Papers by Rhonda McGovern
<p>Before its destruction by the Roman army in 146 BCE, Carthage was one of... more <p>Before its destruction by the Roman army in 146 BCE, Carthage was one of the largest cities on earth. Established on a site some 15 km from modern day Tunis in <em>ca</em>. 814, the ancient town developed into the first truly urban centre of northwestern Africa; eventually housing a population of over half a million within its environs. As the hegemon of a vast territorial and maritime domain stretching by the fourth century from Morocco in the west to Libya in the east, Carthage was also the first state in the Maghreb to face the challenges incumbent in administrating provinces of such pronounced environmental diversity as their rain-fed hinterland in northern Tunisia and the arid coastal region of Tripolitania in modern Libya. Today, the majority of agriculture in Tunisia remains centred on the north of the country which benefits from the fickle graces of a Mediterranean climate, and where food production is deeply connected with the spatial distribution of winter rains critical to the farming season. Further south, and inland, drought risk increases concomitant with higher temperatures and less rainfall.</p><p>In 396, the Carthaginians faced a major rebellion of the subaltern working population of the countryside – one of a series of six rebellions recorded in classical sources for the 250 years until the fall of the city. Acknowledging the role of climate in influencing rapid social and political change in the modern region – with the outbreak of the Arab Spring occurring in the water-stressed region of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia in 2011, for example – this paper examines whether the timing of internal war in the Carthaginian state was influenced by volcanically induced climatic perturbations via impacts on the agro-economy. Made possible by the publication of a revised chronology of explosive volcanic eruptions over the past 2,500 years (Sigl <em>et al</em>. (2015)), preliminary statistical testing reveals a non-random correlation with the timing of internal war. Recognising the complexity of the linkages between climate and conflict in agriculturally based economies, it can be hypothesized that the non-uniform impact of climatic shocks across geographically and demographically diverse spaces, as well as social strata within regions, was a key driver of unrest by increasing competition for land and resources between more well off resilient communities and those surviving on subsistence (Vesco <em>et al</em>. (2021)).</p>
's 2019 book examines the social geography of cuneiform scholarship in Assyria and Babylonia in t... more 's 2019 book examines the social geography of cuneiform scholarship in Assyria and Babylonia in the first millennium BC. Social geography (the study of spatial patterns of social factors) requires not only spatial examination, but because the field is so broad, it demands social geographers assess the theories and methodological approaches to adapt and refine their subject of inquiry (Del Casino 2009). Using both microgeographies, which focus on single communities over a specific and restricted period of time, and macro-geographies, which focus on movement of ideas, practices, and objects between communities and across greater distances, Robson tracks the evolution of cuneiform. Alongside this, she tracks the relationship of gods, kings, and scribal professionals to cuneiform culture, and situates the story of this discipline firmly in the past, the present, and the future. Introducing the reader to problematic concepts that do not consider the nuances of ancient life in the region known as Mesopotamia, Robson immediately explains her avoidance of using the term 'Mesopotamia' as it is often associated with a vast region over a long period of time. Instead, she uses the term 'cuneiform culture' , introduced by Radner and Robson (2011) to incorporate the social groups, individuals and professionals surrounding the scholarship of cuneiform. Robson highlights that although there are many micro-histories for short timeframes and single communities, the social geography of the region for this time frame has remained relatively untouched. In explaining why, the
Dataset associated with: Citizens Assemble: Social discourse through the Irish media 'before', 'during' and 'after' the Citizens' Assembly on 'How the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change'., Jan 31, 2020
This dataset contains the .csv file with raw coded data from 594 articles in four Irish media pub... more This dataset contains the .csv file with raw coded data from 594 articles in four Irish media publications along with the associated R Notebook allowing those interested to download the R code. Both these files are associated with an article titled: Citizens Assemble: Social discourse through the Irish media 'before', 'during'; and 'after'; the Citizens' Assembly on 'How the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change'.
Irish Political Studies, 2020
The Citizens’ Assembly, a form of deliberative mini-public, tasked 99 ordinary Irish citizens wit... more The Citizens’ Assembly, a form of deliberative mini-public, tasked 99 ordinary Irish citizens with the responsibility of deliberating on five topics, after which they made recommendations to government. Throughout assembly meetings members were presented with up-to-date accurate information from experts. ‘How the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change’ was considered third by the assembly over two weekends. On the final day the citizens voted on thirteen strongly endorsed recommendations for government to act on. The release of the final report in April 2018 saw a further four ancillary recommendations added. There was considerable media coverage surrounding the Citizens’ Assembly for this topic. This research undertakes a content analysis of four national media sources over fifteen-months; the Farmers Journal, the Irish Independent, The Irish Times and TheJournal.ie. We found that climate related reporting became more neutral in tone and more divergent in its re...
