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The Mayan drought theory has been circulating for some time now and is gaining more acceptance. It is a strong possibility, perhaps stronger than the invader theory since as far as I know they have not found all that many human remains with signs of war-related deaths near or in their cities, which logically they would try to defend.
Unless you have a developed supply chain to import food and water then your civilisation IS going to die. Who would want to live someplace with no food or water? rather than being wiped out they probably just moved elsewhere, most likely in small family groups to start with and then en masse. Bear in mind that a drought would mean few animals nearby to hunt never mind cultivation. Law and order would have broken down in the scrabble to survive, buildings and public works get neglected and fall apart and the cities degenerate and people would just move elsewhere seeking a better life. Of course we dont knwo how many survived such a move but most likely quite a few did.
>Similarly, it wasn't the navy that saved England from the >Armada in 1588, it was the lousy weather.
*cough**cough**bullshit**cough* it was the weather that finished them off it was faster more mobile ships and better tactics that beat them, not least the use of fire ships to scatter the Spanish fleet, where they could be picked apart one by one.
Unless you have a developed supply chain to import food and water then your civilisation IS going to die. Who would want to live someplace with no food or water? rather than being wiped out they probably just moved elsewhere, most likely in small family groups to start with and then en masse. Bear in mind that a drought would mean few animals nearby to hunt never mind cultivation. Law and order would have broken down in the scrabble to survive, buildings and public works get neglected and fall apart and the cities degenerate and people would just move elsewhere seeking a better life. Of course we dont knwo how many survived such a move but most likely quite a few did.
>Similarly, it wasn't the navy that saved England from the >Armada in 1588, it was the lousy weather.
*cough**cough**bullshit**cough* it was the weather that finished them off it was faster more mobile ships and better tactics that beat them, not least the use of fire ships to scatter the Spanish fleet, where they could be picked apart one by one.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Er
the Mayans relied heavily on irrigation, I believe?
Surely the gradual deposition of salts from the water will have made the soil more difficult to utilise.
It is a well known phenomenon that simple irrigation brings diminishing returns, as more and more water is needed to flush away evaporates.
So you might not need climate deterioration
although that wouldn't help matters.
the Mayans relied heavily on irrigation, I believe?
Surely the gradual deposition of salts from the water will have made the soil more difficult to utilise.
It is a well known phenomenon that simple irrigation brings diminishing returns, as more and more water is needed to flush away evaporates.
So you might not need climate deterioration
although that wouldn't help matters.
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Did they use slash-and-burn methodsfor clearing new fertile land for cultivation? If so then they probably also created their own ever widening barren landscape around their cities.
A
Anonymous
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Yes, as far as we know, A Slash & Burn technique called 'Milpa' was, & still is, used.
http://www.jaguar-sun.com/farming.html
http://www.uc.edu/news/bajo.htm
There is some evidence to show that some cities may have used a system of 'Raised' fields ('Chinampa' ) as did the Mexica.
http://www.jaguar-sun.com/farming.html
http://www.uc.edu/news/bajo.htm
There is some evidence to show that some cities may have used a system of 'Raised' fields ('Chinampa' ) as did the Mexica.
A
Anonymous
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As an aside, I have long been intereted in the relationship between early British culture and climate. I feel there is a link with megalithic remains.
Here is Wales, the mountains were cleared, probably through slash and burn first, which would lead to a gradual decrease in the fertility of the land, but in addition the climate deteriorated markedly from around 3000 BC, leading to the heather moors we see today..actually, mammade. The low fertility and high rainfall led to acid soils and hence only heather will grow.
So without a real theory here...I find it worth bearing in mind that at the time that circles were being erected, the inhabitants were seeing a gradual deterioration beyond their ken, so perhaps the remains are a symbol of their efforts to understand or overcome the falling fertilty of the land.
Hagrid.
Here is Wales, the mountains were cleared, probably through slash and burn first, which would lead to a gradual decrease in the fertility of the land, but in addition the climate deteriorated markedly from around 3000 BC, leading to the heather moors we see today..actually, mammade. The low fertility and high rainfall led to acid soils and hence only heather will grow.
