ON INTEGRATING CLIMATIC-CHANGE AND CULTURE CHANGE STUDIES

In the last few decades, advances in understanding and modeling climat e have paralleled the growth of an impressive log of radiocarbon dates and quantitative analyses of climatic indicators including pollen, tr ee rings, and lake levels. At the same time, archeological research ha s given us an impressive assemblage of cultural information. We also h ave the tools for sorting out the diverse sources of variance in our d atasets. The time has come to begin to integrate these lines of scient ific endeavor to produce a mutually coherent picture of at least one o f the mechanisms that have affected the history of humankind, and one that undoubtedly will affect the future as well.