Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38693262.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41586-024-07354-8 and PMC identifier 11111401.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The record of past human adaptations provides crucial lessons for guiding responses to crises in the future<sup>1-3</sup>. To date, there have been no systematic global comparisons of humans' ability to absorb and recover from disturbances through time<sup>4,5</sup>. Here we synthesized resilience across a broad sample of prehistoric population time-frequency data, spanning 30,000 years of human history. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of population decline show that frequent disturbances enhance a population's capacity to resist and recover from later downturns. Land-use patterns are important mediators of the strength of this positive association: farming and herding societies are more vulnerable but also more resilient overall. The results show that important trade-offs exist when adopting new or alternative land-use strategies.
Medical subject headings
- Agriculture
- Population Dynamics
- Social Change