The Akkad empire during the reign of Naram-Sin (2254-2218 BC). Mount Damavand is labelled in blue. Credit: Zunkir / Semhir / wiki, CC BY-SA
Posted on 01/07/2019 10:15:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Gol-e-Zard Cave lies in the shadow of Mount Damavand, which at more than 5,000 metres dominates the landscape of northern Iran. In this cave, stalagmites and stalactites are growing slowly over millennia and preserve in them clues about past climate events. Changes in stalagmite chemistry from this cave have now linked the collapse of the Akkadian Empire to climate changes more than 4,000 years ago...
It appears that the empire became increasingly dependent on the productivity of the northern lands and used the grains sourced from this region to feed the army and redistribute the food supplies to key supporters. Then, about a century after its formation, the Akkadian Empire suddenly collapsed, followed by mass migration and conflicts. The anguish of the era is perfectly captured in the ancient Curse of Akkad text, which describes a period of turmoil with water and food shortages: "... the large arable tracts yielded no grain, the inundated fields yielded no fish, the irrigated orchards yielded no syrup or wine, the thick clouds did not rain."
...One of the most prominent views, championed by Yale archaeologist Harvey Weiss (who built on earlier ideas by Ellsworth Huntington), is that it was caused by an abrupt onset of drought conditions...
Weiss and his colleagues discovered evidence in northern Syria that this once prosperous region was suddenly abandoned around 4,200 years ago, as indicated by a lack of pottery and other archaeological remains... the rich soils of earlier periods were replaced by large amounts of wind-blown dust and sand, suggesting the onset of drought conditions. Subsequently, marine cores from the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea which linked the input of dust into the sea to distant sources in Mesopotamia, provided further evidence of a regional drought at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
The Akkad empire during the reign of Naram-Sin (2254-2218 BC). Mount Damavand is labelled in blue. Credit: Zunkir / Semhir / wiki, CC BY-SA
Caves reveal clues to UK weatherAt Pooles Cavern in Derbyshire, it was discovered that the stalagmites grow faster in the winter months when it rains more. Alan Walker, who guides visitors through the caves, says the changes in rainfall are recorded in the stalactites and stalagmites like the growth rings in trees. Stalagmites from a number of caves have now been analysed by Dr Andy Baker at Newcastle University. After splitting and polishing the rock, he can measure its growth precisely and has built up a precipitation history going back thousands of years. His study suggests this autumn's rainfall is not at all unusual when looked at over such a timescale but is well within historic variations. He believes politicians find it expedient to blame a man-made change in our weather rather than addressing the complex scientific picture.
by Tom Heap
Saturday, December 2, 2000
(I like that closing sentence -- "future decision-making could be made based on scientific data and not on political expediency". I wouldn't count on it, but that would be great.)Disaster that struck the ancientsProfessor Fekri Hassan, from University College London, UK, wanted to solve the mystery, by gathering together scientific clues. His inspiration was the little known tomb in southern Egypt of a regional governor, Ankhtifi. The hieroglyphs there reported "all of Upper Egypt was dying of hunger to such a degree that everyone had come to eating their children". Dismissed as exaggeration and fantasy by most other Egyptologists, Fekri was determined to prove the writings were true and accurate. He also had to find a culprit capable of producing such misery. He studied the meticulous records, kept since the 7th Century, of Nile floods. He was amazed to see that there was a huge variation in the size of the annual Nile floods - the floods that were vital for irrigating the land. But no records existed for 2,200BC. Then came a breakthrough - a new discovery in the hills of neighbouring Israel. Mira Bar-Matthews of the Geological Survey of Israel had found a unique record of past climates, locked in the stalactites and stalagmites of a cave near Tel Aviv. What they show is a sudden and dramatic drop in rainfall, by 20%. It is the largest climate event in 5,000 years. And the date? 2,200 BC.4,000-year-old planned community unearthed"'Evidently, the conception of what was urban in 2500 to 2000 B.C. was not all that different from what is considered urban today,' said Guillermo Algaze, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, who has been directing the excavation of Titris Hoyuk, a 125-acre walled urban site in the Euphrates River Basin in southeastern Turkey that flourished for a brief time in the third millennium Bronze Age. In its heyday, Titris had about 10,000 residents. Titris was a failure as a city and as a civilization, rising and falling within a 300 year period, never again to be reoccupied. But, said Algaze, Titrus's failure -- probably due to a shifting in trade routes -- is also the key to its appeal to modern archaeologists."
Oct 13 2000Tuba"The women in the tomb were highly ornamented. The ibex (goat above) was made of lapis lazuli which was available only in Afghanistan at the time. Evidence amassed thus far by Schwartz and Curvers indicates that Tubaarose as a political and economic center around 2500 BC, with a population of 5,000 to 7,500 people. The city, which was on a major east-west trade route that connected the Mediterranean coast with upper Mesopotamia, collapsed and was abandoned around 2100 BC possibly due to drought, only to resurrect itself as the primary urban center of the Jabbul plain until around 1200 BC."
Oct 13 2000
"Curse of Agade" keyword:
Exactly.
Did mere mortal men cause that Climate Change that “collapsed an empire”?
I added the emphasis. :^)
The short answer is no. See the list of links for longer ones. :^)
It was most certainly Trump’s fault!
If only they had carbon taxes and banned SUVs...
When are they going to blame the “climate change” on Trump, car exhaust, coal power plants, and the JOOSZ?
Regional climate change is documented all over the Middle East, even in the old Testament and New Testament. So what? Nothing strange about it. Not caused by man.
Plagues of locust - not caused by Man.
The Flood - any big flood back then. Not caused by Man.
Mt. Vesuvius - not caused by Man.
Interesting old map of Iraq since my son drove through that famous monster red sandstorm in early 2003 while helping to liberate Iraq from Saddam. The storm probably came from Africa and ended up creating a 300 foot high wall of sand that stretched for scores of miles, if not longer, stranding the 3rd ID combat and logistics columns on the roads until it passed/subsided.
I asked my son if he saw Babylon and Ur, but all he saw was the tail-light of the truck in front of him due to the sand. So much for my Jewish son’s trip back to the lands/cities of our ancestors. However, he did help liberate the country, so that’s cool after thousands of years of exile.
Thanks, well said.
Sport utility camels and elephants, to be sure?
Cargo critter farts destroyed ancient man!
Why not, modern “journalists” insisted that bovine belches destroy the urf.
Hence a portion of the push for us lowly prawns to eat tofu and insects while they, the “enlightened” dine on waygu beef.
... plastic straws ...
Not an expert but I doubt the assertion that Akkadian Empire was the world first empire. Egypt for one was as old if not older.
“Not an expert but I doubt the assertion that Akkadian Empire was the world first empire. Egypt for one was as old if not older.”
China raises it’s hand and would like to be recognized.
Mohenjo Daro anyone?
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