Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Changing the Climate: Bioarchaeology Responds to Deterministic Thinking About Human-Environmental Interactions in the Past

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Bioarchaeologists Speak Out

Part of the book series: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ((BST))

Abstract

As members of the global public become increasingly concerned about climate change, popular presses promote “scientific” narratives about the success or failure of past societies (e.g., Diamond, Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Viking, 2005), human security literature perpetuates a narrative that violence is a “natural” outcome of increased competition in such circumstances (e.g., Barnett and Adger, Political Geography 26(6):639–655, 2007), and generally, neither the public nor policy-makers are exposed to information about the topic of human-environmental interactions from those who know it best, anthropologists. This chapter explores the development of the human security field and the development of pseudo-evolutionary, ahistorical, adaptationist narratives about human behavior in the face of changing climates. The chapter also demonstrates implications of these narratives as they have been adopted by policy-makers at the EPA and DoD. Finally, the chapter provides an example of a bioarchaeological approach to research on human-environmental relations in the past and the complex dynamics that shaped the human experience of climate, social, and economic changes in the first and second millennium BCE in South Asia. Human security literature is the basis for planning for a warmer world. Anthropological perspectives are the necessary antidote to narratives of competition and violence that promote a governmental agenda to prevail at all costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Lovell’s analysis of pathological conditions included the same 19 individuals as the trauma study plus 1 additional individual she located on display in the Harappa Museum.

References

  • Adger, W. N. (1999). Social vulnerability to climate change and extremes in coastal Vietnam. World Development, 27(2), 249–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., & Kelly, M. (1999). Social vulnerability to climate change and the architecture of entitlements. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 4(3), 253–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alkire, S. (2003). A conceptual framework for human security (CRISE working Paper 2). Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, A. (2016). Borderlands, climate change, and the genocidal impulse. Genocide Studies International, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.3138/gsi.3110.3131.3103

  • Baker, B., & Tsuda, T. (2015). Migration and disruptions. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, J., Dove, M., Lahsen, M., Mathews, A., McElwee, P., McIntosh, R., et al. (2013). Contribution of anthropology to the study of climate change. Nature Climate Change, 3(6), 541–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J. (2006). Climate change, insecurity, and injustice. In W. N. Adger, J. Paavola, S. Huq, & M. J. Mace (Eds.), Fairness in adaptation to climate change (pp. 115–129). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J., & Adger, W. N. (2007). Climate change, human security and violent conflict. Political Geography, 26(6), 639–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J., Dessai, S., & Jones, R. N. (2007). Vulnerability to climate variability and change in East Timor. Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, 36(5), 372–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, S. (2008). The implications of climate change for children in lower-income countries. Children, Youth and Environments, 18(1), 71–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkelhammer, M., Sinha, A., Stott, L., Cheng, H., Pausata, F. S. R., & Yoshimura, K. (2013). An abrupt shift in the Indian monsoon 4000 years ago. Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations, 198, 75–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1962). Archaeology as anthropology. American Antiquity, 28(2), 217–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. C. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, O., Hammill, A., & McLeman, R. (2007). Climate change as the ‘new’ security threat: Implications for Africa. International Affairs, 83(6), 1141–1154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brumfiel, E. M. (1995). Heterarchy and the analysis of complex societies: Comments. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 6(1), 125–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, I., Kates, R. W., & White, G. F. (1993). The Environment as Hazard. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carleton, T., Hsiang, S. M., & Burke, M. (2016). Conflict in a changing climate. The European Physical Journal Special Topics, 225(3), 489–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarti, D. K. (2009). India: An archaeological history. Paleolithic beginnings to early historic foundations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cork, E. (2005). Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus civilisation of north-West India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC). Antiquity, 79(304), 411–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cork, E. (2011). Rethinking the Indus: A comparative re-evaluation of the indus civilisation as an alternative paradigm in the organisation and structure of early complex societies. Oxford: BAR International Series 2213 Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cramer, C. (2002). Homo Economicus Goes to War: Methodological individualism, rational choice and the political economy of war. World Development, 30(11), 1845–1864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crumley, C. L. (1979). Three locational models: An epistemological assessment for anthropology and archaeology. In Advances in archaeological method and theory (Vol. 2, pp. 141–173).

