Zombie bees

Some people actually do bee-things.  And then there is myself, who can just find bee-stuff in weird corners of the Internet.

Are Zombie Bees Infiltrating Your Neighborhood
Scientific American, 24 July 2012 (hat tip: Fark)

Zombie bees are not science fiction. They are real—and real threat to already-threatened U.S. honeybee populations.

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) in California and South Dakota have been observed acting zombielike, wandering away from their hives at night and crawling around blindly in circles.

You'll have to educate your self at either of the Scientific American links (headline is a follow up to embedded link).

It is pretty cool that Scientific American is picking up on my Apocalyptic Tactical theme with the reference to "infiltration".  I didn't bring it up in my last round of discussions because I thought it was more of a large unit issue.  I didn't think of it from a six-legged perspective. 

Zombie Bee (picture originally from John Hafernik)

Collapse of Empires: Chalcolithic Levant Culture

As we discussed with the Old World Danube Culture, the term "Empire" here is honored somewhat in the breach. We have so little information on some of the societies we have been discussing that we have no way of knowing if they had any imperial aspirations.   I apologize, but to make both posts somewhat complete, there will be some repetition.

The main point of these exercises is to demonstrate how many lost cultures there are out there beyond the usual Rome, Mayan, Easter Island, et cetera that you seem to be endlessly discussed. Just as if you took all people from all time, the typical person is already dead, the same can be said for civilizations. The typical civilization is dead. And not only are they dead, but in some cases we have a hard time even figuring out that they ever existed, in spite of their often large size, and extended period on the earth.

As with the Old World Danube Culture, today's group was around for about 1,500 years, in an area today that would span multiple countries. We have no idea what they called themselves

The Chalcolithic Southern Levant Culture established itself in an area that would roughly include today’s Lebanon, Israel, and possibly parts of Egypt. It spanned the time period from roughly 5,000BCE to 3,500BCE.  Note that Chalcolithic here refers to the Chalcolithic Period or Copper Age.  And that the time period for this civilization and its abrupt decline very much coincides with the Old World Danube Culture that we have discussed.

They lived in small villages that eventually went to a two-tiered system with larger villages centering smaller outlying villages.  They had already started craft specialization, and were involved in a fair amount of trade.

The Fourth and Third Millennia BC in the Southern Levant

Dr. Russell B. Adams, The Development of Cooper Metallurgy During the Early Bronze Age of the Southern Levant, University of Sheffield, 1998.   Eponymous Website

By the end of the ‘Developed Phase’ of the Chalcolithic (4500–3700 BC) these trading networks and production of specialized goods reach a peak, and it has been suggested by Joffe (1993) that the collapse of these trading networks may have been an important factor in the demise of Chalcolithic societies.

This small system was stretched so tightly that any systematic disruption in the areas of resource procurement and subsequent craft specialization, agricultural production, or the political balance of power created shock waves throughout the entire society (Joffe 1993: 36).

On balance it seems unlikely that a single factor caused the decline of Chalcolithic societies, and other suggestions for this collapse have ranged from climatic shift and a drier climate, to increased commercialization replacing the debt-based systems of exchange crucial to Chalcolithic elites’, and even warfare. It is likely that several contributing factors played a role in the sharp decline seen in the ‘Terminal Phase’ (3700–3500 BC) of the Chalcolithic. The shift back to small autonomous villages at the end of the period and during the Early Bronze Age I can be seen as both a temporary decline in the social order, but more importantly as the end of a long period of indigenous development of over three millennia from the Neolithic period. The next phase of development during the Early Bronze Age, and the developing social complexity throughout this period is not due to local indigenous developments, but for the first time the result of external cultural influences, as the southern Levant was affected by the emergence of the Egyptian state.

That the author appears to be unaware of a number of other cultures at more the less the same time is not particularly unusual.  People working on ancient cultures seem to stay within their own little specialties and don’t seem to like to muddy the waters too much with outside sources.

As we note earlier with the Old World Danube Culture, based on pollen analysis, a number of cultures throughout the West were undergoing stress, starting around 3800BCE. A theory, with some data to back it up, notes that pollen counts show an increased deforestation of the landscape. With this deforestation, there was likely higher population counts, and decreased soil productivity. Shifts in climate would have had a more devastating impact. Some researchers refer to the 3,800 BCE to 3,200BCE, as the first recorded Dark Ages. A dark age that may have effected as great of an area as the much better known one that started around 1,200 BCE.

