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This article is uncategorized. Please categorize this article to list it with similar articles. (December 2007) |
There have been many reasons put forward for the collapse and fall of civilisations, including
- climatic changes[1]
- destruction of the environment - deforestation, loss of soils, desertification, water crisis, etc. [2]
- changes in military technology[3]
- decline in creativity [4]
- declining returns of complexity [5]
- the rise of superstitious and counterproductive beliefs[6]
Not all these factors are contradictory, and more than one factor is often used concurrently with others. According to John Greer, eventually some change, which in previous times could have been coped with, becomes a catalytic factor which, starting with small effects, reaches some kind of tipping point, to magnify in some form of societal collapse.[1].
References
- ^ Fagan, Brian (2005), "The Long Hot Summer: how climate changed history" (Granta Books)
- ^ Diamond, Jarrod (2006), "Collapse: How societies chose to fail or succeed" (Penguin)
- ^ Drews, Robert (1995), "End of the Bronze Age" (Princeton Uni Press)
- ^ Toynbee, Arnold "A Study of History"
- ^ Tainter, Joseph (1990) "The Collapse of Complesx Society" (Cambrifge University Press)
- ^ Gibbon, Edward "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
- Greer, John Michael "How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse" ([2])