    Google Scholar 

  • Crumley, C. L. (1995). Heterarchy and the analysis of complex societies. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 6(1), 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crumley, C. L. (2005). Remember how to organize: Heterarchy across disciplines. In C. S. Beekman & W. W. Baden (Eds.), Nonlinear models for archaeology and anthropology (pp. 35–50). Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabelko, G. D. (2010). Foreword. In R. A. Matthew, J. Barnett, B. McDonald, & K. L. O’Brien (Eds.), Global environmental change and human security (pp. ix–ix). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dales, G. F. (1964). The mythical massacre at Mohenjo-daro. Expedition, 6(3), 36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danino, M. (2016). Aryans and the Indus civilization: Archaeological, skeletal, and molecular evidence. In G. R. Schug & S. R. Walimbe (Eds.), A companion to South Asia in the past (pp. 205–224). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. (2001). Late Victorian holocausts: El Niño famines and the making of the Thrid world. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • de LaPlace, P. S. (1820). Theorie analytique des probabilites. Paris: Courcier.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Soysa, I., Gleditsch, N. P., Gibson, M., & Sollenberg, M. (1999). To Cultivate Peace: Agriculture in a world of conflict. Environmental Change and Security Project Report, Issue, 5, 15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhavalikar, M. K., Sankalia, H. D., & Ansari, Z. D. (1988). Excavations at Inamgaon (Vol. 1). Deccan College Post Graduate Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed (Vol. Book, Whole). New York: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixit, Y., Hodell, D. A., & Petrie, C. A. (2014). Abrupt weakening of the summer monsoon in Northwest India~ 4100 yr ago. Geology, 42(4), 339–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DoD. (2015). National security implications of climate-related risks and a changing climate. Department of Defense. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/150724-congressional-report-on-national-implications-of-climate-change.pdf

  • Dove, M. R. (2014). The anthropology of climate change: An historical reader. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, P. R., & Ehrlich, A. H. (2013). Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided? Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280(1754), 20122845. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EPA. (2016a). Climate change: Basic information. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/climate-change-basic-information

  • EPA. (2016b). Climate impacts on ecosystems. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-ecosystems

  • EPA. (2016c). Climate impacts on agriculture and food supply. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-agriculture-and-food-supply

  • EPA. (2016d). Climate impacts on water resources. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-water-resources

