Because of its long-term perspective on human–environment relationships, archaeology is well positioned to study how people respond to past climate change and natural disasters. In interpreting these relationships, archaeological perspectives have shifted from viewing people as passively reacting to environmental change, to instead focusing on human action, decision making, and resilience theory (1). Adopted from ecology, resilience theory emphasizes how people foresee, adapt, and recover from disasters without significant cultural disruptions (2). As a theoretical tool, the concept of resilience enables archaeologists to consider the social and economic mechanisms that allow people to withstand periods of climate flux. One way of studying resilience to climate shifts is through the study of farming systems (3). In a paper titled “El Niño resilience farming on the north coast of Peru” in PNAS, Caramanica et al. (4) present evidence that the ancient inhabitants of the Chicama Valley developed sophisticated, flexible systems of agriculture to manage “catastrophic” El Niño (El Niño–Southern Oscillation [ENSO]) flooding over the last 2,000 y. These findings prompt reconsideration of the malleability of ancient Peruvian agricultural systems and how archaeologists think about disaster.

中文翻译：

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秘鲁北海岸的古代农业和气候变化。

由于它对人与环境的关系具有长远的眼光，因此考古学可以很好地研究人们如何应对过去的气候变化和自然灾害。在解释这些关系时，考古学的观点已从将人们视为对环境变化做出被动反应而转向关注人类行为，决策和复原力理论（1）。抵御力理论是从生态学中采用的，着重强调人们如何在没有重大文化破坏的情况下预见，适应和从灾难中恢复（2）。作为理论工具，复原力的概念使考古学家能够考虑允许人们承受气候变化时期的社会和经济机制。研究对气候变化的抵御能力的一种方法是通过研究耕作制度（3）。Caramanica等人在PNAS发表的题为“秘鲁北海岸的厄尔尼诺韧性农业”的论文中说。（4）提供的证据表明，奇卡马河谷的古代居民发展了复杂而灵活的农业体系，以应对过去2,000 y洪水中的“灾难性”厄尔尼诺现象（厄尔尼诺现象-南方涛动[ENSO]）。这些发现促使人们重新考虑古代秘鲁农业系统的可塑性以及考古学家对灾难的看法。