The Long Summer : How Climate Changed Civilization

From the author of The Little Ice Age , a wide-ranging and surprising look at how climate changes have affected the whole of human history Library Journal Fagan (anthropology, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) is an author with many books to his credit, including two that focus on the impact of climatic conditions upon historical developments. In his latest exploration of this subject, Fagan looks at the effect of rising temperatures over the past 15,000 years and how this has influenced human civilizations. While most of human evolution occurred during the Ice Age, it is only when glaciers started to recede and temperatures and sea levels started to rise that humans invented agricultural techniques, which led them to build permanent cities and communities. Recent analysis of climate records during this warm period (the Holocene) provides the framework against which historical transitions are now being studied. Fagan postulates that changes due to warming led to the cattle-herding culture among ancient Egyptians and the Masai; Middle Eastern droughts spawned plant cultivation; rising sea levels created the Persian Gulf and Fertile Crescent, which generated the rise of Mesopotamia. Extremely readable and thought-provoking, this book should appeal to many people, including those concerned with global warming and its implications for the future. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll. Lib., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Until Very Recently, We Had No Detailed Record Of Climate Changes During The Holocene. Now We Do, And Brian Fagan Shows Us How Climate Functioned As What Historian Paul Kennedy Described As One Of The Deeper Transformations Of History - A More Important Factor Than We Have Heretofore Understood. In The Long Summer, Fagan Shows How A Thousand-year Chill Caused By The Sudden Shutting Off Of The Gulf Stream Led People In The Near East To Abandon Hunting And Gathering To Take Up The Cultivation Of Plant Foods; How The Catastrophic Flood That Created The Black Sea Drove Settlers Deep Into Europe; How A Subsequent Warming And Drying Of The Sahara Forced Its Cattle-herding Peoples To Take Up A Less Hazardous Life Along The Banks Of The Nile; How The Roman Empire Extended North In Gaul Only As Far - And For As Long - As The Climate Allowed Sustained Cereal Farming; And How A Period Of Increased Rainfall In East Africa In The Sixth Century Spread Rat Populations And The Bubonic Plague Throughout The Mediterranean, And How This In Turn Spurred Massive Migrations That Helped Shape Modern Europe And The Middle East. The Long Summer Illuminates For The First Time The Centuries-long Pattern Of Human Adaptation To The Demands And Challenges Of An Ever-changing Climate - Demands And Challenges That Are Still With Us Today.--jacket. The Threshold Of Vulnerability -- The Late Ice Age Orchestra, 18,000 To 13,500 B.c. -- The Virgin Continent, 15,000 To 11,000 B.c. -- Europe During The Great Warming, 15,000 To 11,000 B.c. -- The Thousand-year Drought, 11,000 To 10,000 B.c. -- The Cataclysm, 10,000 To 4000 B.c. -- Droughts And Cities, 6200 To 1900 B.c. -- Gifts Of The Desert, 6000 To 3100 B.c. -- The Dance Of Air And Ocean, 2200 To 1200 B.c. -- Celts And Romans, 1200 B.c. To A.d. 900 -- The Great Droughts, A.d. 1 To 1200 -- Magnificent Ruins, A.d. 1 To 1200 -- Epilogue, A.d. 1200 To Modern Times. Brian Fagan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 253-269) And Index. Contents 10 Preface 12 Author’s Note 18 1 } The Threshold of Vulnerability 22 • PART ONE • PUMPS AND CONVEYOR BELTS 32 2 } The Late Ice Age Orchestra: 18,000 to 13,500 b.c. 34 3 } The Virgin Continent: 15,000 to 11,000 b.c. 56 4 } Europe During the Great Warming: 15,000 to 11,000 b.c. 80 5 } The Thousand-Year Drought: 11,000 to 10,000 b.c. 100 • PART TWO • THE CENTURIES OF SUMMER 118 6 } The Cataclysm: 10,000 to 4000 b.c. 120 7 } Droughts and Cities: 6200 to 1900 b.c. 148 8 } Gifts of the Desert: 6000 to 3100 b.c. 168 • PART THREE • THE DISTANCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD FORTUNE 188 9 } The Dance of Air and Ocean: 2200 to 1200 b.c. 190 10 } Celts and Romans: 1200 b.c. to a.d. 900 210 11 } The Great Droughts: a.d. 1 to 1200 234 12 } Magnificent Ruins: a.d. 1 to 1200 250 Epilogue } a.d. 1200 to Modern Times 268 Notes 274 Acknowledgments 292 Index 294 For more than a century we've known that much of human evolution occurred in an Ice Age. Starting about 15,000 years ago, temperatures began to rise, the glaciers receded, and sea levels rose. The rise of human civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period, known as the Holocene. Until very recently we had no detailed record of climate changes during the Holocene. Now we do. In this engrossing and captivating look at the human effects of climate variability, Brian Fagan shows how climate functioned as what the historian Paul Kennedy described as one of the "deeper transformations" of history -- a more important historical factor than we understand. "Humanity evolved in an Ice Age in which glaciers covered much of the world. But starting about 15,000 years ago, temperatures began to climb. Civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period--the long summer of the human species. Fagan illuminates the centuries long pattern of human adaptation to the challenges of an ever-changing climate--and how climate change gave rise to civilization"--Back cover The anthropologist-author of The Little Ice Age analyzes the seminal impact of climatic change on the evolution of all of human history over the course of the last fifteen thousand years since the last Ice Age. Reprint. 30,000 first printing. A wind of Force 9 is a strong gale and it makes a sailboat's rigging shriek unrelentingly.