Abrupt climate change and collapse of ancient civilizations at 2200BC-2000BC

Plentiful evidence of historical, archaeological and palaeoclimatic studies proved that an abrupt change from wetter to drier climate occurred over the Nile Valley, the Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Huanghe River Valley at 2200BC-2000BC. The abrupt change was developed based on the general lowering of temperature in the middle latitudes, and was a strong cold event since the beginning of the Megathermal (8.5-3.0 kaBP). Collapse of Nile civilization appeared at the First Intermediate Period (2181BC-2040BC). Civilization of Mesopotamia began collapse following the disintegration of Akkadian Empire. This process lasted to the foundation of Babylon Kingdom from 2200BC to 1900BC. Indus civilization abruptly fell off at 1800BC. A widespread alternation of archaeological cultures happened in China at ca. 2000BC except only in its central part. Longsheng culture was replaced by the Erlitou culture, which is now acknowledged in China as Xia Culture. Foundation of Xia Dynasty at 2070BC opened a new chapter in the development of Chinese civilization. Studies indicated that abrupt climate change may be caused by the weakening of the Thermohaline Circulation (THC).

作 者： WANG Shaowu   作者單位： Department of Atmospheric Science, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China  刊 名： 自然科學(xué)進(jìn)展（英文版）  SCI 英文刊名： PROGRESS IN NATURAL SCIENCE  年，卷(期)： 2005 15(10)  分類號(hào)： P4  關(guān)鍵詞： 2200BC-2000BC   abrupt climate change   collapse of ancient civilization  

【Abrupt climate change and collapse o】相關(guān)文章：

Agricultural adaptation to climate change in China04-28

Vulnerability assessment of water resources to climate change in Chinese cities04-26

Climate change and permafrost stability in the eastern Canada Cordillera: The results of 33 years of measurements04-29

Variation of karst spring discharge in the recent five decades as an indicator of global climate change: A case study at04-29

Complicated responses of stalagmite δ13C to climate change during the last glaciation from Hulu Cave, Nanjing, China04-27

The Change06-06

Change,the Need for Security04-28

Projections of ocean climate for northwestern Pacific Ocean04-29

Evaluation of dust activity and climate effects in North China04-26

Environmental change in Bashang Region historical periods04-28