Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene

Abstract

Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations—commonly known as “collapse.” This survey of Holocene human–environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.

Climate change and long-term human behaviour in the Neotropics: an archaeological view from the Global South

“…Population vulnerability is not only a present condition, but is a historical one [97]. Thus, archaeology can help understand vulnerability since it provides a deep time perspective on diverse human–environmental interactions and forms of human resilience [61]. Historical narratives can teach us how vulnerable societies were before and after climatic disasters, what role cultural constraints played in long-term adaptation to climate variability, how multiple exposures to climate distress may weaken societal resilience, and the fact that different communities may have their own tools for facing climate change ([3,20,98], among others).…”

“…We consider that NCT, as properly applied, has the potential to generate relevant historical narratives that are context-specific and that are crucial to overcome the aforementioned asymmetries, and feed the discussions on the implications of climate change upon human societies and the policies involved. Taking into account the whole range of variation in human adaptive capacity and vulnerability can also help overcome asymmetries and biases, and avoid reproducing climate coloniality ( sensu [61]). To illustrate the potential of this approach, we are introducing a Neotropical case study below.…”

The Anthropocene condition: evolving through social–ecological transformations

“…prolonged drought, devasting floods, colonial invasion, epidemic disease, pest outbreaks) or internally (e.g. extreme social inequalities, civil war, soil erosion, resource depletion), or through interactions among external and internal challenges, some societies have disintegrated while others have adapted to, learned from these and transformed themselves, thriving on for centuries to millennia [7,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

The past 12,000 years of behavior, adaptation, population, and evolution shaped who we are today

“…In Perspective 1, Robbins Schug et al. ( 18 ) make the case that climate change and its impact on health and well-being extends far back into prehistory. Epidemiological evidence drawn from archaeological contexts reveals that communities responded to environmental challenges in diverse ways, with important implications for dietary sufficiency, disease ecology, migration, and interpersonal violence.…”