Resilience and Cultural-Economic Adaptation Strategies of Neolithic Communities in Fars During the 8.2 ka BP Climatic Event, Southwest Asia

Abstract

Iran is among the regions most vulnerable to environmental and climatic change. Similar environmental transformations also occurred in the past, leaving deep impacts on the habitability and cultural trajectories of human societies. One of the most significant of these transformations was the 8.2 ka BP climatic event, which has been associated with notable shifts in the subsistence systems of seventh-millennium BC communities across the Northern Hemisphere. However, no in-depth study has yet examined the effects of this event on Neolithic societies in Iran. This paper examines the possible implications of the period of climatic instability associated with the 8.2 ka BP event for Neolithic communities in southern Iran, drawing primarily on long-term archaeological surveys and excavations conducted by the author in southern Iran. In addition, previously published archaeological data from Fars, along with relevant climatic and environmental proxy records from Western Asia, were also taken into consideration. The principal objective of this study is to identify and interpret the cultural and economic adaptation strategies developed by Neolithic societies to Holocene climatic fluctuations. Results suggest that during the latter half of the seventh millennium BC, Neolithic communities in the Fars Cultural Zone experienced significant changes in settlement organisation and subsistence strategies, accompanied by developments in craft production and regional exchange. Together, these patterns indicate a flexible process of cultural and economic adaptation during a period of increasing environmental uncertainty broadly associated with the 8.2 ka BP climatic event.