Professor Kyle Harper

Some of it, too, like we lean on comparison with the study of Central Asian step groups in the Middle Ages, the late Middle Ages, even early modern times, where we have sometimes better data, where there's a pretty strong case to be made that there's a climate link to things like population growth and migration patterns.

Some of it, too, like we lean on comparison with the study of Central Asian step groups in the Middle Ages, the late Middle Ages, even early modern times, where we have sometimes better data, where there's a pretty strong case to be made that there's a climate link to things like population growth and migration patterns.

Some of it, too, like we lean on comparison with the study of Central Asian step groups in the Middle Ages, the late Middle Ages, even early modern times, where we have sometimes better data, where there's a pretty strong case to be made that there's a climate link to things like population growth and migration patterns.

So when we go back to the fourth century, we can at least have that model in the back of our mind to develop ideas and hypotheses. But I think it's certainly possible that one of the drivers of migration in the later fourth century is climate variability. And I do think there's a very strong case to be made that

So when we go back to the fourth century, we can at least have that model in the back of our mind to develop ideas and hypotheses. But I think it's certainly possible that one of the drivers of migration in the later fourth century is climate variability. And I do think there's a very strong case to be made that

So when we go back to the fourth century, we can at least have that model in the back of our mind to develop ideas and hypotheses. But I think it's certainly possible that one of the drivers of migration in the later fourth century is climate variability. And I do think there's a very strong case to be made that

that a big part of the story of the Roman Empire is what's going on across the frontier in the trans-Denubian world. And that in my view, the sort of new Roman Empire created by Ecclesian, Constantine, and others, you can certainly make a case that it's sort of doomed to fail. It clearly has its structural weaknesses, but so did the earlier Roman Empire. I think that's kind of

that a big part of the story of the Roman Empire is what's going on across the frontier in the trans-Denubian world. And that in my view, the sort of new Roman Empire created by Ecclesian, Constantine, and others, you can certainly make a case that it's sort of doomed to fail. It clearly has its structural weaknesses, but so did the earlier Roman Empire. I think that's kind of

that a big part of the story of the Roman Empire is what's going on across the frontier in the trans-Denubian world. And that in my view, the sort of new Roman Empire created by Ecclesian, Constantine, and others, you can certainly make a case that it's sort of doomed to fail. It clearly has its structural weaknesses, but so did the earlier Roman Empire. I think that's kind of

a lack of imagination and taking seriously the possibilities or the counterfactuals. The empire also had a lot of strengths and it got really, really unlucky.

a lack of imagination and taking seriously the possibilities or the counterfactuals. The empire also had a lot of strengths and it got really, really unlucky.

a lack of imagination and taking seriously the possibilities or the counterfactuals. The empire also had a lot of strengths and it got really, really unlucky.

And somewhere in the interplay of those structural weaknesses and the problems that grew and grew in the form of geopolitical pressure, the Roman empire cracks in ways that ultimately do divide it and then lead to this thing we call the fall of the Roman empire.

And somewhere in the interplay of those structural weaknesses and the problems that grew and grew in the form of geopolitical pressure, the Roman empire cracks in ways that ultimately do divide it and then lead to this thing we call the fall of the Roman empire.

And somewhere in the interplay of those structural weaknesses and the problems that grew and grew in the form of geopolitical pressure, the Roman empire cracks in ways that ultimately do divide it and then lead to this thing we call the fall of the Roman empire.

Yeah, I mean, certainly that's happening at some level. It's just inevitable. When people move, they encounter different environments, they encounter different microbial pools. I will say one of the really surprising things has been the sort of big global history comparison. The Black Death, which is the giant plague at the end of the Middle Ages,

Yeah, I mean, certainly that's happening at some level. It's just inevitable. When people move, they encounter different environments, they encounter different microbial pools. I will say one of the really surprising things has been the sort of big global history comparison. The Black Death, which is the giant plague at the end of the Middle Ages,

Yeah, I mean, certainly that's happening at some level. It's just inevitable. When people move, they encounter different environments, they encounter different microbial pools. I will say one of the really surprising things has been the sort of big global history comparison. The Black Death, which is the giant plague at the end of the Middle Ages,

is definitely facilitated by things that are going on on the steppe by Mongol takeover, the disruptions that follow that, then the networks of trade and conflict that connect Central Asia to Eastern Europe, the Black Sea. The Black Death comes across the nomadic world The plagues of late antiquity, so far as we can tell, seem not to, which is interesting.

is definitely facilitated by things that are going on on the steppe by Mongol takeover, the disruptions that follow that, then the networks of trade and conflict that connect Central Asia to Eastern Europe, the Black Sea. The Black Death comes across the nomadic world The plagues of late antiquity, so far as we can tell, seem not to, which is interesting.