Adam S. Green
@adamsgreen.bsky.social
Lecturer in Sustainability at @UniOfYork. Archaeologist who investigates ancient economies to help make the world equitable and more sustainable. he/him
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Are the solutions to pressing socio-ecological challenges are hidden in data from the past?
Check out our new paper on ponds, and the role they played in #sustainable #water #governance in northern India not too long ago.
Are the solutions to pressing socio-ecological challenges are hidden in data from the past?
Check out our new paper on ponds, and the role they played in #sustainable #water #governance in northern India not too long ago.
November 24, 2025 at 11:12 AM
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Are the solutions to pressing socio-ecological challenges are hidden in data from the past?
Check out our new paper on ponds, and the role they played in #sustainable #water #governance in northern India not too long ago.
Are the solutions to pressing socio-ecological challenges are hidden in data from the past?
Check out our new paper on ponds, and the role they played in #sustainable #water #governance in northern India not too long ago.
Archaeology reveals many past societies that appeared to control #inequality much better than we do today.
Interest in these societies is gaining steam. Today my paper on the Indus civilisation's egalitarian cities reached 100 google citations!
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
Interest in these societies is gaining steam. Today my paper on the Indus civilisation's egalitarian cities reached 100 google citations!
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
October 27, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Archaeology reveals many past societies that appeared to control #inequality much better than we do today.
Interest in these societies is gaining steam. Today my paper on the Indus civilisation's egalitarian cities reached 100 google citations!
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
Interest in these societies is gaining steam. Today my paper on the Indus civilisation's egalitarian cities reached 100 google citations!
doi.org/10.1007/s108...
I have joined the Journal of Archaeological Research (JARE) as a Co-Editors-in-Chief.
JARE is where archaeologists harness the flood of research in a region or on a topic and create legible syntheses of broader significance to drive the field forward.
link.springer.com/journal/1081...
JARE is where archaeologists harness the flood of research in a region or on a topic and create legible syntheses of broader significance to drive the field forward.
link.springer.com/journal/1081...
October 14, 2025 at 3:24 PM
I have joined the Journal of Archaeological Research (JARE) as a Co-Editors-in-Chief.
JARE is where archaeologists harness the flood of research in a region or on a topic and create legible syntheses of broader significance to drive the field forward.
link.springer.com/journal/1081...
JARE is where archaeologists harness the flood of research in a region or on a topic and create legible syntheses of broader significance to drive the field forward.
link.springer.com/journal/1081...
Enjoyed my visit to Renmin University after the conference. Here is a picture of their archaeology base outside the ancient city of Bai Ren. Excellent spot for some badminton!
October 6, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Enjoyed my visit to Renmin University after the conference. Here is a picture of their archaeology base outside the ancient city of Bai Ren. Excellent spot for some badminton!
Current view of much needed rain from @uoyenvironment.bsky.social. More is definitely needed to bring the reservoirs back up.
October 3, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Current view of much needed rain from @uoyenvironment.bsky.social. More is definitely needed to bring the reservoirs back up.
The Chinese Academy of History’s President Gao argued that looking deep into the past is essential to navigating the future, and supports China’s massive investment in #archaeology across the country.
September 30, 2025 at 7:39 AM
The Chinese Academy of History’s President Gao argued that looking deep into the past is essential to navigating the future, and supports China’s massive investment in #archaeology across the country.
Caught up with collaborators at the University of Central Florida, where I had a chance to introduce undergraduates to expand their knowledge and skills through masters programmes in #sustainability and #heritage at @york.ac.uk.
September 29, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Caught up with collaborators at the University of Central Florida, where I had a chance to introduce undergraduates to expand their knowledge and skills through masters programmes in #sustainability and #heritage at @york.ac.uk.
At the First World History Frontiers Forum, hosted by the Chinese Academy of History. It’s a great opportunity to discuss diverse pathways to urbanisation and the long-term dynamics of #sustainability. #archaeology
September 13, 2025 at 5:03 AM
At the First World History Frontiers Forum, hosted by the Chinese Academy of History. It’s a great opportunity to discuss diverse pathways to urbanisation and the long-term dynamics of #sustainability. #archaeology
To make a fairer economy, we must understand the evolutions of #money.
As Desan writes: “money is created by political intervention: it carries value by changing the way people relate to resources and it distributes costs and profits as it does so.”
#history #sustainability #inequalty #politics
As Desan writes: “money is created by political intervention: it carries value by changing the way people relate to resources and it distributes costs and profits as it does so.”
#history #sustainability #inequalty #politics
July 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
To make a fairer economy, we must understand the evolutions of #money.
As Desan writes: “money is created by political intervention: it carries value by changing the way people relate to resources and it distributes costs and profits as it does so.”
