What's the big deal?

It's all very well and good to talk about ancient civilizations that faced hard times and collapsed thousands of years ago, but so what?

The fact of the matter is that, unnervingly, quite a few comparisons can be made between conditions at the time of past societal collapses and life today.


Let's be brief:

• Climate - a primary factor involved in the fall of sophisticated societies is changes in climate. As we're all aware in modern society, climate change is a very real and fast approaching threat. (see Kerr (1998) and a more recent evaluation by Cullen et al., (2000))

• Politics - like in the past, political differences at times still lead to conflict. (see Frahm and Feinberg (2013))

• Over-reliance on technology - in the case of the Akkadians, a misguided trust in technologies can lead to destabilization. With ever increasing faith injected into increasingly complex technologies, there are lessons from the past that we should be reminding ourselves of.

• Population pressures - to relate to the Akkadians again, growing populations can cause serious issues especially when they coincide with external forcing factors such as climate. Without proper management, population growth and migration can cause social instability.

• Disease - as will become evident in a few posts time, disease can have devastating impacts on a civilization. Epidemics (e.g. Cholera, Dengue fever, Ebola) can have extremely severe impacts on a population and without effective management can lead to social instability. (see Acuna-Soto et al (2005) who will be discussed in a few posts time)

Source: Wilbur Dawbarn on Cartoon stock

The importance of using examples from the past to avoid the same mistakes again becomes evident when these similarities are added up. With climate change posing such real threats, an increasing global population, political instability and a heavy reliance on technology the pressures facing contemporary life don't seem so different from those facing past civilizations.

This all sounds very doom-and-gloom but it needn't - all I'm saying is that we need to understand reasons behind past societal collapse in order to prevent it happening again to the societies of today. (see Acuna-Soto et al (2005))

Let's solve this mystery

So what actually was the cause behind the Akkadian collapse?

We know from previous papers that there’s substantial debate over the primary cause of the Akkadian Empire collapse. Socio-political failures and climate change rank pretty highly in discussions. 

Weiss et al. (1993) argues that it was a combination of political failings and drought conditions caused by multi-centennial climatic phasing. Through analysing sediment stratigraphy from sites near to the old Akkadian settlements, Weiss establishes that at 2200BC a severe short term drought occurred which coincides with de-population and the fall of the Akkadian Empire. Increase in carbonates in the soil and changes in soil structure indicated reduced moisture levels and enhanced evapotranspiration.

Weiss identifies 2 key phases which overlap with the collapse of the Akkadian Empire. The first phase demonstrates slightly reduced moisture levels and reduced precipitation, inferred from changes in river flow in the Tur Abdin region. Although only minor changes, the Akkadians failed to implement mitigation approaches and so when conditions became more severe, little could be done.

The Fertile Crescent wasn't as fertile as it used to be... Source: Able2Know

The slight changes in climate led to phase 2, which was characterized by dramatically enhanced aeolian sediment transport indicating drier and windier conditions. These dry periods were interrupted by violent rainstorms which would have increased soil erosion. This would have been problematic for the Akkadian empire as they depended on agriculture for trade and subsistence. Agricultural developments expanded into adjacent land. However these Northern agricultural areas were rain fed, not irrigation based, so declining precipitation and intensified soil erosion would have caused serious issues. The dry conditions came at a perfectly bad time when the Akkad were expanding agriculturally and experiencing quickly growing populations.

More recently, Weiner 2014 supports this argument. The article asserts that major drought events in a critical area are more than capable of causing population migration. This disrupts trade networks and can have cascading effects, including war. 

When keeping in mind all the articles mentioned on this topic, the most plausible explanation for the collapse of the Akkadian Empire seems to be a combination of a drying climate with inadequate leadership response and social tension. Despite the drought event posing serious problems, other small populations managed to survive this change. Perhaps if the Akkadians had responded swiftly and efficiently to the drought, by controlling population migration and managing water resources, the civilization may not have collapsed.

Another piece to add to the puzzle

In my last post, I introduced the case of the Akkadian Empire. Its downfall coincided with de-urbanisation and aridification and this time period is termed the ‘Third-Millennium Urban Crisis’. I looked into two explanations for the collapse of the Akkadian Empire – climate change and various social and political problems. It seemed that a combination of effects were to blame for the collapse.

But - although acknowledging the importance of several interacting factors, Frahm and Feinberg, 2013 suggest that poor political leadership was more to blame. They point out that political and economic instability may have been an important factor influencing the fall of the Akkadian Empire.

The Akkadian Empire is known to have exerted power over trade routes which passed through the Upper Khabur Basin. The Akkadians’ relentless thirst for expansion and imperialisation destabilised trade routes and led to an economic crisis, while also distracting them from more pressing environmental issues! This in itself was a key factor in causing initial de-urbanisation. From my last post we know that the

mass-migration of people from one area to another caused severe social pressures that in the end, were not mitigated or managed effectively.

Conquest and expansion was a key theme in the Akkadian Empire - this image depicts Akkadian soldiers winning a battle. Source: Ancient Art

As if the Akkadian leadership couldn’t be blamed for anything else, it is also held responsible for disrupting regional authorities by persistently trying to increase its control on surrounding regions. This disturbance left communities “ill-equipped to deal with declining agricultural production” (Frahn and Feinberg, 2013) caused by dry events, which clearly indicates that it was not the environment alone that led to collapse. As in many cases following a natural disaster or climatic event, it is the ability, speed and effectiveness of response that determines the level of loss. In the case of the Akkadians, it appears that the failure of the government to suitably prepare its empire for climate changes was a primary cause in its collapse. 

