Everything's Connected

Our internet relies on a global network of submarine cables. We depend on them for trade, finance, and national security (as well as sharing memes with our friends abroad). Since laying these cables, we have discovered that the deep sea isn’t always the still and quiet place we once thought it was. Occasionally, natural processes on the seafloor cause multiple submarine cables to break at once. In this talk, I’ll explain how hazardous the seafloor can be and why destructive seabed processes might make your Netflix buffer.

Over the last 12000 years, Mesopotamia (modern day Syria and Iraq) saw the emergence of the earliest agriculture, cities, states and empires anywhere in the world. Climate fluctuations are an important factor in many of these changes because in pre-industrial societies they directly relate to food production and security. I will attempt to show how archaeology can contribute to modern concerns around sustainability and resilience by providing a rich archive of 'completed experiments'. By looking at how past societies coped with environmental change, we can draw lessons for the future.