#history #sustainability #inequalty #politics
As Desan writes: “money is created by political intervention: it carries value by changing the way people relate to resources and it distributes costs and profits as it does so.”
#history #sustainability #inequalty #politics
Private fortunes took off after the Bronze Age. In the Roman Empire and Later Han China, fortunes reached ~30,000 times subsistence- a gaping chasm between rich and poor. This recent transition in deep history gave us #billionaires. #inequality #archaeology
www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/read-...
www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/read-...
July 28, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Private fortunes took off after the Bronze Age. In the Roman Empire and Later Han China, fortunes reached ~30,000 times subsistence- a gaping chasm between rich and poor. This recent transition in deep history gave us #billionaires. #inequality #archaeology
www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/read-...
www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/read-...
Indus seals- likely used to monitor #credit in early #urban communities. Indus credit fostered low #inequality, contrasting with the extractive interest-bearing loans in Mesopotamia. Can we learn from Indus seals to make our own credit systems more equitable?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
July 21, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Indus seals- likely used to monitor #credit in early #urban communities. Indus credit fostered low #inequality, contrasting with the extractive interest-bearing loans in Mesopotamia. Can we learn from Indus seals to make our own credit systems more equitable?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
What happens when societies fail to prevent the monopolization of resources? In early, they end up with citadels, like Los Millares, characterised by relatively low permanent populations, low economic #growth, and exaggerated hierarchies. #inequality #archaeology
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
July 15, 2025 at 7:38 AM
What happens when societies fail to prevent the monopolization of resources? In early, they end up with citadels, like Los Millares, characterised by relatively low permanent populations, low economic #growth, and exaggerated hierarchies. #inequality #archaeology
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Visited Wharram Percy last week with a visiting scholar. Excavated sites like Wharram are archives of long-term social (and economic) change, and hold clues about how societies operate without fossil fuels. Work is needed, though, to learn from these deep-time datasets.
July 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Visited Wharram Percy last week with a visiting scholar. Excavated sites like Wharram are archives of long-term social (and economic) change, and hold clues about how societies operate without fossil fuels. Work is needed, though, to learn from these deep-time datasets.
In my chapter, I examine South Asia's Bronze Age using Piketty's "inequality regimes". Indus cities were egalitarian, but their pre-urban predecessors may not have been. Check out Chapter 13 for thoughts on how inequality regimes emerge... and are overturned...
www.routledge.com/Understandin...
www.routledge.com/Understandin...
July 1, 2025 at 2:14 PM
In my chapter, I examine South Asia's Bronze Age using Piketty's "inequality regimes". Indus cities were egalitarian, but their pre-urban predecessors may not have been. Check out Chapter 13 for thoughts on how inequality regimes emerge... and are overturned...
www.routledge.com/Understandin...
www.routledge.com/Understandin...
Very happy to welcome Dr Alam from the Aligarh Muslim University in India to @york.ac.uk as a Global South Fellow. Looking forward to two weeks of designing research at the intersection of #archaeology and #sustainability.
June 18, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Very happy to welcome Dr Alam from the Aligarh Muslim University in India to @york.ac.uk as a Global South Fellow. Looking forward to two weeks of designing research at the intersection of #archaeology and #sustainability.
Enjoying the dialogue around one of our @pnas.org papers, but it's important to emphasise that while #inequality is a political choice, there are big patterns.
As scale increased, so did the *capacity* for inequality, even if some societies rejected it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
As scale increased, so did the *capacity* for inequality, even if some societies rejected it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
May 1, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Enjoying the dialogue around one of our @pnas.org papers, but it's important to emphasise that while #inequality is a political choice, there are big patterns.
As scale increased, so did the *capacity* for inequality, even if some societies rejected it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
As scale increased, so did the *capacity* for inequality, even if some societies rejected it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Archaeology reveals that productivity doesn't necessarily raise inequality in the deep past!
Here we test a new approach to measuring productivity using archaeological data. The results striking, expanding archaeology's methods for assessing past economies.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Here we test a new approach to measuring productivity using archaeological data. The results striking, expanding archaeology's methods for assessing past economies.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 25, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Archaeology reveals that productivity doesn't necessarily raise inequality in the deep past!
Here we test a new approach to measuring productivity using archaeological data. The results striking, expanding archaeology's methods for assessing past economies.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Here we test a new approach to measuring productivity using archaeological data. The results striking, expanding archaeology's methods for assessing past economies.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
When does trade exacerbate inequality?
Governance plays a role. Archaeology suggests that when a tiny group seizes the tools for maintaining fairness, inequality outstrips productivity. While not inevitable, this pattern does emerge several times in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Governance plays a role. Archaeology suggests that when a tiny group seizes the tools for maintaining fairness, inequality outstrips productivity. While not inevitable, this pattern does emerge several times in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 24, 2025 at 7:51 AM
When does trade exacerbate inequality?