The Recurring Dark Ages: Ecological Stress, Climate Chagnes, and System Transformation

Sing C. Chew, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD, 2007

From an empirical analysis of the trend lines of arboreal pollen, table .32 presents forty arboreal pollen profiles of deforestation and reforestation starting from as early as 3854 B.C. These profiles cover four geographic regions of the world: western Europe, central and eastern Europe including Russia [our Old World Danube folk] , northern Europe, and the Mediterranean. With the exception of Byelorussia (Dolgoe), Hungary (Lake Balaton), Latvia (Lake Rudushskoe), an Russia (Chabada Lake) pollen profiles, all C calibrated.

If we examine table 3.2, despite the fact that historians and archaeologists specialising in the Ancient World did not identify a Dark Age period in the fourth millennium B.C., it seems that twenty-nine pollen profiles indicate that there was a phase of deforestation during the fourth century millennium B.C. Not only do the pollen profiles exhibit such a period of deforestation, they also reveal the widespread geographic coverage of the degradation of areas in Russia and the Ukraine through to Spain and Syria. It should not be assumed that this was the first phase of deforestation in world history, as the available data are quite limiting. It might perhaps be the first phase of anthropegenically induced deforestation following the Neolithic Revolution.

This is the summation table of Table 3.2 noted above

 From the  Wikipedia Article about the photo below:

The site shows no sign of deliberate destruction. It appears to have been abandoned and its cultic furniture removed, carried away by the priests. Other Ghassulian sites also display signs of abandonment, and the temple may represent the last phase of the Ghassulian settlements.

Copper Age (Calcolithic) Temple at  Ein Gedi (from Wikipedia)

~ 3500 B.C.

Collapse of Empires: Old World Europe Danube Valley Culture

The term "Empire" here is honored somewhat in the breach.  We have so little information on some of the societies we have been discussing that we have no way of knowing if they had any imperial aspirations..

The main point of these exercises is to demonstrate how many lost cultures there are out there beyond the usual Rome, Mayan, Easter Island, et cetera that you seem to be endlessly discussed.   Just as if you took all people from all time, the typical person is already dead, the same can be said for civilizations.  The typical civilization is dead.  And not only are they dead, but in some cases we have a hard time even figuring out that they ever existed, in spite of their often large size, and extended period on the earth.

Today's group was around for about 1,500 years, in an area today that would span multiple countries.  We have no idea what they called themselves. 

The Old World Europe Danube Valley Culture was an early, relatively sophisticated agricultural culture that thrived before the foundation of the first cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt.  Its timeline roughly coincides with what is known as the copper age, or Chalcolithic period. Chalco is derived from the Greek word for copper, and lithic which generally refers a cultural phase with an emphasis on tool use.

The Danube Thinkers - over 3,500 years before Rodin's Dante (Thinker)

In the area of Southeast Europe (Bulgaria, Rumania, Moldova, and portions of the Ukraine, they thrived from the fifth century and first half of the 4th millennia (5,000-3,500 BCE).  Note that Ötzi the Iceman is actually closer to our time (~3,300 B.C) than these folks.  Ötzi was found with a cooper axe in his possesion, although he was from an adjacent area, likely related to the Mondsee folk,  not ours.

Map showing Old Europe.  The Cucuteni were a particular group featured in a museum tour (NYT)

They are known for their female “goddess” figurines.

Clay fire female Cucuteni figure (from NYT)

In addition to there being thoughtful, as noted above, they may also have had the earliest writing system:

Vinca aphabet -runes (from here)

There collapse was relatively sudden.  Around 4300-4100BC, over 600 of their settlements were burned and abandoned.  However, as obvious from the dates, that did not outright end their culture.  The exact cause of their decline is unknown.  At least some of the problem appears to have been the arrival of Indo-European horsemen on the adjoining steppes.  Although these would not have been the mounted horse archers that came latter, the strategic mobility of mounted footmen (hobelars) can be difficult for sedentary folks to handle.

However, based on pollen analysis, a number of cultures throughout the West were undergoing stress, starting around 3800BCE.  A theory, with some data to back it up, notes that pollen counts show an increased deforestation of the landscape.  With this deforestation, there was likely higher population counts, and decreased soil productivity.  Shifts in climate would have had a more devastating impact.  Some researchers refer to the 3,800 BCE to 3,200BCE, as the first recorded Dark Ages.  A dark age that may have effected as great of an area as the much better known one that started around 1,200 BCE.

