Late Holocene drought responsible for the collapse of Old World civilizations is recorded in an Italian cave flowstone

Drysdale, R., Zanchetta, G., Hellstrom, J., Maas, R., Fallick, A., Pickett, M., Cartwright, I. and Piccini, L. (2006) Late Holocene drought responsible for the collapse of Old World civilizations is recorded in an Italian cave flowstone. Geology, 34(2), pp. 101-104. (doi: 10.1130/G22103.1)

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Abstract

A severe drought in parts of low-latitude northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia ∼4200 yr ago caused major disruption to ancient civilizations. Stable isotope, trace element, and organic fluorescence data from a calcite flowstone collected from the well-watered Alpi Apuane karst of central-western Italy indicate that the climatic event responsible for this drought was also recorded in mid-latitude Europe. Although the timing of this event coincides with an episode of increased ice-rafted debris to the subpolar North Atlantic, the regional ocean-atmosphere response seems atypical of similar Holocene ice-rafting events. Furthermore, comparison of the flowstone data with other regional proxies suggests that the most extreme part of the dry spell occurred toward the end of a longer-term climate anomaly.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Fallick, Professor Anthony
Authors: Drysdale, R., Zanchetta, G., Hellstrom, J., Maas, R., Fallick, A., Pickett, M., Cartwright, I., and Piccini, L.
Subjects:Q Science > QE Geology
C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
Journal Name:Geology
Publisher:Geological Society of America
ISSN:0091-7613
ISSN (Online):1943-2682

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