Unravelling the climate behind the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations
3 hours ago
- Severe droughts in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age collapse resulted from the alignment of multiple natural climate cycles operating over different timescales.
- A gradual drying trend over millennia, driven by Earth's orbital changes, combined with shorter-term fluctuations from the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere to push the region beyond a critical hydroclimatic threshold.
- The findings are relevant today, as future drought risk in the Mediterranean may depend on both human-driven warming and natural Atlantic variability interacting with long-term trends.