New ideas emerge about old empires

January 29, 2009 by Pashtana Usufzy 

Speaker questions fall of ancient civilizations

“Collapse is not just a defeat but the failure of a belief system,” anthropologist Norman Yoffee said Tuesday during his lecture on ancient civilizations.

Yoffee, a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, spoke at UNLV on the meaning of “collapse” and what he believes to be the false notion that early societies destroyed themselves by obliterating their surroundings.

The UNLV department of anthropology and ethnic studies in conjunction with the Anthropology Society hosted the event, titled “Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire.” 

The lecture evaluated the correlation between the past and present and challenged what Yoffee views as inaccuracies in the 2005 book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by world-renowned geographer Jared Diamond.

“The victims of cultural and physical extermination have been charged as perpetrators of their own demise [by Diamond],” Yoffee said.

An audience of nearly 150 students, professors and community members listened as Yoffee debated the idea of self-inflicted ‘ecocide,’ or environmental destruction, as in the case of the Mayan civilization.

“Some attempts have been made to say there was an environmental catastrophe – either a manmade one or a naturally occurring drought [in Mesoamerica],” Yoffee said, “but there are no data that are conclusive to support this.”

The professor questioned Diamond’s position that ecocide and technological deficiencies lead to the devastation of many ancient civilizations.

“He’s wrong in much of what he says about the various areas of the world he covers,” Yoffee said.

Graduate student Jamie Vilos, who had the opportunity to converse with the speaker before the lecture, was impressed with his stance as well as the arguments made in his speech.

“It’s controversial,” she said. “He brought all of these facts to light.”

Sharon Young, also a graduate student, said she attended the lecture just for fun. However, she said her interest in large-scale societies was peaked by Yoffee’s well-developed assertions.

“I thought he defended his points really well,” she said.

The visiting lecturer attempted to communicate how historical finds have been used by modern-day societies.

“The past is not dead,” he said as he showed the audience a political poster from Iraq featuring former leader Saddam Hussein that traced the ruler’s anscestry to the people of ancient Mesopotamia. “Archaeology has, in fact, been used to build identities in the present.”

Debra Martin, an associate professor of biological anthropology at UNLV, expressed her hope that audience members would attempt to learn more about the connections between past societies and those of the modern world.

“Don’t think this is the end of the discussion,” she told the crowded theatre. “You can carry it on.”

Yoffee said he hoped to make clear was the vast expansion of human power over the environment which he believes has led to the extremity of climate change.

He explained that modern humans have the capability to radically transform the planet’s environment in ways unheard of in the ancient world.

“They didn’t have the power, we [do],” he said. 

Steven Garcia, an anthropology student, said his knowledge of ancient societies and the causes of their disappearances was enhanced by hearing the speaker’s reasoning.

“It was very informative,” he said. “It gave me a new perspective.”

Garcia’s classmate, Joseph Ziobro, agreed that the experience was an educational one.

“[Yoffee] went in-depth,” he said. “He had a lot of wisdom [on the subject].”

Yoffee specializes in Middle East studies, comparative early civilizations and legal anthropology. He co-edited the book “Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire.”