Professor Kyle Harper

Thanks, Tristan. It's a pleasure to be here.

Thanks, Tristan. It's a pleasure to be here.

Thanks, Tristan. It's a pleasure to be here.

We're familiar with the human factors. It's easy for us to relate to. And I'll be the first to insist that the human factors are enormously important, from the character of individual leaders to the sort of random fate of individual battles that can really turn the course of history one way or the other. So to me, it's not an either or. Those factors are really important. They still matter.

We're familiar with the human factors. It's easy for us to relate to. And I'll be the first to insist that the human factors are enormously important, from the character of individual leaders to the sort of random fate of individual battles that can really turn the course of history one way or the other. So to me, it's not an either or. Those factors are really important. They still matter.

We're familiar with the human factors. It's easy for us to relate to. And I'll be the first to insist that the human factors are enormously important, from the character of individual leaders to the sort of random fate of individual battles that can really turn the course of history one way or the other. So to me, it's not an either or. Those factors are really important. They still matter.

But I think we now have new insights, new data, new ways of thinking about the past that previous generations of historians didn't have. And One of the really important and exciting things that these new kinds of archives have told us is that the environment in which human societies operate is a really important factor.

But I think we now have new insights, new data, new ways of thinking about the past that previous generations of historians didn't have. And One of the really important and exciting things that these new kinds of archives have told us is that the environment in which human societies operate is a really important factor.

But I think we now have new insights, new data, new ways of thinking about the past that previous generations of historians didn't have. And One of the really important and exciting things that these new kinds of archives have told us is that the environment in which human societies operate is a really important factor.

And climate change, sudden changes in health, in the arrival of infectious disease, of pandemics, have had also a really significant effect on the course of human history.

And climate change, sudden changes in health, in the arrival of infectious disease, of pandemics, have had also a really significant effect on the course of human history.

And climate change, sudden changes in health, in the arrival of infectious disease, of pandemics, have had also a really significant effect on the course of human history.

There's no single technology or innovation that's really responsible. In fact, you could trace the way that archaeology for the last several generations has been really empowered by laboratory science, by radiocarbon, by chemistry. But over the last 20 years or so, there have been, I would say, two really important changes. One is the proliferation of paleoclimate data.

There's no single technology or innovation that's really responsible. In fact, you could trace the way that archaeology for the last several generations has been really empowered by laboratory science, by radiocarbon, by chemistry. But over the last 20 years or so, there have been, I would say, two really important changes. One is the proliferation of paleoclimate data.

There's no single technology or innovation that's really responsible. In fact, you could trace the way that archaeology for the last several generations has been really empowered by laboratory science, by radiocarbon, by chemistry. But over the last 20 years or so, there have been, I would say, two really important changes. One is the proliferation of paleoclimate data.

This is driven by the urgency of understanding the Earth system, understanding its history, so that we can understand the dynamics of anthropogenic life. warming. And for historians, it's really exciting because it tells us things that we absolutely didn't know before about the climate context in which these societies operated.

This is driven by the urgency of understanding the Earth system, understanding its history, so that we can understand the dynamics of anthropogenic life. warming. And for historians, it's really exciting because it tells us things that we absolutely didn't know before about the climate context in which these societies operated.

This is driven by the urgency of understanding the Earth system, understanding its history, so that we can understand the dynamics of anthropogenic life. warming. And for historians, it's really exciting because it tells us things that we absolutely didn't know before about the climate context in which these societies operated.

The other that's been, I mean, I would say revolutionary is gene sequencing. And in particular, the kind of what are called high throughput gene sequencing technologies that make it

The other that's been, I mean, I would say revolutionary is gene sequencing. And in particular, the kind of what are called high throughput gene sequencing technologies that make it