However, UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg—also not involved with the study—expressed skepticism. "The collapse narrative as these authors describe it is a straw man they have set up that does not accurately reflect the actual hypothesis," Van Tilburg told Sapiens. She thinks Diamond's collapse hypothesis is still a viable option, arguing that his hypothesis was not based on a single collapse event but on a series of events that led to the destruction of the social structure, aggravated further by the arrival of European explorers.
