Climate Change and the Rise of the Central Asian Silk Roads

Hill, Daniel J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00728-7_12

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Disturbances, associated with changes in the Mediterranean lows ( Figure 5c) and the regional pressure gradients (Hill, 2019), resulted in the observed decrease in precipitation which the region, especially the north, was reliant on. Consequently, the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates This shift to a drier climate is likely to have been amplified by the biogeophysical feedback effects of changing soil moisture (Charney et al, 1975).…”

Section: Change In Western Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire

Cookson

Hill

Lawrence

2019

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Empire, collapsed. Proxy data has suggested a regional aridification event coincided with this collapse, but there is a lack of records collected from within the Mesopotamian region, where the Akkadian Empire was based. Here we analyse a suite of simulations from the HadCM3 climate model covering the last 6000 years. The results show that long-term drivers produced a shift to a more arid climate, showing minima in both precipitation and river flow at 2000 BCE, whilst temperatures were colder at 2250 BCE. These changes were sufficient to have a negative impact on the natural vegetation in Mesopotamia, suggesting that this climate change would have also impacted the agriculture sustaining local communities. We suggest that the combined effects of climate change and land mismanagement would lead to shortages of water and food, which may have contributed to social disruption and the collapse of the Akkadian Empire. We also find examples of resilience through the surviving cities such as Tell Brak and Tell Mozan. These could provide lessons for adapting to climate change in the future, as modern-day climate change threatens food and water security. Highlights  Mesopotamia experienced significant climate change around 4.2kyrs ago  Simulations show a Holocene low in Tigris-Euphrates water availability at this time  Mesopotamia experienced reduced rainfall due to changes in Western Disturbances  This affected sustainability in the region and contributed to societal collapse

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Section: Change In Western Disturbancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire

Cookson

Hill

Lawrence

2019

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Simultaneously, seed length and width gradually increased across the cultivated populations in southwest Asia and continued to increase as the crops dispersed into Anatolia. Barley rapidly spread with the Founder Crops across Europe and West Asia, reaching southern Central Asia by 6,500 BC (Harris, 2010), the eastern edge of the Iranian Plateau at Mehrgarh by 6,000 BC (Costantini, 1984), into the Ganges Plain (Liu et al, 2017) and north all the way to the Altai Mountains by 3000 BC (Zhou et al, 2020). Barley entered the economic system in Japan by the fifth century AD (Leipe et al, 2017) and developed into a monocropping system in the Tibetan highlands by the early first millennium BC (Tang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting Diachronic Size Variation in Prehistoric Central Asian Cereal Grains

2021

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The morphology of ancient cereal grains in Central Asia has been heavily discussed as an indicator of specific genetic variants, which are often linked to cultural factors or distinct routes of dispersal. In this paper, we present the largest currently existing database of barley (n = 631) and wheat (n = 349) measurements from Central Asia, obtained from two different periods at the Chap site (ca. 3,500 to 1,000 BC), located in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan at 2,000 masl. The site is situated at the highest elevation ecocline for successful cereal cultivation and is, therefore, highly susceptible to minor climatic fluctuations that could force gradients up or down in the foothills. We contrast the Chap data with measurements from other second and first millennia BC sites in the region. An evident increase in average size over time is likely due to the evolution of larger grains or the introduction of larger variants from elsewhere. Additionally, site- or region-specific variation is noted, and we discuss potential influences for the formation of genetic varieties, including possible pleiotropic linkages and/or developmental responses to external factors, such as environmental fluctuations, climate, irrigation inputs, soil nutrients, pathologies, and seasonality. External factors acting on developmental or acclamatory responses in plants can be either natural or cultural. We argue that the study of long-term changes in grain morphology on the edges of crop-growing ranges can be informative regarding cultural and environmental constraints in the past.

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“…Fig. 4.4 Evolution of precipitation values (mm/year) in West Central Asia during the last 6 ka (Hill 2019) Certainly the lower reaches of the deltas are again populated, both by camps and interregional caravan routes, during the MWP (900-1200 AD), i.e. at the peak of urbanization of the piedmonts under Karakhanid rule, to which are attributed most of the medieval cultural findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ili River Delta: Holocene Hydrogeological Evolution and Human Colonization

Deom

Sala

Laudisoit

2019

Socio-Environmental Dynamics Along the Historical Silk Road

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Extensive survey of paleocourses of the Ili delta discovered archaeological findings that, chronologically attributed and systematized, allowed the historical reconstruction of the human occupation of the delta. Until recently the colonization was believed to have begun only during medieval times. We argue it began much earlier at the start of the Bronze Age of Kazakhstan (second half of the III millennium BC) under the impulse of new economical activities based on stockbreeding and bronze metallurgy. The basic method of research consisted in surveys, collection of surface finds and documentation of hydrogeological and climatic data. The correlation between the two types of information gives an idea of the factors that influenced the distribution of habitats, mostly represented by winter camps. Their number and concentration change by epoch, pointing to changes in both cultural proclivities and environmental factors. The understanding of the whole historical process requires background knowledge of the hydrological history of the Ili delta, a complex system involving active distributaries and intermittent or inactive paleo-courses, and showing the anticlockwise rotation of 5 successive deltas. Generally speaking, arid climate phases stabilize the delta, pluvial phases favor changes in various directions. Human colonization concerned the two Holocene deltas preceding the modern one: relict terraces of the Uzunaral delta (8-4 ka BP) and terraces of mild active distributaries of the Bakanas delta (4000-250 BP), subject during the last 4000 years to complex geomorphological and hydrological changes that, when reconstructed and correlated with the distribution of finds, explain the location of habitats and allow the mutual chronological attribution of geological and cultural deposits.

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Climate Change and the Rise of the Central Asian Silk Roads

Cited by 10 publications

References 52 publications

Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire

Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire

Interpreting Diachronic Size Variation in Prehistoric Central Asian Cereal Grains

The Ili River Delta: Holocene Hydrogeological Evolution and Human Colonization

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