Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations.

ABSTRACT: The record of past human adaptations provides crucial lessons for guiding responses to crises in the future^1-3. To date, there have been no systematic global comparisons of humans' ability to absorb and recover from disturbances through time^4,5. 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

SUBMITTER: Riris P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11111401 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature