Episode 12: The Natufian Wager

Created, narrated, and produced by Professor Dagomar Degroot of Georgetown University, The Climate Chronicles reveals how climate change has shaped humanity’s past, and explores what history can tell us about the future of global warming. With clear, dramatic storytelling, each episode brings history to life through vivid storytelling and cutting-edge science. In the season premiere of our third season, Into the Holocene, Professor Degroot investigates one of the greatest turning points in human history: the dawn of agriculture. Touching on everything from farming ants to dying Martians, he explores why our species waited nearly 300,000 years to cultivate crops and domesticate animals. He traces the story of the Natufians of the Levant, who stood on the brink of agriculture just as the Younger Dryas abruptly cooled and dried their world. Evaluating new evidence from pollen cores, speleothems, and archaeological sites, Degroot asks whether climate stress forced the first farmers into existence — or whether the stable warmth of the Holocene finally allowed their long experiment with cultivation to succeed. And he reflects on how the “Natufian wager” set our species on a path that would transform not just what it meant to be human, but also the destiny of a planet.

Season three of The Climate Chronicles takes listeners on an immersive journey through the extraordinary changes in climate and human culture that shaped the early history of the Holocene, the geological epoch in which humans became the dominant species on our planet. It zooms in on small communities and follows continental trends across thousands of years, all while unpacking the creative detective work that distinguishes the sciences of the past.

For an episode trailer and a transcript complete with citations, as well as maps, graphs, infographics, and other images, visit TheClimateChronicles.com.