Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations

Abstract

The record of past human adaptations provides crucial lessons for guiding responses to crises in the future. To date, there have been no systematic global comparisons of humans’ ability to absorb and recover from disturbances through time. We present results of the first attempt to synthesise resilience across a broad sample of prehistoric population time frequency data, spanning 30,000 years of human history. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of population decline show that frequent disturbances enhance a population’s capacity to resist and recover from later downturns. Land use patterns are important mediators of the strength of this positive association: farming and herding societies are more vulnerable but also more resilient overall. The results show that important trade-offs exist when adopting novel or alternate land use strategies.