So without a real theory here...I find it worth bearing in mind that at the time that circles were being erected, the inhabitants were seeing a gradual deterioration beyond their ken, so perhaps the remains are a symbol of their efforts to understand or overcome the falling fertilty of the land.
Hagrid.
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Early human impact on the climate
I'm not sure this should be a big suprise as I believe the plains Indians maintained the area with regular burning and the Aborigines did the same in Australia.
http://biology.queensu.ca/~pearl/images/#Press
I'm not sure this should be a big suprise as I believe the plains Indians maintained the area with regular burning and the Aborigines did the same in Australia.
http://biology.queensu.ca/~pearl/images/#Press
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There are numerous places around the country where you can see two phases of erosion - the first has been dated to the deforestation in the Neolithic (I think - it was a while ago) and the second to the Viking introduction of sheep.
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Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago
Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: History Could Repeat Itself
Map showing most recent and past drill sites Thompson's team has drilled in Peru.
by Earle Holland
Columbus OH (SPX) Dec 16, 2004
Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society.
Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe.
From the mountains of data drawn by analyzing countless ice cores, and a meticulous review of sometimes obscure historic records, Thompson and his research team at Ohio State University are convinced that the global climate has changed dramatically.
But more importantly, they believe it has happened at least once before, and the results were nearly catastrophic to emerging cultures at the time. He outlined his interpretations and fears today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
A professor of geological sciences at Ohio State and a researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center, Thompson points to markers in numerous records suggesting that the climate was altered suddenly some 5,200 years ago with severe impacts.
He points to perfectly preserved plants he discovered that recently emerged from the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes as that glacier retreats. This monstrous glacier, some 551 feet (168 meters) deep, has shown an exponentially increasing rate of retreat since his first observations in 1963.
The plants were carbon-dated to determine their age and tests indicated they had been buried by the ice for perhaps 5,200 years. That suggests that somehow, the climate had shifted suddenly and severely to capture the plants and preserve them until now.
In 1991, hikers found the preserved body of a man trapped in an Alpine glacier and freed as it retreated. Later tests showed that the human – dubbed Oetzi – became trapped and died around 5,200 years ago.
Thompson points to a study of tree rings from Ireland and England that span a period of 7,000 years. The point in that record when the tree rings were narrowest – suggesting the driest period experienced by the trees – was approximately 5,200 years ago.
He points to ice core records showing the ratio of two oxygen isotopes retrieved from the ice fields atop Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. A proxy for atmospheric temperature at the time snow fell, the records are at their lowest 5,200 years before now.
He lists the shift by the Sahara Desert from a habitable region to a barren desert; major changes in plant pollen uncovered from lakebed cores in South America, and the record lowest levels of methane retrieved from ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica and all occurred at the same time – 5,200 years ago.
"Something happened back at this time and it was monumental," Thompson said. "But it didn’t seem monumental to humans then because there were only approximately 250 million people occupying the planet, compared to the 6.4 billion we now have.
"The evidence clearly points back to this point in history and to some event that occurred. It also points to similar changes occurring in today’s climate as well," he said.
"To me, these are things we really need to be concerned about." The impact of a climate change of that magnitude on a modern world would be tremendous, he said. Seventy percent of the population lives in the world’s tropics and major climate changes would directly impact most of them.
Thompson believes that the 5,200-year old event may have been caused by a dramatic fluctuation in solar energy reaching the earth. Scientists know that a historic global cooling called the Little Ice Age, from 1450 to 1850 A.D., coincided with two periods of decreased solar activity.
Evidence shows that around 5,200 years ago, solar output first dropped precipitously and then surged over a short period. It is this huge solar energy oscillation that Thompson believes may have triggered the climate change he sees in all those records.
"The climate system is remarkably sensitive to natural variability," he said. "It’s likely that it is equally sensitive to effects brought on by human activity, changes like increased greenhouse gases, altered land-use policies and fossil-fuel dependence.
"Any prudent person would agree that we don’t yet understand the complexities with the climate system and, since we don’t, we should be extremely cautious in how much we ‘tweak’ the system," he said.
"The evidence is clear that a major climate change is underway."