Stay tuned - next time I hope to put all the pieces together and come to a conclusion on the Akkadian Empire.

NASA Study

Interesting article from the Independent on the NASA study, predicting the collapse of contemporary civilizations within the next few decades/century.

It has a point - with increasing pressures from rapid population growth, issues of climate change, depletion of resources and political conflicts (and outbursts of diseases) - it does sound like civilizations today are facing issues that are known to have caused previous civilization collapse...

Source: Romantic Ruins

Could we be heading towards a similar future as those ancient civilizations before us? With future populations trying to understand our lost civilization... 

I think probably not - some of the scenarios do feel a bit extreme. But if steps aren't taken to mitigate these issues then we'll be in trouble!

I'll be looking into the collapse of contemporary civilizations in a few weeks!

Meet the Family: The Akkadians

As I mentioned in my last post, there are quite a few civilizations who suddenly collapsed due to all manner of reasons. In the next few posts I'll be looking at the Akkadian Empire – just one of the members of the Collapsed Civilization Club. I'll be looking into the different various ideas behind the collapse.

The Akkadian Empire was a sophisticated civilization that inhabited Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia being the flat, alluvial land that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which today is Syria and Iraq. This area is also known as the ‘fertile crescent’ due to its high alluvium levels and fertile soil.

The Akkadian Empire. Source: Glogster

The Akkadian Empire established itself as the first United Empire (Cullen et al., 2000). This society flourished between 2300 – 2200 BC, with a thriving agricultural industry with irrigation networks, a political system and stable trade routes. However the Akkadian empire suddenly collapsed 2200 years BC. Why? Well there are a number of reasons, from sudden aridification to poor leadership and invasion by peripheral tribes.

Traditional explanations for the Akkadian collapse revolve around social and economic failures (Yoffee and Cowgill, 1988). The ruler of the Akkadian Empire, King Saragon, had recently died and so the empire was going through a transition period. As Yoffee and Cowgill explain, it is quite common for small rebellions and revolts to occur following the death of a leader in old civilizations. However at the time of this political transition, 'barbarians' called the Gutians invaded the Akkadian Empire. These invaders were not adequately controlled by the Akkadian government, who were distracted by military conquests elsewhere, and so caused a great deal of social disturbance. To add to this political failure, the descendants of King Saragon placed too great a focus on military expeditions outside of Mesopotamia. Whilst being successful in defeating enemies outside of Mesopotamia, this meant that internal social issues, such as the Gutian invasion and subsequent food shortages, were not managed effectively. These political and social flaws were commonly used as an explanation for the collapse. However, it is unlikely that these factors alone could cause the collapse of such a sophisticated civilization.

Saragon, King of Akkad. Source: Wikipedia

It is therefore important to consider a very influential factor - climate. Kerr (1998) and Cullen et al., (2000) both illustrate the importance of climate in the collapse of the Akkadians and both use similar lake core analysis techniques to come to the conclusion that abrupt aridification of Mesopotamia was a hugely influential factor in the abrupt decline of the Akkadians. By taking sediment cores from the Gulf of Oman and Lake Van (at the Tigris-Euphrates headwaters), a clear drying event occurs suddenly at the same time as the beginning of collapse in 2200BC. These cores were dated  accurately by using tephra-chronology. This drought is considered the worst in the past 10,000 years according to Kerr (1998) and lasted roughly 300 years. But surely, as a civilization living in a semi-arid region, the Akkadians must have been able to survive drought events? How could a civilization who had established coping mechanisms fir droughts, such as grain storage units and water regulation technologies, be toppled by drought alone?

It appears that the collapse of the Akkadians was in response to both climatic shifts and societal upheaval. The northern populations enjoyed great productivity and agricultural success during periods of high precipitation. However the northern regions, such as Tell-Leilan, did not have any irrigation networks. As a result, when this severe drought hit Mesopotamia, the northern populations could not cope. The South however had an efficient irrigation system in place, using water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A mass migration to the South occurred which intensified the already significant pressures on the Akkadian civilization.

The Akkadian Empire faced several important events that, when combined, were too much for the political and social systems in place. The severe drought event, described as reaching intensities comparable to the Younger Dryas by Cullen et al., (2000) came at a time when the Akkadian Empire was already facing perturbations. The political transition following the death of a king, coupled with a carefully timed invasion, catastrophic drought (Cullen et al., 2000) and varied social responses proved too much for the Akkadians and would probably be too much for many civilizations.

I think it is important to point out that Kerr (1998) is critical of the argument that climate change is enough to topple a civilization. However, since this article was published, more and more evidence has emerged to support the climate-change argument, due to more sophisticated technology and advancements in paleolimnological understandings. It is now widely accepted that climate change, in particular drought events, is a main contributing factor to the collapse of civilizations.

Till next time! 

Hello everyone! I thought I'd give a brief introduction to my blog.

I am a student at University College London and am in my third (and final!) year studying BSc Geography.

My blog aims to understand different potential causes of the decline and collapse of civilizations. The ancient Mayan civilization comes to most peoples' minds when societal collapse is mentioned. After visiting the Mayan ruins in Mexico a few years ago, I became even more interested in understanding potential causes of societal collapse, especially when keeping in mind the technological triumphs (building those huge pyramids) and seeming maturity of the civilization.

The Kukulkan Pyramid, Mexico. Source: The Awakening

The Mayan civilization isn't the only society to hit hard times and fall apart - so I'll be looking into other examples too (watch this space!). Although there are many theories for societal collapse, the most common explanations seem to be environmental change, disease and war. Despite some ideas being more popular than others, I'll be sure to look into some of the less popular (and more obscure) theories.