Climate change and drought are not new problems – Read what a geo-ecology professor has to say

Climate change, biodiversity loss and drought are not new problems: Already in the early Bronze Age, major civilizations collapsed due to climate change and drought in particular. This is what Gerhard Gerold, professor of geoecology at the University of Göttingen and member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, argues in his book “Climate change and the collapse of advanced civilizations – what does history teach us?”.

His detailed analysis is based on the scientific knowledge of archaeology, history and paleoclimate research acquired over the past 20 to 30 years. It describes the complex network of cultural-historical and environmental-ecological conditions that prevailed in the past and explains the role of climate change in the collapse of advanced civilizations from Mesopotamia and Greece to Latin America and Greenland.

Paleolithic hunter-gatherer society with low population density changed during the Pleistocene to Holocene transition with increased forest cover and early land use by populous groups between 10,000 and 5,000 BC (Neolithic Revolution). In various regions of Mesopotamia advanced civilizations appeared during the Bronze Age. Uruk developed into a major city during the 4th millennium, but due to a significantly drier climatic phase from 3300-3000 BC it collapsed. Also, the great Akkadian Empire collapsed relatively abruptly around 4200 BC. Responsible for the collapse of all the advanced civilizations of the late Bronze Age (around 3100 years BC) is considered, among other things, climate change which was accompanied by periods of great drought during the eminent German scientist.

However, while the great drought of 2200 BC had widespread negative effects in the eastern Mediterranean with the result that cities were either destroyed or abandoned by the end of the Early Bronze Age, conversely in mainland Greece, Crete and Lower Mesopotamia there was a cultural rise during period to the Middle Bronze Age.

And the Late Bronze Age can be characterized as a “golden age” in terms of trade, wealth and the interconnection of city-states such as Ugarit or Aleppo. Dominant were the empires of the Hittites, the Assyrians and the Egyptians, as well as the city-states of the Greek area such as Mycenae, Crete and Cyprus. Climatic conditions were initially favorable. Products – natural and agricultural – were systematically traded through caravan routes and sea routes in the Mediterranean. At that time there was a large-scale, complex and stable economic system based on the division of labor.

Between 1200 and 900 BC, however, empires and city-states collapsed, as did trade and the trade network, the basis of prosperity in the Late Bronze Age. The role of the infamous Sea Peoples remains controversial.

So what was the cause of the collapse?

The answer according to Gerhard Gerold is that “the great drought of 1200-850 BC with a short break from 1050-1000 BC had serious effects on the entire eastern Mediterranean region. Due to the reduction of winter rainfall by 30-50% and the colder temperatures that prevailed since 1100 BC, in large parts of Anatolia, Syria, the Middle East as well as the Peloponnese, grain cultivation was tried. Thus an important food base collapsed which could no longer be compensated by imports. The major collapse is due to a combination of various factors, with the main cause being the major drought.”

Something similar seems to have happened with the numerous royal cities of the Maya in the 9th and 11th centuries AD. The author of the book considers climate problems, deforestation – in order to ensure food supply – and population growth as causes: With the exception of a few royal cities, such as Lamanai in Belize (700-15 AD) and Mayapan, capital of the Maya in northern Yucatan (1000-1442 AD) in present-day Mexico, city-states disappeared beneath the lush rainforest canopy and were rediscovered in modern times. Droughts were not the only reason for their collapse, however their frequent occurrence in the 9th century (four major droughts) and 11th century coincided with the overexploitation of resources due to rapid population growth and consequent food shortages that caused a political and social crisis between 750 and 750 -1000 AD with numerous conflicts and wars.

However, Mayapan’s later collapse in the 14th and 13th centuries AD was likely also triggered by a drought, which caused social conflict, according to a study published in Nature Communications involving scientists from the Climate Change Institute (PIK) of Potsdam. Researchers assume that after its collapse, the inhabitants migrated to other smaller towns and thus managed to survive until the 16th century. They conclude that the effects of drought on political and social structures in the Yucatan Peninsula were -centuries before our era- particularly complex, and can serve us as an important example for dealing with future climate changes.

Gerold also devotes a chapter to the decline of the Vikings in Greenland in the 14th century. Self-sufficient communities there relied on hunting animals and seals, as well as trading nature’s products with their native Norway – until the ice covered the sea and their settlements and shortened the growing seasons. Thus they declined.

In his book he uses many other historical examples in order to compare with modern environmental crises and draws many parallels. Are we also threatened with a similar social collapse like the civilizations he describes? He answers implicitly at the end of his book as follows: “In the context of human-caused climate change through greenhouse gas emissions today, the question arises as to the consequences in a highly complex industrialized and globalized world.”

Read the News today and get the latest news. Follow us on Google News and be the first to learn all the news from Skai.gr.