  • Faulseit, R. K. (2015). Beyond collapse: Archaeological perspectives on resilience, revitalization, and transformation in complex societies. Carbondale: SIU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flannery, K. V. (1968). Archaeological systems theory and early Mesoamerica. Anthropological archaeology in the Americas, 67, 87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Floyd, R. (2007). Human security and the Copenhagen School’s securitization approach: Conceptualizing human security as a securitizing move. Human Security Journal, 5, 38–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (Translated from French by A. M. Sheridan Smith). New York: Tavistock Publications Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, D. Q. (2011). Finding plant domestication in the Indian subcontinent. Current Anthropology, 52(Suppl. 4), S347–S362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, D. Q., & Madella, M. (2001). Issues in Harappan archaeobotany: Retrospect and prospect. In S. Settar & R. Korisettar (Eds.), Indian archaeology in retrospect II: Protohistory (pp. 317–390). Delhi: Manohar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadamer, H. G. (1960). Truth and Method (Wahrheit und Methode: Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik). Tübingen: Mohr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard, J.-C. (2007). Resilience of traditional societies in facing natural hazards. Disaster Prevention and Management, 16(4), 522–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gero, J. M. (1985). Socio-politics and the woman-at-home ideology. American Antiquity, 50(2), 342–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilgan, M. (2001). The rationality of resistance: Alternatives for engagement in complex emergencies. Disasters, 25(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giosan, L., Clift, P. D., Macklin, M. G., Fuller, D. Q., Constantinescu, S., Durcan, J. A.,... & Adhikari, R. (2012). Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(26), E1688–E1694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gleick, P. H. (2014). Water, drought, climate change, and conflict in Syria. Water, Climate, and Society, 6, 331–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gleick, P. H. (2016). Water strategies for the next administration. Science, 354(6312), 555–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, M. (2002). Human security: The individual in the security question—The case of Bosnia. Contemporary Security Policy, 23(3), 145–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregoricka, L. A. (2016). Human Response to Climate Change during the Umm an‐Nar/Wadi Suq Transition in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 26(2), 211–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregoricka, L. A., & Sheridan, S. G. (2017). Continuity or conquest? A multi‐isotope approach to investigating identity in the Early Iron Age of the Southern Levant. American journal of physical anthropology, 162(1), 73–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampson, F. O., & Hay, J. B. (2002). Human security: A review of the scholarly literature. The Human Security Bulletin, 1(2), 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardesty, D. L. (1975). The niche concept: Suggestions for its use in human ecology. Human Ecology, 3(2), 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrod, R. P., & Martin, D. L. (2013). Bioarchaeology of climate change and violence: Ethical considerations. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodder, I. (1982). Symbols in action: Ethnoarchaeological studies of material culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodder, I. (1986). Reading the past: Current approaches to interpretation in archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodder, I. (1992). Theory and practice in archaeology. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsiang, S. M., Burke, M. B., & Miguel, E. (2013). Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict. Science, 341(6151), 1235367. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, M. (2011). Reducing the future to climate: a story of climate determinism and reductionism. Osiris, 26(1), 245–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations? Foreign Affairs, Summer, 1993, 22–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. (2007). Changing climate 2007: Synthesis report. Contributions of working group I, II, and III to the the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC). Cambridge: Cambridge University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kajale, M. D. (1988). Plant remains. In M. K. Dhavalikar, H. D. Sankalia, & Z. D. Ansari (Eds.), Excavations at inamgaon (pp. 727–732). Pune: Deccan College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaniewski, D., Van Campo, E., Guiot, J., Le Burel, S., Otto, T., & Baeteman, C. (2013). Environmental roots of the Late Bronze Age crisis. PLoS One, 8(8), e71004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keen, D. (2000). Incentives and disincentives for violence. In M. Berdal & D. M. Malone (Eds.), Greed and grievance: Economic agendas in civil wars (pp. 19–42). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennett, D. J., Breitenbach, S. F., Aquino, V. V., Asmerom, Y., Awe, J., Baldini, J. U., et al. (2012). Development and disintegration of Maya political systems in response to climate change. Science, 338(6108), 788–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenoyer, J. M. (2005). Culture change during the late Harappan period at Harappa: New insights on Vedic Aryan issues. In E. F. Bryant & L. L. Patton (Eds.), The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in indian history (pp. 21–49). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenoyer, J. M. (2008). Indus urbanism: New perspectives in its origin and character. In J. Marcus & J. A. Sablof (Eds.), The ancient city: New perspectives in the old and new world (pp. 85–109). Santa Fe, NM: SAR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khagram, S., Clark, W. C., & Raad, D. F. (2003). From the Environment and Human Security to Sustainable Security and Development. Journal of Human Development, 4(2), 289–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khong, Y. F. (2001). Human security: A shotgun approach to alleviating human misery? Global Governance, 7(3), 231–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, G., & Murray, C. J. L. (2002). Rethinking human security. Political Science Quarterly, 116(4), 585–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leach, E. (1990). Aryan invasions over four millennia. Culture through time: Anthropological approaches, 227–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leone, M. P. (1984). Interpreting ideology in historical archaeology: Using the rules of perspective in the William Paca Garden in Annapolis, Maryland. In D. Miller & C. Tilley (Eds.), Ideology, representation, and power in prehistory (pp. 25–35). Cabridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leone, M. P., Potter, P. B., Jr., Shackel, P. A., Blakey, M. L., Bradley, R., Durrans, B., et al. (1987). Toward a critical archaeology [and comments and reply]. Current Anthropology, 28(3), 283–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovell, N. C. (2014a). Additional data on trauma at Harappa. International Journal of Paleopathology, 6, 1–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovell, N. C. (2014b). Skeletal paleopathology of human remains from cemetery R37 at Harappa, excavated in 1987 and 1988. Edmonton: University of Alberta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovell, N. C. (2016). Bioarchaeology of the Indus Valley. In G. R. Schug & S. R. Walimbe (Eds.), A companion to South Asia in the past (pp. 169–186). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Madella, M., & Fuller, D. Q. (2006). Palaeoecology and the Harappan civilisation of South Asia: A reconsideration. Quaternary Science Review, 25, 1283–1301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, D. L., & Harrod, R. P. (2016). 