Sublime

Archaeologists can excavate a sunken ship in Denmark and determine that it was built in Ireland. Analysis of ancient DNA can make reliable sex determinations of the dead, tease out their family relationships, and even reveal the colour of their eyes and hair; it also makes possible the wider tracking of migrations and larger demographic change.

I kept coming across a similar pattern: events, well-documented in the historic record, that showed how rising and falling precipitation levels contributed to the increase, decrease, and sometimes the complete removal of populations — and ultimately species — from the planet. This was some of the earliest work of its kind.

Debt, dependency, threats, and force, in that order, was the thinking of the day. These secret memos were written while Jefferson served as president of the United States.