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iceage-04k.html
Related Links
Byrd Polar Research Center
Ohio State University
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: History Could Repeat Itself
Map showing most recent and past drill sites Thompson's team has drilled in Peru.
by Earle Holland
Columbus OH (SPX) Dec 16, 2004
Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society.
Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe.
From the mountains of data drawn by analyzing countless ice cores, and a meticulous review of sometimes obscure historic records, Thompson and his research team at Ohio State University are convinced that the global climate has changed dramatically.
But more importantly, they believe it has happened at least once before, and the results were nearly catastrophic to emerging cultures at the time. He outlined his interpretations and fears today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
A professor of geological sciences at Ohio State and a researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center, Thompson points to markers in numerous records suggesting that the climate was altered suddenly some 5,200 years ago with severe impacts.
He points to perfectly preserved plants he discovered that recently emerged from the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes as that glacier retreats. This monstrous glacier, some 551 feet (168 meters) deep, has shown an exponentially increasing rate of retreat since his first observations in 1963.
The plants were carbon-dated to determine their age and tests indicated they had been buried by the ice for perhaps 5,200 years. That suggests that somehow, the climate had shifted suddenly and severely to capture the plants and preserve them until now.
In 1991, hikers found the preserved body of a man trapped in an Alpine glacier and freed as it retreated. Later tests showed that the human – dubbed Oetzi – became trapped and died around 5,200 years ago.
Thompson points to a study of tree rings from Ireland and England that span a period of 7,000 years. The point in that record when the tree rings were narrowest – suggesting the driest period experienced by the trees – was approximately 5,200 years ago.
He points to ice core records showing the ratio of two oxygen isotopes retrieved from the ice fields atop Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. A proxy for atmospheric temperature at the time snow fell, the records are at their lowest 5,200 years before now.
He lists the shift by the Sahara Desert from a habitable region to a barren desert; major changes in plant pollen uncovered from lakebed cores in South America, and the record lowest levels of methane retrieved from ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica and all occurred at the same time – 5,200 years ago.
"Something happened back at this time and it was monumental," Thompson said. "But it didn’t seem monumental to humans then because there were only approximately 250 million people occupying the planet, compared to the 6.4 billion we now have.
"The evidence clearly points back to this point in history and to some event that occurred. It also points to similar changes occurring in today’s climate as well," he said.
"To me, these are things we really need to be concerned about." The impact of a climate change of that magnitude on a modern world would be tremendous, he said. Seventy percent of the population lives in the world’s tropics and major climate changes would directly impact most of them.
Thompson believes that the 5,200-year old event may have been caused by a dramatic fluctuation in solar energy reaching the earth. Scientists know that a historic global cooling called the Little Ice Age, from 1450 to 1850 A.D., coincided with two periods of decreased solar activity.
Evidence shows that around 5,200 years ago, solar output first dropped precipitously and then surged over a short period. It is this huge solar energy oscillation that Thompson believes may have triggered the climate change he sees in all those records.
"The climate system is remarkably sensitive to natural variability," he said. "It’s likely that it is equally sensitive to effects brought on by human activity, changes like increased greenhouse gases, altered land-use policies and fossil-fuel dependence.
"Any prudent person would agree that we don’t yet understand the complexities with the climate system and, since we don’t, we should be extremely cautious in how much we ‘tweak’ the system," he said.
"The evidence is clear that a major climate change is underway."
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iceage-04k.html
Related Links
Byrd Polar Research Center
Ohio State University
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
ramonmercado
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50,000-year-old Plant
50,000-year-old Plant May Warn Of The Death Of Tropical Ice Caps
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A simple stroll after a full day of field research near a high Andean glacier in Peru led glaciologist Lonnie Thompson to discover a bed of previously hidden plants that date back at least 50,000 years.
And while that discovery is novel enough to please any scientist, it’s the implication that those perfectly preserved plants may suggest that really excites him.
Thompson, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University and a world-class glaciologist, has made nearly annual pilgrimages to Peru’s Quelccaya ice cap to monitor its slow demise, a probably victim of recent global climate change. The glacier is retreating 40 times faster now than it was when the first aerial photographs were taken in 1963.