10 the bioarchaeology of pain and suffering: Human adaptation and survival during troubled times. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 27(1), 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthew, R. A., Barnett, J., McDonald, B., & O’Brien, K. L. (Eds.). (2010). Global environmental change and human security. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAnany, P. A., & Yoffee, N. (2010). Questioning collapse: Human resilience, ecological vulnerability, and the aftermath of empire (Vol. Book, Edited). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh, R. J., Tainter, J. A., & McIntosh, S. K. (2000). The way the wind blows: Climate, history, and human action. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meskell, L. (1996). The somatization of archaeology: Institutions, discourses, corporeality. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 29(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, H. M.-L. (2006). Water supply, labor requirements, and land ownership in Indus floodplain agricultural systems. In J. Marcus & C. Stannish (Eds.), Agricultural strategies (pp. 92–128). Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mochizuki, K. (2004). Conflict and peoples’ insecurity: An insight from the experiences of Nigeria. In H. Shinoda & H.-W. Jeong (Eds.), Conflict and human security: A search for new approaches of peace-building (pp. 207–228). Hiroshima: IPSHU Research Report Series, Issue 19, Institute for Peace Science Hiroshima University (IPSHU).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, M. H., & Pitcher, M. A. (2004). The ‘basket case’ and the ‘poster child’: Explaining the end of civil conflicts in Liberia and Mozambique. Third World Quarterly, 25(3), 501–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mughal, M. R. (1997). Ancient Cholistan: Archaeology and architecture. Lahore: Ferozsons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nef, J. (1999). Human security and mutual vulnerability: The global political economy of development and underdevelopment (2nd ed.). Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, E., & Richmond, O. P. (2001). The United Nations and human security. New York: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nordås, R., & Gleditsch, N. P. (2007). Climate change and conflict. Political Geography, 26, 627–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oels, A. (2012). From ‘securitization’ of climate change to ‘climatization‘ of the security field: Comparing three theoretical perspectives. In J. Scheffran, M. Brzoska, H. G. Brauch, P. M. Link, & J. Schilling (Eds.), Climate change, human security and violent conflict (pp. 185–205). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlsson, L. (1999). Environment Scarcity and Conflict: A study of Malthusian concerns (Vol. Book, Whole). Göteborg: Department of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohlsson, L. (2000). Livelihood conflicts: Linking poverty and environment as causes of conflict. Stockholm: Sida - Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, T. (2004). Human security—Conflict, critique and consensus: Colloquium remarks and a proposal for a threshold-based definition. Security Dialogue, 35(3), 373–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paris, R. (2001). Human security: Paradigm shift or hot air? International Security, 26(2), 87–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrie, C. A., Bates, J., Higham, T., & Singh, R. N. (2016). Feeding ancient cities in South Asia: Dating the adoption of rice, millet and tropical pulses in the Indus civilisation. Antiquity, 90(354), 1489–1504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrie, C. A., Singh, R. N., Bates, J., Dixit, Y., French, C. A., Hodell, D. A., et al. (2017). Adaptation to variable environments, resilience to climate change: Investigating land, water and settlement in Indus Northwest India. Current Anthropology, 58(1), 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piggott, S. (1950). Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. Middlesex: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Possehl, G. L. (1990). Revolution in the urban revolution: The emergence of Indus urbanization. Annual Review of Anthropology, 19, 261–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Possehl, G. L. (1998). Sociocultural complexity without the state: The Indus civilization. In J. Marcus & G. M. Feinman (Eds.), Archaic states (pp. 261–291). Santa Fe: School of American Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Possehl, G. L. (2002). The Indus civilization: A contemporary perspective. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, T. D., & Feinman, G. M. (2010). Social inequality and the evolution of human social organization. In T. D. Price & G. M. Feinman (Eds.), Pathways to power (pp. 1–14). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Raleigh, C., & Urdal, H. (2007). Climate change, environmental degradation and armed conflict. Political Geography, 26, 674–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, R. A. (1977). Ecology, adaptation and the ills of functionalism (being among other things, a response to Jonathan Friedman). Michigan Discussions in Anthropology, 2(2), 138–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redman, C. L. (2005). Resilience theory in archaeology. American Anthropologist, 107(1), 70–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renfrew, C., & Bahn, P. (1991). Archaeology. Theory and Methods. Thames and Hudson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rifkin, J. (2002). The hydrogen economy: The creation of the worldwide energy web and the redistribution of power on earth. Cambridge: Polity and Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G. (2011). Bioarchaeology and climate change. Florida: University Press of Florida.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G. (2016). Begotten of corruption? Bioarchaeology and “othering” of leprosy in South Asia. International Journal of Paleopathology, 15, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G. (2017). A hierarchy of values: The bioarchaeology of order, complexity, health and hierarchy at Harappa. In H. Klaus, A. R. Harvey, & M. N. Cohen (Eds.), Bones of complexity: Osteological indicators of emergent heterarchy and hierarchy (pp. 263–289). Gainesville: UPF.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G., Blevins, K. E., Cox, B., Gray, K., & Mushrif-Tripathy, V. (2013). Infection, disease, and biosocial processes at the end of the Indus civilization. PLoS One, 8(12), e84814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G., Gray, K., Mushrif-Tripathy, V., & Sankhyan, A. R. (2012). A peaceful realm? Trauma and social differentiation at Harappa. International Journal of Paleopathology, 2(2), 136–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G. R., & Blevins, K. E. (2016). The center cannot hold: A bioarchaeological perspective on environmental crisis in the Second Millennium BCE. In A companion to South Asia in the past (pp. 255–273). Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Schug, G. R., & Goldman, H. M. (2014). Birth is but our death begun: A bioarchaeological assessment of skeletal emaciation in immature human skeletons in the context of environmental, social, and subsistence transition. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 155(2), 243–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roncoli, C., Crane, T., & Orlove, B. (2009). Fielding climate change in cultural anthropology. In S. A. Crate & M. Nuttall (Eds.), Anthropology and climate change: From encounters to actions (pp. 87–115). New York: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiermeier, Q. (2010). Climate Change not Linked to African Wars: Claims that global warming can drive civil unrest are hotly disputed. Nature News. https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.1451.

