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Overcoming reductionism when linking climate variability with human history

A cross-disciplinary approach in the Altai Mountains

Veranstaltungsort

Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Although there is increasing awareness of the role climate may have played in shaping human history, it is evident that paleo-environmental insights must be supplemented with multifactor analyses to overcome deterministic, reductionist or monocausal explanations. As a cultural, ecological and paleoclimatological hot spot, the greater Altai region constitutes an ideal opportunity to further enhance the appreciation of environmental conditions under which historical events may have occurred and affected past societies in both Europe and Asia.

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In this regard, we are convinced that the advantages deriving from a joint analysis of historical and paleoclimatological data are especially relevant to the reconstruction of a more articulate and richer context, rather than to the construction of causal chains. Further information should be produced, if available, from archaeological and other disciplines, including both natural sciences and the humanities. It would be, for instance, extremely important to examine the archaeological remains in the greater Altai region.

Studies on first millennium hydrological fluctuations of this part of Central Asia would also appear extremely relevant. Moreover, the extent to which war, devastation and famine impacted the local population may also surface through epidemiological studies, coupled with isotopic analysis to investigate dietary changes, for instance. Finally, the extraction of aDNA would inform us of the extent to which nomadic movements and exchanges altered the genetic makeup of the ancient inhabitants of the Altai and its surrounding regions. While caution must be exercised when extrapolating complex mechanisms of human-environment interaction over space and time, the LALIA constitutes an excellent, though perhaps still preliminary, example to explore the role that environmental factors may have played on socio-cultural, political and economic phenomena. The example of the LALIA also stresses the benefits of creating a science-informed and data-rich context for seeking explanations of historical events.

Information:

Website

Contact:

Ulf Büntgen:

Kategorien

  • Geschichte
  • Variabilität
Sprachen: Englisch