Abstract
Climate change is the latest in a dismaying series of challenges that industrialism and modernity have gifted to humanity. To date, anthropological and archaeological responses have focused largely on the culturally particular—that is, on the interactions of climate, environment, cultural schema, and social systems in specific locales and eras. In this article, I urge a complementary response that capitalizes on archaeology and anthropology's holistic and universalistic investigative aspirations and expertise. For two decades, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has overseen major efforts to model human social dynamics and their implications for future climate change. These models are technically sophisticated but economically reductionist and substantively crude. Here, I review these efforts and provide three examples of how established and future archaeological and anthropological research could improve them. Recent changes to the IPCC's modeling regime make this an opportune moment for such a project.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.