  • Scheffran, J., Brzoska, M., Brauch, H. G., Link, P. M., & Schilling, J. (Eds.). (2012). Climate change, human security and violent conflict: challenges for societal stability (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schleussner, C.-F., Donges, J. F., Donner, R. V., & Schellnhuber, H. J. (2016). Armed-conflict risks enhanced by climate-related disasters in ethnically fractionalized countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(33), 9216–9221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, J. G. (1984). The indo-Aryan invasions: Cultural myth and archaeological reality. In J. R. Lukacs (Ed.), The people of South Asia (pp. 77–90). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Shanks, M., & Tilley, C. Y. (1987). Social theory and archaeology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shinde, V. (2016). Current perspectives on the harappan civilization. In G. R. Schug & S. R. Walimbe (Eds.), A companion to South Asia in the past (pp. 127–144). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shinde, V., Deshpande, S., Osada, T., & Uno, T. (2006). Basic issues in Harappan archaeology: Some thoughts. Ancient Asia, 1, 63–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. A., & Winterhalder, B. (Eds.). (1992). Evolutionary ecology and human behavior. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staubwasser, M., Sirocko, F., Grootes, P. M., & Segl, M. (2003). Climate change at the 4.2 ka BP termination of the Indus Valley civilization and Holocene South Asian monsoon variability. Geophysical Research Letters, 30(8), 1425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, N. (2007). Economics of climate change: The stern review. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stoett, P. J. (1999). Human and global security: An exploration of terms. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stojanowski, C. M., & Knudson, K. J. (2011). Biogeochemical inferences of mobility of early Holocene fisher-foragers from the Southern Sahara Desert. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 146(1), 49–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stojanowski, C. M., & Knudson, K. J. (2014). Changing patterns of mobility as a response to climatic deterioration and aridification in the middle Holocene southern Sahara. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 154(1), 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suhrke, A. (1999). Human security and the interests of states. Security Dialogue, 30(3), 265–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tadjbakhsh, S., & Chenoy, A. M. (2007). Human security: Concepts and implications. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, P. K. (1988). Faunal assemblage. Excavations at Inamgaon, 1(part ii), 822–961.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, C., & Wilkin, P. (Eds.). (1999). Globalization, human security, and the African experience. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP. (1994). Human Development Report 1994. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/255/hdr_1994_en_complete_nostats.pdf

