How did our ancestors face climate change? Their response to the
problem was not to attempt to stop climate change but was experimental
and technological in finding ways to cope with it.
Global warming is among the most urgent problems facing the world today.
Yet many commentators, and even some scientists, discuss it with
reference only to the changing climate of the last century or so.
John Grainger takes a longer view and draws on the archaeological
evidence to show how our ancestors faced up to the ending of the last
Ice Age, arguably a more dramatic climate change crisis than the present
one. Ranging from the Paleolithic down to the development of agriculture
in the Neolithic, the author shows how human ingenuity and
resourcefulness allowed them to adapt to the changing conditions in a
variety of ways as the ice sheets retreated and water levels rose.
Different strategies, from big game hunting on the ice, nomadic hunter
gathering, sedentary foraging and finally farming, were developed in
various regions in response to local conditions as early man colonized
the changing world. The human response to climate change was not to try
to stop it, but to embrace technology and innovation to cope with it.