He told this story today as part of his Emiliani Lecture presentation at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
In 2002, he and his colleagues from the Byrd Polar Research Center had found a small bed of plants that had, until then, been buried by the ice cap. Carbon dating on those plants suggested that they had been buried nearly 5,000 years ago.
“We were surprised by those dates and had the plant tissue dated four times by two separate institutions,” Thompson said, “but the dates remained the same.”
This time, Thompson decided to look up a different valley, some 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) from the initial plant find. “But about a quarter-mile from there, I found yet another area of uncovered plants.”
When Thompson returned to his campus lab, he packaged the three new samples and sent them off for carbon-dating as well. The first two yielded dates similar to the 2002 plant find -- about 5,200 years ago.
But the date for the third plant sample seemed radically skewed. “We had the samples dated at the National AMS Facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (NOSAMS) and later sent other samples to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL),” he explained. And when the dates on the third sample returned from both institutions, Thompson was shocked.
“The tests showed that the samples of the third plant patch were greater than 48,000 years old, according to NOSAMS, and greater than 55,500 years old, according to LLNL – more than 10 times older than the earlier finds.”
But, Thompson pointed out that carbon-dating is unreliable for samples older than 50,000 years, so all he can accurately say at this point is that they are at least that old. He cautiously admits that they might be older but adds that there are no good methods to confirm that.
“I want to stay conservative in my estimates as we continue to investigate this find,” he explains.
Blanca Leon, a researcher with the Plant Resources Center at the University of Texas at Austin, tentatively identified the plants as part of the genus Breutelia and they have similar modern descendents. There is a strong possibility that researchers can retrieve DNA from the samples.
Aside from the novelty of the find, Thompson is focusing on its potential implications: The plant had to have remained covered and protected for most of that time, which means that the ice cap most likely has not deteriorated to its current size for any length of time in more than 50,000 years.
That suggests that the global climate change he and others blame for the shrinkage also was less during that long period.
Tropical glaciers are major resources in the Andes for hydroelectric power production, crop irrigation, municipal water supplies and tourism. As these glaciers shrink, water supplies are reduced during the annual dry season and during future droughts, they will be seriously diminished, Thompson said.
“The latest find is just one in a series pointing to the continued loss of mountain glaciers and hence the loss of the Earth’s ‘crown jewels,’” he said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 142648.htm
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here:
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/quelplant.htm
50,000-year-old Plant May Warn Of The Death Of Tropical Ice Caps
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A simple stroll after a full day of field research near a high Andean glacier in Peru led glaciologist Lonnie Thompson to discover a bed of previously hidden plants that date back at least 50,000 years.
And while that discovery is novel enough to please any scientist, it’s the implication that those perfectly preserved plants may suggest that really excites him.
Thompson, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University and a world-class glaciologist, has made nearly annual pilgrimages to Peru’s Quelccaya ice cap to monitor its slow demise, a probably victim of recent global climate change. The glacier is retreating 40 times faster now than it was when the first aerial photographs were taken in 1963.
He told this story today as part of his Emiliani Lecture presentation at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
In 2002, he and his colleagues from the Byrd Polar Research Center had found a small bed of plants that had, until then, been buried by the ice cap. Carbon dating on those plants suggested that they had been buried nearly 5,000 years ago.
“We were surprised by those dates and had the plant tissue dated four times by two separate institutions,” Thompson said, “but the dates remained the same.”
This time, Thompson decided to look up a different valley, some 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) from the initial plant find. “But about a quarter-mile from there, I found yet another area of uncovered plants.”
When Thompson returned to his campus lab, he packaged the three new samples and sent them off for carbon-dating as well. The first two yielded dates similar to the 2002 plant find -- about 5,200 years ago.
But the date for the third plant sample seemed radically skewed. “We had the samples dated at the National AMS Facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (NOSAMS) and later sent other samples to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL),” he explained. And when the dates on the third sample returned from both institutions, Thompson was shocked.
“The tests showed that the samples of the third plant patch were greater than 48,000 years old, according to NOSAMS, and greater than 55,500 years old, according to LLNL – more than 10 times older than the earlier finds.”