  • USGCRP. (2016). The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://health2016.globalchange.gov

  • Valentine, B. (2016). More than origins: Refining migration in the Indus civilization. In G. R. Schug & S. R. Walimbe (Eds.), A companion to South Asia in the past (pp. 187–204). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, S. A. (2003). Archaeobotany at Harappa: Indications of change. In S. A. Weber & W. R. Belcher (Eds.), Indus ethnobiology (pp. 175–198). Lanham, MD: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, S. A., Barela, T., & Lehman, H. (2010). Ecological continuity: An explanation for agricultural diversity in the Indus civilisation and beyond. Man and Environment, 35(1), 62–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, S. R. E. M. (1953). The Indus civilization: The Cambridge history of India; supplementary volume. Cambridge: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winslow, D., & Eriksen, T. H. (2004). A broad concept that encourages interdisciplinary thinking. Security Dialogue, 35(3), 361–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winterhalder, B., & Smith, E. A. (Eds.). (1981). Hunter-gatherer foraging strategies: Ethnographic and archaeological analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. P. (2010). The ancient Indus: Urbanism, economy and society (Case Studies in Early Societies). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. P., Bryson, R. A., & Schuldenrein, J. (2008). Water supply and history: Harappa and the Beas regional survey. Antiquity, 82, 37–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

    Gwen Robbins Schug & Emily K. Parnell

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Ryan P. Harrod

Authors
  1. Gwen Robbins Schug
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emily K. Parnell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ryan P. Harrod
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gwen Robbins Schug .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Jane E. Buikstra

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Robbins Schug, G., Parnell, E.K., Harrod, R.P. (2019). Changing the Climate: Bioarchaeology Responds to Deterministic Thinking About Human-Environmental Interactions in the Past. In: Buikstra, J.E. (eds) Bioarchaeologists Speak Out. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93012-1_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93012-1_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93011-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93012-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation