Climate disaster and the resilience of local maritime networks: Two examples from the Aegean Bronze Age

Abstract

This paper investigates changing patterns of maritime small-world networks among the Cycladic islands of the southern Aegean Sea in the context of two climate disasters in the Bronze Age (ca. 3200 BCE - 1100 BCE): the 4.2 ka event at the end of the Early Bronze Age and the eruption of Thera in the late 17th century BCE in the Late Bronze Age. The 4.2 ka event is a period where changing environmental conditions — including landscape degradation, deforestation, and increased drought — correlate with drastically reduced maritime connectivity and increased settlement isolation. Previous archaeological study of the eruption of the Theran volcano (Santorini) has shown the persistence of regional-scale communication networks for a period of up to a century after the eruption. This paper examines the effect of the eruption on local-scale maritime networks. The archaeological study of both climate events is complicated by chronological discrepancies and, in the case of the 4.2 ka event, reliance on indirect environmental data.This paper addresses the questions: a) what effect did these two climate disasters have on small-world maritime networks in the Bronze Age Cyclades, and b) how did the island inhabitants adapt within a context of disruptive environmental phenomena? GIS modeling reveals that small-world networks in the Early Bronze Age Cyclades were substantially altered in the face of the 4.2 ka climate event, while in response to the eruption of Thera, small-world networks were resilient. Variables influencing the differing network responses include the temporality of the climate disasters, the availability of the sail as a technology of resilience, and varying environmental and social vulnerabilities.