. “Now we are acquiring tools to look at its effects on human society.”
