New study highlights climatic effects on humans

Nov 25, 2005

How much has climate change in the past affected humans? Until recently, the answer to that question was probably not much at all.

However, this view is now under considerable attack with results now released in the Journal of Archaelogical Science by radiocarbon dating expert Dr Chris Turney from the University of Wollongong's GeoQuEST Research Group at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and colleagues from Queen's University, Belfast.

Taking a high-precision record of climate in Ireland spanning 10,000 years, the team has compared this to data collected from 50 years of Irish archaeological research to test how human populations responded to major changes in the past.

"The results show that past human populations have a systematic response to repeated long-term changes in climate," the research paper's lead author Dr Turney said.

"During poor climates, forts are built and more permanent settlements are constructed to protect resources, such as food. Perhaps populations remember lessons passed on from earlier generations or maybe the responses are a natural human reaction to climate changes," he said.

Either way, the team found that populations come together to defend resources during periods of poor climate.

“Until the conditions improve, it's important to save as much as you can to get through the bad times”, Dr Turney said.

He said these climate cycles were clear in the North Atlantic region so it was quite likely that similar responses were made by other populations in different areas.

"Ireland is wonderful to study for this work because we have a fabulous dated record of climate change and 50 years of archaeological research to draw on,” Dr Turney said.

The results are to be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science and can be obtained from the following website: Journal of Archaeological Science

For further information contact Dr Chris Turney on (02) 4221 3561/4221 5906 or mobile 0408 678989.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128