The Recurring Dark Ages: Ecological Stress, Climate Chagnes, and System Transformation

Sing C. Chew, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD, 2007

From an empirical analysis of the trend lines of arboreal pollen, table .32 presents forty arboreal pollen profiles of deforestation and reforestation starting from as early as 3854 B.C. These profiles cover four geographic regions of the world: western Europe, central and eastern Europe including Russia [our Old World Danube folk] , northern Europe, and the Mediterranean.  With the exception of Byelorussia (Dolgoe), Hungary  (Lake Balaton), Latvia (Lake Rudushskoe), an Russia (Chabada Lake) pollen profiles, all C calibrated.

If we examine table 3.2, despite the fact that historians and archaeologists specialising in the Ancient World did not identify a Dark Age period in the fourth millennium B.C., it seems that twenty-nine pollen profiles indicate that there was a phase of deforestation during the fourth century millennium B.C. Not only do the pollen profiles exhibit  such a period of deforestation, they also reveal the widespread geographic coverage of the degradation of areas in Russia and the Ukraine through to Spain and Syria.  It should not be assumed that this was the first phase of deforestation in world history, as the available data are quite limiting. It might perhaps be the first phase of anthropegenically induced deforestation following the Neolithic Revolution.

This table is the summation table of Table 3.2 noted above.

Iteration, reiteration, again: Food running short

The current U.S. drought has brought back the issue or world starvation. The high price of food staples of the poor caused rioting in numerous locations in 2008, and is thought to be one of the contributing factors to the recent “Arab Spring” revolutions, a revolution that is still ongoing in Syria.

In good years supply is sufficient to meet the needs of the 7-billion world population. But any hiccup brings us right back to crises mode. Although not often noted, one of the main reasons that people still sell their “stuff” to the United States is that we are still the bread (and corn) basket to the world. Roughly one-third of the exchange traded supply of grain comes from the United States. As the financial times article quoted below notes, Corn and wheat for December delivery are up almost 50%, and Soybeans 17%. That is a huge budget hit for people that spend half there money on food.

Food crises fears as US corn soars

Jack Farchy, Financial Times, 13 July 2012 (hat tip: NC)

Is the world on the brink of another food crisis?

It has become a distressingly familiar question. With the price of agricultural staples such as corn, soybeans and wheat soaring for the third summer in five years, the prospect of another price shock is once again becoming a prominent concern for investors and politicians alike.

The debate marks a dramatic shift from just a few weeks ago, when traders were expecting bumper crops and policy makers were comforting themselves that – if nothing else – falling commodity prices would offer some relief to the troubled global economy.

But since then, scorching heat and a paucity of rain across the US has withered the country’s corn and soybean crops, with the US Department of Agriculture this week making the largest downward revision to its estimate for a corn crop in a quarter of a century...

Moreover, the low level of global inventories for some grains means that any further disruption to supplies could be devastating.

Global corn stocks are forecast by the USDA to fall to just 15 per cent of annual demand, close to a record low.

We likely would be having problems feeding the worlds growing population going forward in any case. The worrisome problems of financial market collapse, global warming, peak oil, ozone pollution, et cetera, are not going to make it any easier.

Note that the Financial Times story very much is interalated with the following story:

Heat Leaves Ranchers a Stark Option: Sell

Jack Healy, New York Times, 16 July 2012 (hat tip: NC)

Ranchers say they are reducing their herds and selling their cattle months ahead of schedule to avoid the mounting losses of a drought that now stretches across a record-breaking 1,016 American counties…

"If we're running out of grass and we're not growing enough feed crops to feed them the other six months of the year, what do you do?" asked R. Scott Barrows, director of Kansas State University's Golden Prairie District extension office. "You liquidate."…

In its latest forecasts, the Agriculture Department expects overall American beef production to fall by about one billion pounds, to 25.1 billion pounds in 2012 from 26.2 billion a year earlier, and forecasts yet another fall in 2013.

"Our cattle inventories are the lowest they've been in several decades," said Ken Mathews, a cattle analyst at the Agriculture Department. "A lot of these producers, large and small, were thinking of expanding their herds. Things looked good. When the drought resurrected itself, that blew those plans apart."

Experts and ranchers say the hammering heat and near-total absence of rainfall play havoc on nearly every corner of their business. Parched corn glutted with nitrogen from the soil becomes toxic to cows. Slimes of algae bloom on irrigation ponds. Wells run dry, and ranchers spend their days hauling water to accommodate a cow's 35-gallon daily thirst. Fewer cows get pregnant, and mothers' milk can run dry.

Since we presumably have enough sense – o.k. maybe we don’t – to protect our own food supply, we in the United States won’t be facing starvation. But with hamburgers, and the buns we put them on, are two of our primary staple foods, the budget is going to be tighter.