The Recurring Dark Ages: Ecological Stress, Climate Changes, and System Transformation (World Ecological Degradation)

In this modern era of global environmental crisis, Sing Chew provides a convincing analysis of the recurring human and environmental crises identified as Dark Ages. In this, his second of a three-volume series concerning world ecological degradation, Chew reviews the past 5,000-year history of structural conditions and processes that define the relationship between nature and culture. Chew's message about the coming Dark Ages, as human communities continue to reorganize to meet the contingencies of ecological scarcity and climate changes, is a must-read for those concerned with human interactions and environmental changes, including environmental anthropologists and historians, world historians, geographers, archaeologists, and environmental scientists. In this modern era of global environmental crisis, Sing Chew provides a convincing analysis of the recurring human and environmental crises identified as Dark Ages. In this, his second of a three-volume series concerning world ecological degradation, Chew reviews the past five-thousand-year history of structural conditions and processes that define the relationship between nature and culture. Chew's message about the coming Dark Ages, as human communities continue to reorganize to meet the contingencies of ecological scarcity and climate changes, is a must-read for those concerned with human interactions and environmental changes, including environmental anthropologists and historians, world historians, geographers, archaeologists, and environmental scientists.

About the Author:
Sing C. Chew is research scientist in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology, UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig-Halle, Leipzig, Germany; professor of sociology at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California

"In this modern era of global environmental crisis, Sing Chew provides a convincing analysis of the recurring human and environmental crises identified as Dark Ages. In this, his second of a three-volume series concerning world ecological degradation, Chew reviews the past 5,000-year history of structural conditions and processes that define the relationship between nature and culture. Chew's message about the coming Dark Ages, as human communities continue to reorganize to meet the contingencies of ecological scarcity and climate changes, is a must-read for those concerned with human interactions and environmental changes, including environmental anthropologists and historians, world historians, geographers, archaeologists, and environmental scientists."--pub. website Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Figures and Tables 10 Preface 16 Part I: The Dark Ages over World History 20 1 System Crisis 22 Part II: The Crisis of the Bronze Age 38 2 Nature and Culture 40 3 Ecological Crisis and System Transformation 60 Part III: The Crisis of Antiquity 128 4 Intensification of Natural and Social System Relations 130 5 A Period of Darkness 158 Part IV: System Transformation 186 6 From the Past to the Future: Whither System Transformation? 188 Appendix 1: Arboreal Pollen Influxes 210 Appendix 2: Plantago Pollen Influxes 232 Appendix 3: Arboreal and Nonarboreal Pollen Influxes Percentages 250 Bibliography 272 Index 304