Past Civilizations & Climate Change

The Maya

Three time periods:

• Preclassic Period from 2000 BC to 250 A.D.,
• Classic Period from 250 A.D. to 900 A.D.,
• Culture flourished 600 – 800 A.D.
• Collapse occurred between 800 and 900 A.D..
• Postclassic Period from 900 A.D. to the time of Spanish Conquest beginning in 1524 A.D.

. Symptoms of the collapse included: The rapid depopulation of the countryside and ceremonial centers in 50 to 100 years; abandonment of administrative and residential structures; and the cessation of building, construction, carving of sculptured monuments, manufacture of pottery, stonework, jade carvings, Classic calendrical (long count) and writing systems.

Proposed causes of the Collapse

• Natural:
  • soil exhaustion due to slash-and-burn agriculture
  • water loss and erosion of topsoil evident by increased sedimentation in lakes
  • natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes)
  • climatic change
  • disease
  • insect infestations
  • overpopulation

• Sociopolitical:
  • peasant revolts resulting in the overthrowing of the elite class
  • inter-site warfare between Maya city-states
  • invasions by peoples from outside the Maya civilization
  • failure of centralized political authority.

Analysis of paleoclimatic data correlates a period of prolonged drought with the Classic Mayan Collapse. From: Possible Role of Climate in the Collapse of the Classic Maya Civilization by Hodell, D.A., Curtis, J.H., and Brenner, M.

Mesopotamia

The Akkadian empire was established between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers around 2300 B.C. The society collapsed +/- 150 years later with the abandonment of agricultural plains in the north and the mass migration to more arid lands to the south. This corresponds with world climate records, which show an abrupt climate change around the same time (cool & drought conditions for next 200 – 300 years).

"A quick comparison to a map of the modern Middle East, reveals that were such a megadrought to occur today over former Mesopotamia, which is now a region of exquisite geopolitical sensitivity, it would still have profound human consequences on the region. Judging by the history of the last 3 years, it would also have global strategic consequences. " From: Two Examples of Abrupt Climate Change by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Modern Civilizations & Climate Change

Where will the people go if . . .

• Sea level rises?
• Climate regimes shift?
• Animals/fish/etc. become extinct or migrate elsewhere?

“Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. Contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.”

Chief Seattle
1785 - 1866

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