30,000 years of history show that difficult times boost human resilience
30,000 years of history reveal the correlation between adversities and the resilience of human civilizations, according to a recent analysis. Published in the journal Nature, the study demonstrates that ancient societies that faced more setbacks were better equipped to recover from future downturns. Philip Riris, the leader of the study and an archaeologist at Bournemouth University, emphasized the significance of this finding, stating that "the more often a population experiences disturbances or downturns, the more likely it is to be able to recover faster the next time around." This pattern of vulnerability and resilience was particularly observed among early farmers and herders, who, despite enduring more downturns than other societies, displayed swifter recoveries. This is reported by SSP.
The researchers garnered insights from 16 distinct archaeological sites worldwide, incorporating data obtained from radiocarbon dating over the span of 30,000 years. The analysis relied on a method called "dates as data," where the abundance of carbon-14 dates correlated with population size and corresponding activity such as construction, waste accumulation, and firepits. Examining downturns and recoveries, the researchers discovered that these cycles predominantly operated on timescales of several decades and were triggered by various factors, including environmental changes and societal turmoil. Notably, certain crises, such as a crop loss caused by a cold snap in Norway, provided historical or climatological knowledge for specific cases.
While the study focused on preindustrial societies, its findings can serve as a framework for understanding resilience in different contexts. Dagomar Degroot, an associate professor at Georgetown University who specializes in the connection between climate change and human history, regarded the study as a crucial contribution, stating, "There is a lot of really influential work on the collapse of societies faced with climate change, but a focus on resilience and only resilience is significantly rarer." However, Degroot cautioned against directly applying these lessons to modern societies due to the vast differences in preindustrial and contemporary contexts. Nevertheless, Riris emphasized the importance of comprehending and identifying patterns among societies to systematically address resilience.