Societal Collapse

collapse Episodes

• Prehistoric, ancient, premodern
• Regional abandonment
• Subsistence replacement
• Sociopolitical conversion
• Social, political, and economic causes

Climate Change and effects

• Natural climate change as catalyst
• Effects available resources
• Effects subsistence type/mode
• Cycles of dry/wet direct agriculture
• Flooding can end a people just like drought

Resource Scarcity

• Lack of resources spurs change
• Can require residence change
• Can require method change
• Can require technology
• Can require change in social organization

Harvey Weiss

• Yale Department of Anthropology
• Specializes in Near East Languages
• Teaches Anthropology and Environmental Studies
• Currently analyzing the Akkadian palace at Tell Lelian
• http://www.yale.edu/archaeology/f.harveyweiss.html

Raymond BRadley

• Department of Geosciences
• Univsersity of Massachusetts
• Teaches Climate Change and Paleoclimatology
• Published author on those topics
• http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/bradley/

Weiss, Harvey, and Raymond Bradley. "What Drives Societal Collapse?." SCIENCE 26 Jan. 2001: 609-607. Web