Logging 'caused Nazca collapse'

[Melvadius]

The BBC report some findings recently published in the journal of Latin American Antiquity:

 

The ancient Nazca people of Peru are famous for the lines they drew in the desert depicting strange animal forms.

 

A further mystery is what happened to this once great civilisation, which suddenly vanished 1,500 years ago.

 

Now a team of archaeologists have found the demise of the Nazca society was linked in part to the fate of a tree.

 

Analysing plant remains they reveal how the destruction of forests containing the huarango tree crossed a tipping point, causing ecological collapse.

 

The team have published their findings in the journal of Latin American Antiquity.

 

 

This remarkable nitrogen-fixing tree was an important source of food, forage timber and fuel for the local people

 

"These were very special forests," says Dr David Beresford-Jones from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK who led the team.

 

The huarango tree (Prosopis pallida) is a unique tree with many qualities and played a vital role in the habitat, protecting the fragile desert ecosystem, the scientists say.

 

Cont'd at:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/...000/8334257.stm

 

Amongst others aso reported at:

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33592777/ns/te...cience-science/

 

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091102/ful....2009.1046.html (Nature - subscription)

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/scie...icle6898641.ece

[JGolomb]

The BBC report some findings recently published in the journal of Latin American Antiquity:

 

The ancient Nazca people of Peru are famous for the lines they drew in the desert depicting strange animal forms.

 

A further mystery is what happened to this once great civilisation, which suddenly vanished 1,500 years ago.

 

Now a team of archaeologists have found the demise of the Nazca society was linked in part to the fate of a tree.

 

Analysing plant remains they reveal how the destruction of forests containing the huarango tree crossed a tipping point, causing ecological collapse.

 

The team have published their findings in the journal of Latin American Antiquity.

 

 

This remarkable nitrogen-fixing tree was an important source of food, forage timber and fuel for the local people

 

"These were very special forests," says Dr David Beresford-Jones from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK who led the team.

 

The huarango tree (Prosopis pallida) is a unique tree with many qualities and played a vital role in the habitat, protecting the fragile desert ecosystem, the scientists say.

 

Cont'd at:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/...000/8334257.stm

 

Amongst others aso reported at:

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33592777/ns/te...cience-science/

 

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091102/ful....2009.1046.html (Nature - subscription)

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/scie...icle6898641.ece

Mel - Good pick up. This is getting a ton of coverage.

 

Over the past couple of years, Scientist have raised that the gradual destruction of the environmental ecosystem in Mexico and Central America caused the decline of the Mayan civilizations as well.

From National Geographic's website: Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change "Self-induced drought and climate change may have caused the destruction of the Maya civilization, say scientists working with new satellite technology that monitors Central America's environment. "

 

Question: How much do modern environmental sensitivities (and agendas) feed into conclusions such as the recent Nazca and Maya announcements?

 

J

[caesar novus]

Question: How much do modern environmental sensitivities (and agendas) feed into conclusions such as the recent Nazca and Maya announcements?

Ours is going to be the first civilization that destroys itself due to environmental hypochondria, after regressing from the heights of scientific agnosticism down to timid new-age nature worship. All kinds of needless costs and restrictions are already kicking in, strictly based on junk science. Environmental stress of the ice age helped turn a bunch of scruffy mango pluckers into mighty toga wearing Roman wheat farmers - embrace the stress! P.S. no need to quote all of a post and cause needless scrolling and eyeball scrambling for your buried reply.

Edited November 3, 2009 by caesar novus

[Melvadius]

Mel - Good pick up. This is getting a ton of coverage.

 

 

Over the past couple of years, Scientist have raised that the gradual destruction of the environmental ecosystem in Mexico and Central America caused the decline of the Mayan civilizations as well.

From National Geographic's website: Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change "Self-induced drought and climate change may have caused the destruction of the Maya civilization, say scientists working with new satellite technology that monitors Central America's environment. "

 

Question: How much do modern environmental sensitivities (and agendas) feed into conclusions such as the recent Nazca and Maya announcements?

 

J

Thank you

 

On the issue of environmental agenda IIRC the Maya aspect may have been reported on a few years back when climatic problems and an expanding population in a particular valley were characterised by water systems and fields being built higher and higher up a mountainside before there was a major population crash.

 

On that basis although the potential problems associated with a changing climate are now more commonly accepted and/or reported on I wouldn't necessarily say it was always the first explanation that archaeologists or any other researcher will think of.

Edited November 3, 2009 by Melvadius

[caesar novus]

On that basis although the potential problems associated with a changing climate are now more commonly accepted and/or reported on I wouldn't necessarily say it was always the first explanation that archaeologists or any other researcher will think of.

We seem in the third phase of anthropological agendas. Somewhere in academia there may be unbiased seekers of truth but especially at the entry level, participants underlying drive seems polluted by fashionable narratives about unfamiliar cultures:

 

1) Early "patronizing" phase - Cultures studied as curious stepping stones to the western ultimate.

2) Recent "Rousseau" phase - Cultures as romanticized ideals that show the west as wayward (eg Margeret Mead's disputed findings of supposedly uninhibited, pacifist cultures)

3) Current "Jim Jones" phase - Cultures demonized along with the west as examples of being on the road to ruin. Either nature is the ultimate good, and societies are better off dead like the Jim Jones mass suicide, or societies must be policed simply for their own survival by green-gestapo nut cases whose fractured knowledge of physics/chemistry springs more from puffing weed rather than textbooks.

 

I've been more guilty than most of #2 in my life and study. Now I realize all 3 are crap. Don't underestimate bias-by-implication rather than explicit bias. It's like the New York Times; it's not the wording of articles that exhibit bias (often they are written by other outsiders anyway). It's the editorial selection of stories chosen, and what narrative is implied by that pattern. Surely similar for what studies are done or published in anthro/archeology - if no energizer motive like 1, 2, or 3... the rewards for authors time may be pretty austerely intellectual (admirable but rare).

Edited November 3, 2009 by caesar novus

[JGolomb]

UNRVers -

 

Following on the recent UNRV participation by Dr. Peter Turchin regarding his work behind hoard-population theories, I dropped a quick note to Dr. David Beresford-Jones who led his team's Nazca investigations. Here's his note below.

 

Dear Jason,

 

I've looked at the site and read many comments. Unfortunately, at this moment I don't have a spare second to engage, though I would like to. Please feel free to post a comment on my behalf saying:

 

Naturally this sort of coverage glosses over many important details. So I would urge anyone with a serious interest in the nuances of our argument to read the underlying paper(s). That can be downloaded from my website:

 

http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/pittrivers/membe...rent/david.html

 

Yours -

 

David

 

Dr. David Beresford-Jones,

Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research,

University of Cambridge,

Downing Street,

Cambridge,

CB2 3ER,

UK.