Ancient pollen¹（花粉） and charcoal²（木炭） preserved in deeply buried sediments³ in Egypt's Nile Delta⁵ document the region's ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise⁶ of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time. "Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change," said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. "Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales -- whether decadal or millennial⁸."

 

Bernhardt conducted this research as part of his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Benjamin Horton, an associate professor in Penn's Department of Earth and Environmental Science. Jean-Daniel Stanley at the Smithsonian Institution also participated in the study, published in July's edition of Geology.

 

"Even the mighty⁹ builders of the ancient pyramids more than 4,000 years ago fell victim when they were unable to respond to a changing climate," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "This study illustrates¹⁰ that water availability was the climate-change Achilles Heel then for Egypt, as it may well be now, for a planet topping seven billion thirsty people."

 

The researchers used pollen and charcoal preserved in a Nile Delta sediment⁴ core dating from 7,000 years ago to the present to help resolve the physical mechanisms¹¹ underlying¹² critical events in ancient Egyptian history.

 

They wanted to see if changes in pollen assemblages would reflect ancient Egyptian and Middle East droughts recorded in archaeological and historical records. The researchers also examined the presence and amount of charcoal because fire frequency often increases during times of drought, and fires are recorded as charcoal in the geological record. The scientists suspected that the proportion of wetland pollen would decline during times of drought and the amount of charcoal would increase.

 

And their suspicions were right.

 

Large decreases in the proportion of wetland pollen and increases in microscopic¹³ charcoal occurred in the core during four different times between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago. One of those events was the abrupt¹⁴ and global mega-drought of around 4,200 years ago, a drought that had serious societal repercussions¹⁵, including famines, and which probably played a role in the end of Egypt's Old Kingdom and affected¹⁶ other Mediterranean¹⁷ cultures as well.

 

"Our pollen record appears very sensitive to the decrease in precipitation that occurred in the mega-drought of 4,200 years ago," Bernhardt said. "The vegetation response lasted much longer compared with other geologic⁷ proxy¹⁸ records of this drought, possibly indicating a sustained effect on delta and Nile basin vegetation."

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