Governance plays a role. Archaeology suggests that when a tiny group seizes the tools for maintaining fairness, inequality outstrips productivity. While not inevitable, this pattern does emerge several times in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Governance plays a role. Archaeology suggests that when a tiny group seizes the tools for maintaining fairness, inequality outstrips productivity. While not inevitable, this pattern does emerge several times in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Curious about how long-distance trade reshaped ancient economies?
Our research reveals it could lower #inequality, but only to a point. Learn about how long-term relationships between inequality and productivity resulted in "sustainable development" in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Our research reveals it could lower #inequality, but only to a point. Learn about how long-term relationships between inequality and productivity resulted in "sustainable development" in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Curious about how long-distance trade reshaped ancient economies?
Our research reveals it could lower #inequality, but only to a point. Learn about how long-term relationships between inequality and productivity resulted in "sustainable development" in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Our research reveals it could lower #inequality, but only to a point. Learn about how long-term relationships between inequality and productivity resulted in "sustainable development" in the deep past.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
This week at @york.ac.uk, our corporate sustainability students delve into anthropology to learn about the kula ring, balanced reciprocity, and the old affluence without abundance debate.
Engaging with human economic diversity equips them with the knowledge to help build fairer economies today.
Engaging with human economic diversity equips them with the knowledge to help build fairer economies today.
April 23, 2025 at 8:02 AM
This week at @york.ac.uk, our corporate sustainability students delve into anthropology to learn about the kula ring, balanced reciprocity, and the old affluence without abundance debate.
Engaging with human economic diversity equips them with the knowledge to help build fairer economies today.
Engaging with human economic diversity equips them with the knowledge to help build fairer economies today.
In the perspective I led for the @pnas.org special feature, we compared spatial distributions of inequality and productivity. Highly unequal settlements tend to raise their neighbours' inequality, a pattern that resonates with today's #sustainability debates.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 22, 2025 at 7:41 AM
In the perspective I led for the @pnas.org special feature, we compared spatial distributions of inequality and productivity. Highly unequal settlements tend to raise their neighbours' inequality, a pattern that resonates with today's #sustainability debates.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Check out our radical re-evaluation of Kuznets' theory that inequality rises then falls with economic #development.
#Archaeology reveals, rather, that #inequality falls then rises over centuries: "tides" that appear driven huge shifts in trade and governance.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#Archaeology reveals, rather, that #inequality falls then rises over centuries: "tides" that appear driven huge shifts in trade and governance.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
April 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Check out our radical re-evaluation of Kuznets' theory that inequality rises then falls with economic #development.
#Archaeology reveals, rather, that #inequality falls then rises over centuries: "tides" that appear driven huge shifts in trade and governance.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#Archaeology reveals, rather, that #inequality falls then rises over centuries: "tides" that appear driven huge shifts in trade and governance.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Ancient merchants wielded economic power independently but often relied on collaborations with citadel elites. This dynamic shaped societal change. #Archaeology #Economics #Inequality
Seen here, a sealed Assyrian debt note.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Seen here, a sealed Assyrian debt note.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
April 15, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Ancient merchants wielded economic power independently but often relied on collaborations with citadel elites. This dynamic shaped societal change. #Archaeology #Economics #Inequality
Seen here, a sealed Assyrian debt note.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Seen here, a sealed Assyrian debt note.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Ancient merchants are often seen as the ancestors of modern entrepreneurs. Our book challenges this myth, revealing the complex realities of ancient trade. #Archaeology #Economics #Entrepreneurship
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Pictured here: Kültepe, home to some of the earliest merchants.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Pictured here: Kültepe, home to some of the earliest merchants.
April 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Ancient merchants are often seen as the ancestors of modern entrepreneurs. Our book challenges this myth, revealing the complex realities of ancient trade. #Archaeology #Economics #Entrepreneurship
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Pictured here: Kültepe, home to some of the earliest merchants.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Pictured here: Kültepe, home to some of the earliest merchants.
Merchants standardized weight units across vast regions from the bottom-up, independent of political authorities. #Archaeology #Economics #Trade #Inequality
Historical and archaeological evidence reveals their role in citadelization, the subject of Ch 5.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Historical and archaeological evidence reveals their role in citadelization, the subject of Ch 5.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
April 14, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Merchants standardized weight units across vast regions from the bottom-up, independent of political authorities. #Archaeology #Economics #Trade #Inequality
Historical and archaeological evidence reveals their role in citadelization, the subject of Ch 5.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...
Historical and archaeological evidence reveals their role in citadelization, the subject of Ch 5.
www.routledge.com/Cities-and-C...