Climate Change: An Archaeological Study
The thesis of this book is that climate change is nothing new, even during the few tens of thousands of years that mankind has been on earth. Our ancestors had to endure the Ice Age (or more properly the last Glacial Maximum of the present Ice Age) and then the gradual warming of the planet, the retreat of the ice and rising sea levels. Grainger describes how humans adjusted to these changes, drawing on archaeological evidence from all over the world, culminating in the invention of agriculture.
Grainger also argues that we would be better advised to adapt to future changes rather than try to prevent them. Whether or not one agrees with this, this is a very interesting and informative book, exploring the little-known Mesolithic period of prehistory and covering parts of the world whose archaeology we seldom read about. He makes a strong case that civilisation as we know it is a response to climate change.
