World Without EndWhen the Aegean island of Thera was blown apart in the Bronze Age by a volcanic explosion larger than that of Krakatoa the scale of the disaster was so great some believe it to have inspired the legend of Atlantis. When the conquistadors arrived in central America they found the civilization of the Maya - one of the most advanced societies of the ancient world, with a population of around 15 million at its peak - reduced to a few hundred thousand. What had happened? At the end of the Pleistocene period more than two-thirds of the large mammal species of North America disappeared within a period of five hundred years. Why?The author shows how environmental historians are piecing together evidence from a wide range of sources to build up a picture of what happened to these past societies and how they coped - or did not - with major episodes of climatic change and natural disaster. At a time when we are more than ever conscious of the detrimental effect we have had upon the environment. "World Without End?" provides a salutary tale for our continuing survival. |
Contents
CONTENTS | 1 |
Hunters and HunterGatherers | 34 |
Early Agricultural Societies | 49 |
Copyright | |
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abandonment agriculture Alpine Alps animals Aral Sea archaeological archaeologists Atlantic Britain Bronze Age caused cent cereal charcoal cities climatic change collapse conifers construction coppicing crop cultivation dating deforestation deposition developed disaster drought early effects eighteenth century England environment environmental change Europe evidence extinctions farmers favourable floods forests glaciers global warming Greenland growth Highlands Holocene hunter-gatherers hunting Iceland impact increase irrigation island Lake District land landscape large dams layers less Little Ice Age livestock lowlands major marginal Maya Maya civilisation medieval Mediterranean megafauna Mesolithic modern mountain Natufian natural Neolithic nineteenth century North northern occurred particular peat bogs period phase Plains plantations plants pollen population problems range recent region relatively result rivers scale Scotland Scottish sea level rise sediment settlement societies soil erosion southern species spread suggested survive temperatures tephra Thera eruption Three Gorges Dam timber tion trees Tuvalu upland areas valley vegetation volcanic wetter wood