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By actuary and classicist George Maher, author of Pugnare: Economic Success and Failure [ [link removed] ]
Seldom does an actuary venture into the area of history, it is not usually a numbers field. But the times they are a-changin’ and for a very good reason. Through the last forty or so years an amazing avalanche of new archaeological data has poured out of universities, research institutions and other organisations, produced by individuals driven by intellectual curiosity and a love of their subject. And something new, vigorous and fresh is being created, a rewriting of history.
Buried in all this data are patterns and connections waiting to be revealed, and finding such patterns and connections is an actuarial joy.
What emerges from this rewriting is the story of an achievement which was more magnificent than the usual stories of that time, and of a collapse that was more catastrophic.

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