I'd say it was probably a little (or a lot) of both. It wouldn't take much in terms of weather pattern or rainfall changes coupled with complete deforestation to destroy the ecosystem.
I've seen it happen in huge areas of the Philippines, which is clearly a tropical setting with rabid vegetation growth. But, with no land management regulating the harvesting of natural resources, things like complete or deforestation occurred throughout the second half of last century. Now nothing, not even weeds grow in some places. Erosion of the topsoil accelerates leading to complete collapse of the ecosystem. It's quite something to see in person.
Now, if that happened in this area coupled with some mild weather pattern shifts, I could see how it could easily be catastrophic. I'm not a enviro-whacko, but I do believe we should take reasonable care of what God gave us.
>Now, if that happened in this area coupled with some mild weather pattern shifts, I could see how it could easily be catastrophic. I’m not a enviro-whacko, but I do believe we should take reasonable care of what God gave us.
Well, He did say that we’re to tame the Earth and subdue it... IE something like a Head Gardener for an estate back in “Ye Olde English Dayes”.
While the site formally belongs to the earliest Neolithic (PPN A), up to now no traces of domesticated plants or animals have been found. The inhabitants were hunters and gatherers. Schmidt speculates that the site played a key function in the transition to agriculture; he assumes that the necessary social organization needed for the creation of these structures went hand-in-hand with the organized exploitation of wild crops.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe (emphasis is mine).
Herr Schmidt could be correct but it's a hell of a jump to say that the regional climate was destroyed by farming when there is no evidence farming much less destructive farming.