But, Thompson pointed out that carbon-dating is unreliable for samples older than 50,000 years, so all he can accurately say at this point is that they are at least that old. He cautiously admits that they might be older but adds that there are no good methods to confirm that.
“I want to stay conservative in my estimates as we continue to investigate this find,” he explains.
Blanca Leon, a researcher with the Plant Resources Center at the University of Texas at Austin, tentatively identified the plants as part of the genus Breutelia and they have similar modern descendents. There is a strong possibility that researchers can retrieve DNA from the samples.
Aside from the novelty of the find, Thompson is focusing on its potential implications: The plant had to have remained covered and protected for most of that time, which means that the ice cap most likely has not deteriorated to its current size for any length of time in more than 50,000 years.
That suggests that the global climate change he and others blame for the shrinkage also was less during that long period.
Tropical glaciers are major resources in the Andes for hydroelectric power production, crop irrigation, municipal water supplies and tourism. As these glaciers shrink, water supplies are reduced during the annual dry season and during future droughts, they will be seriously diminished, Thompson said.
“The latest find is just one in a series pointing to the continued loss of mountain glaciers and hence the loss of the Earth’s ‘crown jewels,’” he said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 142648.htm
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here:
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/quelplant.htm
Mal_Adjusted
Justified & Ancient
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Large fires created Australian desert
Greets
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/27/australia.desert.reut/index.html
mal
Greets
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/27/australia.desert.reut/index.html
mal
ramonmercado
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New Plant Finds In Andes Foretell Of Ancient Climate Change
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ramonmercado
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Climate shift helped destroy China's Tang dynasty: scientist
ramonmercado
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ramonmercado
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Heres another report which backs up the previous ones.
ramonmercado
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Climate change: The great civilisation destroyer?
Food for thought. Some of these cases have been dealt with in Collapse by Jared Diamond but there is certainly new information regarding the possible causes for the fall of the Mycenaean civilisation.
Food for thought. Some of these cases have been dealt with in Collapse by Jared Diamond but there is certainly new information regarding the possible causes for the fall of the Mycenaean civilisation.
ramonmercado
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Or the evolutionary spur for cultural development.
ramonmercado
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Evidence of the effects of Thomas Becket's murder on air pollution.
Ancient air pollution, trapped in ice, reveals new details about life and death in 12th Century Britain.
In a study, scientists have found traces of lead, transported on the winds from British mines that operated in the late 1100s. Air pollution from lead in this time period was as bad as during the industrial revolution centuries later.
The pollution also sheds light on a notorious murder of the medieval era; the killing of Thomas Becket.
Now scientists have found physical evidence of the impact of the dispute between Henry and Becket in a 72-metre-long ice core, retrieved from the Colle Gnifetti glacier in the Swiss-Italian Alps.
In the same way that trees detail their growth in annual rings, so glaciers compact a record of the chemical composition of the air, trapped in bubbles in the yearly build-up of ice. Analysing the 800 year-old ice using a highly sensitive laser, the scientists were able to see a huge surge in lead in the air and dust captured in the 12th century.
Atmospheric modelling showed that the element was carried by winds from the north west, across the UK, where lead mining and smelting was booming in the late 1100s. Lead and silver are often mined together and in this period, mines in the Peak District and in Cumbria were among the most productive in Europe.
The researchers were able to match the physical records from the ice with the written tax records of lead and silver production in England. Lead had many uses in this time, from water pipes to church roofs to stained glass windows. But production of the metal was clearly linked to political events according to the authors of this latest research.
"In the 1169-70 period, there was a major disagreement between Henry II and Thomas Beckett and that clash manifested itself by the church refusing to work with Henry - and you actually see a fall in that production that year," said Prof Christopher Loveluck, from Nottingham University
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52095694
Ancient air pollution, trapped in ice, reveals new details about life and death in 12th Century Britain.
In a study, scientists have found traces of lead, transported on the winds from British mines that operated in the late 1100s. Air pollution from lead in this time period was as bad as during the industrial revolution centuries later.
The pollution also sheds light on a notorious murder of the medieval era; the killing of Thomas Becket.