Geoscience Communication Discussions
&... more <p>This paper capitalizes upon the recent availability of much-improved ice-core chronologies of explosive volcanism for the first millennium BCE in combination with the remarkable record of meteorological data preserved in Babylonian astronomical diaries, written on cuneiform tablets spanning 652-61BC and now housed in the British Museum. These diaries comprise systematic economic data on agricultural prices, weather observations at an hourly resolution, river heights for the Euphrates and other phenomena. Our initial results reveal strong correspondences between multiple previously unrecognized accounts of solar dimming, extreme cold weather and major ice-core volcanic signals. We also observe anomalously high spring floods of the Euphrates at Babylon, following major tropical eruptions, which is consistent with climate modelling of anomalously elevated winter precipitation in the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris in northeastern Turkey. With the astronomical diaries also providing systematic meteorological information (unparalleled in resolution and scope until at least the Early Modern period) ranging from wind direction and intensity, to the level of cloud cover and references to atmospheric clarity (clear vs. dusty skies), to the general conditions (temperature and precipitation) for all seasons, these sources can in combination with natural archives such as ice-cores open an unprecedented window into the Middle Eastern climate of the first millennium BCE.</p><p>Nor are these or other written sources from the region silent on the societal consequences of extreme weather and other climatic shocks. We will thus finish our paper with a brief case study of responses to the climatic impacts of explosive volcanism during the reign of Esarhaddon, ruler of Assyria, who's reign from 672 BCE suddenly became a troubled one. Contemporary prophecies indicated a loss of cattle, the failure of dates and sesame and the arrival of locusts. Such prophecies were often descriptions of events already occurring and along with predictions dated to 671 of 'darkness in the land', crop failure and famine, there is definite evidence that Esarhaddon resorted to the ritual of placing a substitute (sacrificial) ruler on the throne for 100 days. This did not, however, resolve the dangers perceived by the Assyrian ruler and he repeated the ritual in 670, along with apotropaic rituals against malaria and plague. That year, nevertheless, saw revolt. Herdsmen refused to supply oxen and sheep to the government officials, who could not travel the land without armed escort. Regional governors appropriated revenues and construction workers halted brick production. Esarhaddon acted decisively in late 670, early 669, executing a large number of rebellious Assyrian nobles. 669 and 668 remained troubled, however, with prophecies of locusts and plague among cattle and humans, while in 667 Egypt revolted against Assyria in the context of possible shortages of barely and…
<p&amp... more <p>Ancient Babylonia is a kingdom / province in the Fertile Crescent in south-central Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). It has a rich textual and archaeological history and is the origin of many scientific and cultural advances, such as the definition of the seven-day week, the invention of zero, and many legal principles still underlying modern contract, tort, criminal, property, and family law.</p> <p>The Irish Research Council-funded “Climates of Conflict in Ancient Babylonia” (CLICAB) project aims to investigate climatic changes in Babylonia during the final eight centuries BCE and assess for linkages to patterns of violence and conflict, through the application of methods from historical climatology to the wealth of data available. Although there are gaps in the recorded observations, and potentially more tablets yet to be found and translated, the 209 precisely dated, transliterated and translated tablets presently available will provide for many years a sub-daily window into the weather, and therefore the climate of this key historical region. This is a far greater resolution than is currently available for any region or period in the Ancient world, and indeed unprecedented in the world of historical climatology before the Early Modern Period.</p> <p>Key to the project’s broader aims is the reconstruction of the climate for the region based on the information held in the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries. This paper thus examines the process of mining information from the detailed record maintained by Ancient Babylonian scribes in the Astronomical Diaries and presents an overview of the findings. These diaries are a collection of cuneiform tablets spanning 652-61BC, housed in the British Museum. They are rich in systematic weather observations (even down to an hourly resolution), astronomical phenomena, price data, and river heights for the Euphrates. Much work has been undertaken to examine the economic, astronomical and fluvial data, but until now the weather observations have remained relatively untouched, despite their unparalleled temporal resolution for this period, the systematic methodology applied in their recording, and the sheer breadth of information provided. This ranges from wind direction and intensity, to the level of cloud cover and references to atmospheric clarity (clear vs. dusty skies), to the general conditions (temperature and precipitation), for all seasons. This project will see the reconstruction of the climate for the region of Babylonia, and therefore provide one of the oldest weather records in the world. This paper presents high-resolution weather data from the Astronomical Diaries. Specifically, the authors will present the frequency of meteorological extremes over the period, alongside a discussion into the mitigation methods the Babylonians employed to reduce their vulnerability to these extremes. </p> <p>KEYWORDS: Ancient Babylonia, Climate, Conflict</p>
Geoscience Communication Discussions
The Global Land and Marine Observations Database aims to produce a comprehensive land based meteo... more The Global Land and Marine Observations Database aims to produce a comprehensive land based meteorological 15 data archive and inventory. This requires the compilation of available land-based station meteorological data 16 information from all known available in-situ meteorological data repositories/sources at multiple timescales (e.g. 17 sub-daily, daily and monthly). During this process the service team members have identified that many of the data 18 sources contained stations with incorrect location coordinates. These stations cannot be included in the processing 19 to be served via the Copernicus Climate Change Service until the issues are satisfactorily resolved. Many of these 20 stations are located in regions of the world where a sparsity of climate data currently exists, such as Southeast 21 Asia and South America. As such, resolving these issues would provide important additional climate data, but this 22
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Papers by Rhonda McGovern
Book Chapters by Rhonda McGovern