The Role of Climate in the Collapse of the civilizations (Research Paper Sample)

The Role of Climate in the Collapse of the civilizations Name Institution’s Name Weiss and Bradley (2001) claims that changes in climate as well as extreme weather conditions are related to some of major events in human history. Inherently, archeological and historical evidence shows that climate shifts in a distant past played a role in collapsing of civilization. The high resolution records from ice cores, corals, tree rings, and deep sea and lake sediments have continues to provide a precise record of climate change in the past that explains certain societal response. For instance, there is significant correlation between drought and collapse of Maya civilization, and moreover, the societal collapse of Natufian communities of Southwest Asia is also blamed on climate shifts. Whereas some of the societies collapsed because of frequent droughts, there are others that collapsed due to too much flooding. Drought has been a major cause of collapse of several societies’ civilization. Peterson and Haug (2005) claims that although Maya community used to experience seasonal droughts due to the climatic conditions, a “megadrought” that occurred later for a period of approximately one century or two, is estimated to cause devastating consequences to the indigenous population leading to collapse of civilization in the community. Archeological evidence shows that initially Maya were sophisticated in their hydrological engineering, since they were able to put up hydraulic structures such as reservoirs that made it possible for the community to depend on seasonal rains. However, Peterson and Haug (2005) notes that it was the lack of water, as a result of the megadrought, that contributed to terminal classic collapse of Maya. Similarly, Choi (2012) also argues that prolonged drought led to demise of Angkor city. However, according to evidence obtained from tree rings from Vietnam, city of Angkor experienced long spans of drought that was intermingled with unusual heavy rainfall that led to destruction of the complex network of channels, reservoirs, and moats that were relied by the city residents. Peterson and Haug (2005) also notes that the collapse of Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, demise of Tiwanaku culture on Bolivian-Peruvian altiplano, and the end of Mochica culture in Peru is also associated to similar conditions of long-term drought that attacked the regions. Inherently, it is worth noting that the changes in climatic conditions did not only led to sudden changes of social systems but also it contributed to loss of controlling authority and political power. For instance, Peterson and Haug (2005) report that in Maya community, the control of water reserves opened a chance to have a centralized source of political authority that ruled the Maya elites. However, the consecutive periods of long-term drought resulted to Maya elites undermining the institution of leadership after the existing technologies together with rituals failed to provide sufficient water. Choi (2012) also believes that several different factors led to demise of the Angkor. The main factors include social and political aspects which were initiated by a shift in climate. Weiss and Bradley (2001) describes how the climatic changes that were experienced in Natufian communities of Southwest Asia resulted to changes in social, political, and economic systems that contributed to demise of their culture. According to Weiss and Bradley (2001), Natufians changed their lifestyle drastically due to the sudden change of climate. Initially, the Natufian communities were hunters and gatherers, however, about 12000 years ago, they abandoned hunting and gathering and engaged in plant cultivation and animal husbandry. This change led to emergence of civilization. The change in the lifestyle was because there was significant change in the climate from cooler...