Zürcher Nachrichten - Climate change may have toppled Hittite Empire: study

EUR -
AED 3.82149
AFN 73.041433
ALL 98.55892
AMD 415.721985
ANG 1.87395
AOA 948.863211
ARS 1066.595859
AUD 1.667379
AWG 1.872757
AZN 1.76665
BAM 1.956393
BBD 2.099416
BDT 124.252877
BGN 1.957548
BHD 0.392547
BIF 3074.702209
BMD 1.04042
BND 1.412915
BOB 7.185177
BRL 6.426779
BSD 1.039805
BTN 88.508971
BWP 14.441237
BYN 3.402798
BYR 20392.23769
BZD 2.092314
CAD 1.494665
CDF 2986.006583
CHF 0.936999
CLF 0.037354
CLP 1030.723435
CNY 7.590496
CNH 7.601534
COP 4550.704712
CRC 527.954918
CUC 1.04042
CUP 27.571138
CVE 110.294183
CZK 25.112052
DJF 184.903571
DKK 7.464496
DOP 63.339194
DZD 140.460985
EGP 52.914317
ERN 15.606304
ETB 132.393121
FJD 2.412371
FKP 0.823994
GBP 0.829996
GEL 2.923886
GGP 0.823994
GHS 15.284632
GIP 0.823994
GMD 74.909813
GNF 8986.377753
GTQ 8.00935
GYD 217.545925
HKD 8.081667
HNL 26.419006
HRK 7.462837
HTG 135.959895
HUF 411.759841
IDR 16830.931058
ILS 3.797779
IMP 0.823994
INR 88.624821
IQD 1362.112776
IRR 43788.690905
ISK 145.190824
JEP 0.823994
JMD 162.002865
JOD 0.737968
JPY 163.685187
KES 134.38118
KGS 90.51648
KHR 4179.22631
KMF 484.965928
KPW 936.37768
KRW 1517.400665
KWD 0.320637
KYD 0.866554
KZT 538.668061
LAK 22739.672498
LBP 93114.317485
LKR 306.441083
LRD 189.24553
LSL 19.334273
LTL 3.07209
LVL 0.62934
LYD 5.104351
MAD 10.485474
MDL 19.184629
MGA 4904.439109
MKD 61.579469
MMK 3379.244519
MNT 3535.348011
MOP 8.318241
MRU 41.506983
MUR 48.972477
MVR 16.024479
MWK 1803.046398
MXN 21.002705
MYR 4.668339
MZN 66.486737
NAD 19.334459
NGN 1604.255567
NIO 38.261595
NOK 11.813837
NPR 141.614554
NZD 1.843034
OMR 0.399934
PAB 1.039815
PEN 3.871824
PGK 4.220117
PHP 61.176038
PKR 289.469892
PLN 4.26282
PYG 8109.457501
QAR 3.781746
RON 4.977686
RSD 116.881322
RUB 103.94356
RWF 1450.525627
SAR 3.905049
SBD 8.722421
SCR 14.50686
SDG 625.81609
SEK 11.528252
SGD 1.415175
SHP 0.823994
SLE 23.718639
SLL 21817.096429
SOS 594.274378
SRD 36.475085
STD 21534.59941
SVC 9.098407
SYP 2614.087445
SZL 19.342676
THB 35.556355
TJS 11.375447
TMT 3.651875
TND 3.315505
TOP 2.436769
TRY 36.611485
TTD 7.066073
TWD 33.958811
TZS 2517.817245
UAH 43.597336
UGX 3806.116828
USD 1.04042
UYU 46.282246
UZS 13423.551809
VES 53.660282
VND 26468.292186
VUV 123.520781
WST 2.87446
XAF 656.149534
XAG 0.035161
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.811788
XDR 0.797234
XOF 656.130609
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.495182
ZAR 19.412609
ZMK 9365.027402
ZMW 28.776721
ZWL 335.014909
  • RBGPF

    -0.7000

    59.8

    -1.17%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    58.86

    -0.27%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    34.03

    -0.09%

  • SCS

    0.0800

    11.73

    +0.68%

  • BCC

    0.9500

    123.19

    +0.77%

  • RIO

    -0.0300

    59.2

    -0.05%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    7.25

    0%

  • RELX

    0.3000

    45.89

    +0.65%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    23.65

    +0.42%

  • CMSC

    -0.1321

    23.77

    -0.56%

  • AZN

    -0.3300

    66.3

    -0.5%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    22.9

    +0.26%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.15

    +0.41%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    36.26

    +0.11%

  • VOD

    0.0600

    8.43

    +0.71%

  • BP

    0.0400

    28.79

    +0.14%

Climate change may have toppled Hittite Empire: study
Climate change may have toppled Hittite Empire: study / Photo: STR - AFP/File

Climate change may have toppled Hittite Empire: study

Three years of extreme drought may have brought about the collapse of the mighty Hittite Empire around 1200 BC, researchers have said, linking the plight of the fallen civilisation to the modern world's climate crisis.

Text size:

The Hittites dominated Anatolia in modern-day Turkey for nearly 500 years, even rivalling the power of the Egyptian Empire for a period.

They were one of several influential ancient civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East which were all toppled or severely weakened at around the same time, bringing the curtain down on the Bronze Age.

The Hittites mysteriously abandoned their capital and religious centre Hattusa around 1200 BC, when the royal line died out and written historical documents dried up.

The empire's centuries-old political and cultural structures ended "quite rapidly," Sturt Manning, an archaeologist at Cornell University in the United States and lead author of a new study, told AFP.

There are several theories for what was behind the "Late Bronze Age collapse", including attacks from naval raiders called the "Sea Peoples", epidemics and famines -- as well as a 300-year change to a drier, cooler climate.

But exactly what triggered the demise of these empires has remained unclear.

- 'Existential threat' -

Now, for the Hittites at least, the answer may have come inscribed in the rings of ancient juniper wood.

The juniper comes from one of the world's oldest wooden structures, found at the Phrygian capital of Gordion in central Turkey as part of the excavation of a king's tomb in the 1950s.

By analysing the rings of the juniper wood, the researchers were able to reconstruct climate conditions more than 3,000 years ago.

In semi-arid Central Anatolia, "the major threat to growth for most plants in the region is a lack of water," Manning said.

Narrower tree rings indicate drier years, when a lack of water meant the trees did not grow much.

The rings showed three-straight years -- 1198 BC to 1196 BC -- with "unusually" low growth, suggesting a prolonged and particularly severe drought, according to the study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The researchers suggested that the drought caused severe food shortages, particularly for the land-locked parts of the central Hittite kingdom, which depended on grain and livestock.

The food shortages could have led to political, economic and social unrest, ultimately bringing about the end of the empire.

Manning warned that current global warming means the modern world could face a "multi-year existential threat" similar to the one that affected the Hittites.

Muge Durusu-Tanriover, an archaeologist at Temple University in Philadelphia who was not involved in the study, hailed it as "groundbreaking".

"Now that we know a major climate event might have tipped the Hittite empire beyond its point of no return, there are more questions to ask about climate change, its impact on states and society and, most crucially, what can be learnt from the past during our current climate crisis," she said in a Nature comment piece.

T.Furrer--NZN