Ancient History Magazine – March 2023
English | 62 pages | pdf | 31.27 MB
Welcome at Ancient History Magazine March 2023 Issue
In the modern world, with vast, industrial-scale agriculture providing food to supermarkets, it is easy to forget just how integral food is to the functioning of society. While urban sites certainly existed before the advent of agriculture, without agriculture, it is unlikely that societies with complex bureaucratic systems – and everything that followed – would have developed.
Our understanding of ancient agriculture has only increased as technological advancements enable greater studies in archaeobotany. Recently, a study by Manning et al. in Nature has demonstrated that there was a significant drought in central Anatolia over three years, corresponding roughly to the dating of the Late Bronze Age collapse.
The importance of agriculture was certainly not lost on the ancients. The many agricultural and fertility deities worshipped across multiple societies attests to the anxieties surrounding good harvests and plentiful food supplies, as people prayed to them to prevent such disasters. It is this, how societies attempted to prevent agricultural failure, and what happens when their attempts were unsuccessful, which this issue will explore, from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity.
Owain Williams
Editor, Ancient History
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