The archaeology of climate change: a blueprint for integrating environmental and cultural systems

Ariane Burke (), Matt Grove, Andreas Maier, Colin Wren, Michelle Drapeau, Timothée Poisot, Olivier Moine, Solène Boisard and Laurent Bruxelles
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Ariane Burke: Université de Montréal
Matt Grove: University of Liverpool
Andreas Maier: University of Cologne
Colin Wren: Université de Montréal
Michelle Drapeau: Université de Montréal
Timothée Poisot: Université de Montréal
Olivier Moine: Laboratoire de Géographie Physique: Environnements quaternaires et actuels. UMR 8591 CNRS- Paris 1-UPEC
Solène Boisard: Université de Montréal
Laurent Bruxelles: University of the Witwatersrand

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Cultural systems play an important role in shaping the interactions between humans and the environment, and are in turn shaped by these interactions. However, at present, cultural systems are poorly integrated into the models used by climate scientists to study the interaction of natural and anthropogenic processes (i.e. Earth systems models) due to pragmatic and conceptual barriers. In this Perspective, we demonstrate how the archaeology of climate change, an interdisciplinary field that uses the archaeological record to explore human-environment interactions, is uniquely placed to overcome these barriers. We use concepts drawn from climate science and evolutionary anthropology to show how complex systems modeling that focuses on the spatial structure of the environment and its impact on demographic variables, social networks and cultural evolution, can bridge the gap between large-scale climate processes and local-scale social processes. The result is a blueprint for the design of integrative models that produce testable hypotheses about the impact of climate change on human systems.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60450-9

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