"Can you stand the test of time?"

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 “Can your civilization stand the test of time” Will it crumble beneath your decisions or is it preordained by external processes, processes beyond the reach of human innovation and its societies. Those discussed throughout these series of blogs (Mayans, Akkadians, Egytians, African cultists) are all born out of necessity, occupying a particular niche within the environment often adopting revolutionary technologies to maintain its equilibrium with the environment (Butzer1980c; Weiss et al 1993; Linden 2006). The Mayans and Egyptians developed advanced reservoirs, irrigation and groundwater extraction techniques to provide its growing populous with water while the Akkadians developed store houses to store and control the release of grain. (Butzer 1980c; Weiss et al1993; Linden 2006)

Yet one must ask why is it necessary to go through the process of developing and integrating these processes if society is living in harmony with the environment. In fact it could be said that the environment is not in harmony with itself, constantly being shaped by external climatic conditions occurring on a scale far beyond that of a tiny civilization like the Mayans. Deep sea cores, stalagmite isotopes, lake concentrations and human records all indicate that during periods of immense environmental stress, societies buckled, causing the decentralization of power and eventual collapse of the social system (Coombs and Barber 2005). In some cases the social teachings of the civilizations may live on, e.g. the Mayans and the 2012 fiasco, in other cases the world becomes lost to all but those who lived it, everything depends on the environment in which the civilization had adapted to (Linden 2006). Those which were born out of a freak coincidence of opportunistic environmental conditions became vulnerable to when change occurred, so much so that societal order itself would begin to break down (Bard 1994). 

Is it climate that destroys civilizations or is it our response in coping to the climate which causes civil unrest, which drives the masses to seize power from the elites of the ancient world. Ramessess III managed to keep a divided civilization together, facing adversity through political enemies, foreign invasions, weak economy and poor agricultural yield (Butzer 1980c). Other kings feel like flies under the fury of the state of the state (Bard1994). Many kings identified themselves as the provider of food and water, the connection to the realm beyond which bless these lands, using lavish ceremonies to appease those which bring forth the rain and harvest, ceremonies which become the centre of social life within the civilization (Appelgate et al 2001;Lucero 2002, Linden 2006). Often than not when the rain did not fall the rulers became weak and masses broke out in confrontation, splitting into smaller and smaller basic societies (Lucero 2002, Linden 2006). Environmental change puts in motion the pressures of niche civilizations, those which have rapidly developed and adapted will scour the land around it and be at the mercy of drastic or slight change which may impact upon the environments carrying capacity (Marceau and Myers 2006). In the end we are still creatures of nature and respond to those changes in ways similar to other organisms, migrate or adapt (Splenger 1926). If one cannot migrate, and fails to keep adapting to the rapidly changing climate than obviously something is going to give.

It is in no doubt that climate played an important role in the birth of early civilizations, from the adoption of agriculture to the habitation of some of the most inhospitable places on Earth (Garcea 2004). Though in the end it is the society’s response to the pressures which determine survival or collapse.  You play with the hand you dealt and it’s up to your own decisions, or skills and information which determine whether you win or lose with a pair of 2’s. 

What I am trying to say is that climate drove culture to an apex of social complexity, though during its crash the populous still tried to adapt, still tried its ceremonies and offerings, though a point of instability would occur among the people where all the societal systems and complexities would fail and the nomadic normality will resume (deMenocal 2000 ). So in the face of future climate change, how will we adapt, how will we learn from the failures of civilizations past, will science be able to outstrip nature, or have we already passed the point of no return. Have we reached a point where a sudden shift will cause devastation among the people of the modern world, only nature knows the true answer.

The answer on how “we can stand the test of time”