Climate Change on Ancient Civilizations
Previous climate change predictions have provided scientists, archaeologist and ecologists with information about the past and future of humans. These indications are backed up by scientific research based off of the physics of the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land and ice. In addition, many researchers have recently turned their focus to past civilizations and their downfall. With information from Mark Kinver’s “Roman Rise and Fall ‘Recorded in Trees’” studies show that from the demise of the Argaric society to the fall of the Mayan, and Ancient Roman Empire, climate change has played a key role in regards to civilizations collapse and nuclear annihilation.
Mark Kinver
According to Kivner, “warm, wet summers coincided with prosperity, while political turmoil occurred during times of climate instability.” Keeping this in mind, the study of tree growth rings has been linked to points in time where climate change has impacted the environment. Archaeologists have discovered a method of measurement among oak ring width. These methods have been used for dating artifacts, historical buildings, antique art and furniture. These patterns represent patterns of precipitation and of drought. From the studies done, researchers have concluded that during good seasons of growth, the rings tended to be broad. However, in poor growing conditions, the rings were consistently tighter. After researchers developed a chronology dating back to 2,500 years, scientists were able to link the affluence of past civilizations. This data has also been connected to the demise of many civilizations such as: the Argaric culture, and the Roman Empire. For example, during times of warm, wet summers during the Roman Empire,...
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...struction to society. With rising sea levels, heat waves, desertification, and disease outbreaks, the world will soon face an early ending.
Conclusion
In conclusion, climate change can be linked to times of prosperity and demise. Plenty of studies show that the changes in the climate have contributed to numerous conflicts in civilizations. A good example of a current political unrest takes place in Syria. Extreme drought is a key factor to the civil war currently in Syria. Even though there was already water instability, human-caused climate change made things drastically worse. Scientists assume that the drought will get worse in the following years. Keeping this in mind, is this a sign that the climate will be a repeat of ancient history? In addition, will the modern era withstand the climate change, or will it be sent to any early demise?
References
Once the author made his view clear, he goes on to display possible scenarios of how human existence can change within the next millennium. He proposed four possible scenarios. The first scenario that Nash discusses, the “wasteland scenario” depicts
how old a tree is. As the tree grows each year, and becomes stronger, the rings build themselves up around
in recent years, evidence has mounted that unusual shifts in atmospheric patterns took place near the end of the Classic Maya period, lending credence to the notion that climate, and specifically drought, indeed played a hand in the decline of this ancient civilization.
In 18,000 the civilizations had to worry about a lot more than we do today. In 18,000 people suffered diseases without medicine, draughts that left no crops to eat, natural disasters that changed the world they lived in, and invasions of others. Today we do not have to worry about much because have government that takes over a lot of things, and even though we have natural disasters they do not seem as tragic as they use to be such as wiping out complete civilizations. We cannot really predict when every single disaster is supposed to happen, we never actually really could. We do today have the extensive use of computers and such to help us research and figure it out more. It seems as though ancient civilizations, such as the Mayans, Cro-Magnons, Paleo-Indians, Celts, Romans, and Chaco-Indians, had trouble with themselves. They had a hard time adjusting to their new environments and climates, and they were unable to handle natural disasters. It seems as though the climate change, from cold to warm and vice versa really affected the ancient civilizations and droughts were extremely effective of their growth.
Brian Fagan’s book The Little Ice Age, explores the history of climate and how Western Civilization adapted to it, or were adapted by it. Knowing how the short term climate affected different civilizations, Fagan then begins to deduct the long term effect and the role it played in the economy, and the social and political changes. Fagan understands the relationship humans have with climate, and how it is ever changing. He points out several scenarios for which climate could be seen as a key player, such as the Irish Potato Famine, or the Vikings migrations. He believes that climate has a major role in all significant historical events, such as the Fall of the Roman Empire, which we will explore in this essay.
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