Durham University is to host the European Research Council's (ERC) Scientific Council meeting this June. Leading up to the visit, we are highlighting some of the projects at Durham that are happening thanks to support from the ERC.
Professor Dan Lawrence, from our Department of Archaeology, has been granted ERC funding to investigate the relationship between climate change and the emergence of complex societies over the last 8,000 years.
Climate and the environment have both greatly influenced the development of social systems over the course of human history. Climate plays a role in the rise and fall of cities, populations, and political hierarchies.
Professor Lawrence’s CLaSS project takes a broad view of these processes, using collated data to analyse these phenomena on a larger scale.
The project has already yielded several publications, including one linking wealth inequality to human sustainability for over 10,000 years. Another looking at the relationship between climate change and societal collapse.
The first study used the United Nations' definition of sustainability, which emphasises meeting today's needs without harming future generations' ability to meet theirs. It then asked: "Is equality or inequality more sustainable throughout history?"
The team discovered that over the past 10,000 years, settlements with unequal wealth distribution were more stable and longer-lasting.
This relationship grew stronger in more complex societies, where unequal cities were able to survive at the expense of more egalitarian rural settlements.
However, the study also found that some long-lasting societies had low inequality, and inequality wasn't the direct reason for their longevity.
The research team argue that inequality is therefore not a necessary by-product of building complex, sustainable societies. And, that reducing inequality does not automatically harm sustainability.
In the second study, Professor Lawrence and his team looked at how climate affected cities during the Bronze Age.
They found that short-term climate changes, like the 4.2kya event (a drought around 2200 BC), played a role in the rise and fall of ancient societies.
This drought, which affected North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, is believed to have caused the collapse of the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia
The research team collected data from over 1,300 settlements to see how populations and settlement patterns changed in Mesopotamia and the Levant from 6,000 to 3,000 years ago.
The study showed that while populations did decrease during the drought, this was preceded by rapid growth in population and urbanisation. This boom was unsustainable and relied on exploiting risky environments for farming.
Professor Lawrence and his team concluded that the 4.2kya event affected a society that was already unsustainable, even without the drought.
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