Now scientists have found physical evidence of the impact of the dispute between Henry and Becket in a 72-metre-long ice core, retrieved from the Colle Gnifetti glacier in the Swiss-Italian Alps.
In the same way that trees detail their growth in annual rings, so glaciers compact a record of the chemical composition of the air, trapped in bubbles in the yearly build-up of ice. Analysing the 800 year-old ice using a highly sensitive laser, the scientists were able to see a huge surge in lead in the air and dust captured in the 12th century.
Atmospheric modelling showed that the element was carried by winds from the north west, across the UK, where lead mining and smelting was booming in the late 1100s. Lead and silver are often mined together and in this period, mines in the Peak District and in Cumbria were among the most productive in Europe.
The researchers were able to match the physical records from the ice with the written tax records of lead and silver production in England. Lead had many uses in this time, from water pipes to church roofs to stained glass windows. But production of the metal was clearly linked to political events according to the authors of this latest research.
"In the 1169-70 period, there was a major disagreement between Henry II and Thomas Beckett and that clash manifested itself by the church refusing to work with Henry - and you actually see a fall in that production that year," said Prof Christopher Loveluck, from Nottingham University
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52095694
ramonmercado
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Paleo Climate Change and adaptations.
The Paleolithic period, or the “Old Stone Age”, harbors two of the four defining transitions in human history — the adoption of technology and the invention of culture.
Over 96% of the human past took place in the Pleistocene — the geological era directly preceding the present Holocene — and Paleolithic archaeologists have long been interested in how hominin populations and species faired vis-à-vis the often rapidly changing environmental conditions and notoriously unstable climate regimes of this period. Yet surprisingly, and even though climate is routinely investigated as a major driving force of human biocultural evolution, Paleolithic archaeologists had hitherto only little to say about foundational issues in human-climate relationships or how their research and insights may inform ongoing societal debates on climate change and the planetary future of our species.
In a recent overview published in WIREs Climate Change, we argue that concerted archaeological and paleoscientific research has now produced a rich and diversified corpus of data on long-term human-climate constellations which can make a real difference in how we understand human climate change responses and think about uncertain futures of the “Anthropocene” — the period famously proposed by Nobel Prize awardee Paul Crutzen, in which human action can easily develop cascading geological consequences and yields climates and ecosystems never encountered before in human history.
https://www.advancedsciencenews.com...ell-us-about-our-future-under-climate-change/
The Paleolithic period, or the “Old Stone Age”, harbors two of the four defining transitions in human history — the adoption of technology and the invention of culture.
Over 96% of the human past took place in the Pleistocene — the geological era directly preceding the present Holocene — and Paleolithic archaeologists have long been interested in how hominin populations and species faired vis-à-vis the often rapidly changing environmental conditions and notoriously unstable climate regimes of this period. Yet surprisingly, and even though climate is routinely investigated as a major driving force of human biocultural evolution, Paleolithic archaeologists had hitherto only little to say about foundational issues in human-climate relationships or how their research and insights may inform ongoing societal debates on climate change and the planetary future of our species.
In a recent overview published in WIREs Climate Change, we argue that concerted archaeological and paleoscientific research has now produced a rich and diversified corpus of data on long-term human-climate constellations which can make a real difference in how we understand human climate change responses and think about uncertain futures of the “Anthropocene” — the period famously proposed by Nobel Prize awardee Paul Crutzen, in which human action can easily develop cascading geological consequences and yields climates and ecosystems never encountered before in human history.
https://www.advancedsciencenews.com...ell-us-about-our-future-under-climate-change/
ramonmercado
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Interesting, African climate changes affected hominid/human development.
An unforgiving environmental twist deserves at least some credit for the behavioral flexibility that has characterized the human species since our African origins around 300,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
For hundreds of thousands of years in parts of East Africa, food and water supplies remained fairly stable. But new evidence shows that starting about 400,000 years ago, hominids and other ancient animals in the region faced a harsh environmental reckoning, says a team led by paleoanthropologist Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The climate began to fluctuate dramatically. Faults caused by volcanic eruptions fractured the landscape and reduced the size of lakes. Large animals died out and were replaced by smaller creatures with more diverse diets. These changes heralded a series of booms and busts in the resources hominids needed to survive, Potts and his colleagues report October 21 in Science Advances.
