The collapse of the Western Roman Empire: was it caused by climate change?
The relationship of climate and civilization collapse is a much debated subject. From the recent collapse of the Syrian state to the much older one of the Bronze Age civilization, climate changes have been seen as the culprit of various disasters befalling on human societies. However, an alternative view of societal collapse sees it as the natural (“systemic”) result of the declining returns that a society obtains from the resources it exploits. It is the concept termed “diminishing returns of complexity” by Joseph A. Tainter.
On this point, we may say that there may well exist several causes for societal collapse. Either climate change or resource depletion may sufficiently weaken the control structures of any civilization to cause it to fold over and disappear. In the case of the Western Roman Empire, however, the data published by Buentgen et al. completely vindicate Tainter’s interpretation of the collapse of the Roman Empire: it was a systemic collapse, it was NOT caused by climate changea.
We can see that there was a cooling episode that probably affected the whole of Eurasia and that started with the beginning of the 6th century AD. This period is called LALIA (Late Antiquity Little Ice Age) and it seems to have been stronger than the better known LIA (Little Ice Age) that took place during the 18th and 19th centuries….click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
