Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies

The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes

5 mM standard reference samples.

<p>A. Total-ion chromatogram of tartaric acid standard, B. Total-ion chromatogram of syringic acid standard.</p

Total-ion chromatograms of Jars 16–20.

<p>A. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 16 (ARCHEM 4300), B. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 17 (ARCHEM 4299), C. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 18 (ARCHEM 4311), D. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 19 (ARCHEM 4303), E. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 20 (ARCHEM 4302).</p

Representative total-ion chromatogram from Jar 35 (ARCHEM 4319).

<p>Representative total-ion chromatogram from Jar 35 (ARCHEM 4319).</p

LiDAR map composed of millions of discrete points color coded to elevation.

<p>LiDAR map composed of millions of discrete points color coded to elevation.</p

Chemical occurrence of additive compounds.

<p>Chemical occurrence of additive compounds.</p

Verification of Jar 15 sample.

<p>A. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 15 (ARCHEM 4305), B. Total-ion chromatogram from Jar 15 (ARCHEM 4305) verified.</p

Plan of Kabri wine cellar.

<p>Plan of Kabri wine cellar.</p

Tartaric and syringic acid data from wine cellar jars with LiDAR coordinates of tested sherds.

<p>*213400 and 768200 meters were removed from X and Y coordinates respectively for brevity.</p>†<p>Peak area determined by integration in chromatograms.</p>‡<p>Percentage relative to maximum peak in a given chromatogram.</p><p>Tartaric and syringic acid data from wine cellar jars with LiDAR coordinates of tested sherds.</p

Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract There is limited understanding of temperature and atmospheric circulation changes that accompany an Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowdown beyond the North Atlantic realm. A Peqi’in Cave (Israel) speleothem dated to the last interglacial period (LIG), 129–116 thousand years ago (ka), together with a large modern rainfall monitoring dataset, serve as the base for investigating past AMOC slowdown effects on the Eastern Mediterranean. Here, we reconstruct LIG temperatures and rainfall source using organic proxies (TEX86) and fluid inclusion water d-excess. The TEX86 data show a stepwise cooling from 19.8 ± 0.2° (ca. 128–126 ka) to 16.5 ± 0.6 °C (ca. 124–123 ka), while d-excess values decrease abruptly (ca. 126 ka). The d-excess shift suggests that rainfall was derived from more zonal Mediterranean air flow during the weakened AMOC interval. Decreasing rainfall d-excess trends over the last 25 years raise the question whether similar atmospheric circulation changes are also occurring today