Around that time, hominids at a site called Olorgesailie in what’s now ...
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/environmental-changes-stone-age-humans-adaptable
An unforgiving environmental twist deserves at least some credit for the behavioral flexibility that has characterized the human species since our African origins around 300,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
For hundreds of thousands of years in parts of East Africa, food and water supplies remained fairly stable. But new evidence shows that starting about 400,000 years ago, hominids and other ancient animals in the region faced a harsh environmental reckoning, says a team led by paleoanthropologist Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The climate began to fluctuate dramatically. Faults caused by volcanic eruptions fractured the landscape and reduced the size of lakes. Large animals died out and were replaced by smaller creatures with more diverse diets. These changes heralded a series of booms and busts in the resources hominids needed to survive, Potts and his colleagues report October 21 in Science Advances.
Around that time, hominids at a site called Olorgesailie in what’s now ...
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/environmental-changes-stone-age-humans-adaptable
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China's climate changes brought down dynasties.
Volcanic eruptions may have triggered abrupt climate changes contributing to the repeated collapse of Chinese dynasties over the past 2,000 years, according to new research published today.
The study also illustrates how volcanic eruptions can profoundly impact vulnerable or unstable regions and highlights the need to prepare for future eruptions.
The research, which combines historical evidence with polar ice-core records of volcanic eruptions, was led jointly by historians and environmental scientists from Trinity College Dublin and Zhejiang University, China. It will be published today in Communications Earth & Environment, a new high-profile journal from Nature Portfolio.
Scientists have identified explosive volcanic eruptions as one of the most important drivers of dramatic changes in climate, often triggering sudden cooling and drying that can cause livestock death and crop damage. However, our understanding of the role played by such abrupt climate shocks in state or societal collapse has been limited by the precision and accuracy of dating of available historical and climate evidence.
Dr Francis Ludlow, Associate Professor of Medieval Environmental History at Trinity, who jointly led the study, commented:
“China has a remarkably long and richly documented history of multiple ruling dynasties, including major world powers like the Tang Dynasty, which collapsed in 907 CE, or the Ming Dynasty, which collapsed in 1644. With so many precisely dated collapses, we can look not just at individual cases of collapse that may or may not have followed a change in climate, but rather look simultaneously at many collapses to see whether there is a repeated pattern where a change in climate was followed by collapse. This can tell us whether climatic change played a very minor role in dynastic collapse, or whether it posed a systematic threat to these powerful and sophisticated societies.”
https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/arti...-in-chinas-imperial-era-found-by-researchers/
Volcanic eruptions may have triggered abrupt climate changes contributing to the repeated collapse of Chinese dynasties over the past 2,000 years, according to new research published today.
The study also illustrates how volcanic eruptions can profoundly impact vulnerable or unstable regions and highlights the need to prepare for future eruptions.
The research, which combines historical evidence with polar ice-core records of volcanic eruptions, was led jointly by historians and environmental scientists from Trinity College Dublin and Zhejiang University, China. It will be published today in Communications Earth & Environment, a new high-profile journal from Nature Portfolio.
Scientists have identified explosive volcanic eruptions as one of the most important drivers of dramatic changes in climate, often triggering sudden cooling and drying that can cause livestock death and crop damage. However, our understanding of the role played by such abrupt climate shocks in state or societal collapse has been limited by the precision and accuracy of dating of available historical and climate evidence.
Dr Francis Ludlow, Associate Professor of Medieval Environmental History at Trinity, who jointly led the study, commented:
“China has a remarkably long and richly documented history of multiple ruling dynasties, including major world powers like the Tang Dynasty, which collapsed in 907 CE, or the Ming Dynasty, which collapsed in 1644. With so many precisely dated collapses, we can look not just at individual cases of collapse that may or may not have followed a change in climate, but rather look simultaneously at many collapses to see whether there is a repeated pattern where a change in climate was followed by collapse. This can tell us whether climatic change played a very minor role in dynastic collapse, or whether it posed a systematic threat to these powerful and sophisticated societies.”
https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/arti...-in-chinas-imperial-era-found-by-researchers/