Quaternary Research: Climate change accompanies rising social tensions
UC Davis scientists say they have found a pattern between climate change and rising social tensions in the central Andes between 470 and 1500 AD. This is reported in the article published in Quaternary Research.
Archaeologists analyzed data on almost 3,000 skeletal injuries of the inhabitants of the Andean highlands, found in 58 sites. Scientists compared this information with the level of ice accumulation on land glaciers in what is now Peru, Chile and Bolivia.
A high frequency of skull damage has been found during times of warming and reduced rainfall. This was not observed in coastal and mid-mountain regions, which suggests that the population of those areas either did not suffer from climate change, or found ways to solve the problem of water scarcity.
In addition, researchers have identified the widespread desolation of the archaeological sites of Wari and Tiwanaku, indicating socio-political decay after the onset of centuries of global climate change.
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