Scientist Reveals Possible Reason Behind Mysterious Fall of Indus Valley Civilisation
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:
Scientist Reveals Possible Reason Behind Mysterious Fall of Indus Valley Civilisation:
In an article published in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, Nishant Malik, Assistant Professor at the School of Mathematical Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology revealed a new technique he developed to show how shifting monsoon patterns potentially triggered the fall of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a contemporary civilisation to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt in the Bronze Age.
Malik worked out a method to study paleoclimate time series, sets of data that shed a light on past climates through indirect observations. Researchers were able to develop a record of monsoon rainfall in the region for the past 5,700 years by measuring the presence of a certain isotope in stalagmites from a cave in South Asia.
Until he came up with his approach there was no mathematical proof, however, his research showed that just before the Indus Valley Civilisation's decline there was a significant shift in monsoon patterns. The pattern subsequently reversed course right before decline, which, according to the scientist, lilely[sic] means that the civilisation's ultimate fall was caused by climate change.
[*] Wikipedia entry on Indus Valley Civilisation.
Journal Reference:
Nishant Malik. Uncovering transitions in paleoclimate time series and the climate driven demise of an ancient civilization, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (DOI: 10.1063/5.0012059)
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