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Tree rings. Source: tomeyk / Adobe Stock.

Can Tree Rings Explain the Demise of a Lost Civilization? (Video)

In the quest to uncover the mystery behind the fall of the once-vibrant Cahokia , archaeologists have turned to an unexpected source: tree ring records, aka dendrochronology. By 1150 AD, Cahokia,...
One of the petroglyphs at the riverbank site in Praia das Lajes, Manaus, Brazil. Source: Valter Calheiros

Brazilian Drought Unveils Rare Ancient Petroglyphs On Manaus Riverbed

Due to a current drought in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, enigmatic ancient engravings dating to between 1,000 and 2,000 years old have resurfaced from a riverbed. This discovery marks only the...
Mesopotamian / Iraqi Marshes with the so called Marsh Arabs. Source: Felix Friebe / Adobe Stock.

Iraq's Marshes Are Dying, and A Civilization With Them (Video)

The Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq, once a thriving ecosystem and the heart of an ancient Marsh Arab civilization, are facing a dire threat as they wither away. Parched by a prolonged drought, the...
The Huns approaching Rome, led by Attila the Hun, painted by Ulpiano Checa. Source: Public domain

Droughts, Not Gold, Drove Attila to Invade the Roman Empire

History has remembered Attila (c. 406 to 453) for having terrorized the Roman Empire with a campaign of violence as the ruler of a nomadic Central Asian and Eastern European people known as the Huns...
Thousands of bone fragments litter the floor of the Maya Midnight Terror Cave in Belize. Representative image.

Child Sacrifice Victims at Maya ‘Midnight Terror Cave’ Gagged Before Slaughter

Archaeologists studying Belize’s “Midnight Terror Cave” have discovered mysterious blue fibers in the tooth plaque of sacrificed teenagers, which suggests the young sacrifice victims had been gagged...
Dried up lake with boat, a scene now more common due to climate change. Source: maxcam / Adobe Stock

Less Ice and Low Water Levels Reveal Hidden Treasures – At A Price

For the world of archaeology, climate change is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, receding ice and falling water levels are bringing to the surface entire villages and ruins of civilizations. On...
The sunken village of Baitings and its famous packhorse bridge, pictured below the modern car bridge, have been exposed by record drought and heat for the first time since the mid-1950s. Source: YouTube screenshot / velomoho

Record UK Drought Exposes Ancient Sunken Village and Bridge

It’s almost out of a fairy tale, with the added caveat of having the dirty underbelly of global warming revealed yet again! A Yorkshire sunken village with Viking origins has re-emerged after water...
A new study reveals the role droughts played in the development and spread of Islam. Source:  Leo Lintang / Adobe Stock

Power Vacuum Caused by Extreme Drought Led to the Spread of Islam

A power vacuum caused by an extreme drought 1,500 years ago in the Arabian Peninsula led to political unrest, war, and societal change. These were the preconditions that led to the development and...
Greenland’s Lake 578 site was one of the sites where core samples and other data were taken that showed evidence of a prolonged drought. “Nobody has actually studied this location before,” said study lead author Boyang Zhao, a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. 						Source: UMass

A Prolonged Drought Drove Out the Greenland Vikings, Says New Study

European Nordic seafaring pirates and raiders, known as the Vikings, would come to Greenland to settle around 950 AD, but mysteriously the Greenland Vikings vanished with the onset of the Little Ice...
Temple of Kukulcán, Chichen Itza, Mexico.	Source: Pixabay

New Research Shows Maya Civilization Could Have Survived Droughts

Did the great Maya civilization collapse because of drought-related crop failures and starvation? New research has raised significant doubts about the viability of that theory, which in recent years...
This is what a Tuzigoot National Monument Sinagua living space would have looked like. This room is on display in the site’s excellent museum. Source: National Parks Service

Arizona’s Tuzigoot National Monument: Ancient Legacy of the Sinagua People

The Tuzigoot National Monument is a small national monument located in the Verde Valley, in the southwestern US state of Arizona. The monument contains the ruins of an ancient pueblo village built by...
Copper tools from the Old Copper Culture of the Great Lakes region.		Source: Michelle Bebber / Kent State University Eren Laboratory

Native North Americans Were Making Copper Tools in 7,500 BC

Refinements in radiocarbon dating technology have caused archaeologists, anthropologists, and ancient historians to modify their beliefs about the timeline of copper tools and the metalworking of the...
Catastrophic 14th-century Climate Events May Foretell Bleak Future

Catastrophic 14th-century Climate Events May Foretell Bleak Future

Sister institutes from Leipzig, Germany have just released a study that discloses important facts about major climate events that occurred during the 14th century AD. Researchers from the Leibniz...
Ancestral Puebloans Deep Mined Life Saving Ice Age Cave Water

Ancestral Puebloans Deep Mined Life Saving Ice Age Cave Water

Recent research has shown that the ancient Ancestral Puebloans culture, in what is today New Mexico, burned controlled fires in volcanic ice melt lava tubes to survive major droughts. El Malpais, or...
Inner view of Rani ki vav, stepwell on the banks of Saraswati River. Memorial to an 11th century AD king Bhimdev I, Patan, Gujarat, India.  Source: RealityImages / Adobe Stock

Rani Ki Vav, The Inverted Temple That Lay Buried for Centuries

One of the most distinctive examples of Indian architecture is Rani ki vav, a remarkable stepwell. Astounding subterranean structures were designed to store and supply water to arid parts of India...
The newly uncovered wall carvings found in Vichama, Peru.

3800-Year-Old Carvings Show Starving City’s Pleas To Water God Were Answered

3,800 years ago, the people living in what is now called Vichama, Peru carved snakes and human heads into their walls alongside depictions of emaciated people. They were starving and dying and hoped...
Caral, UNESCO world heritage site and the most ancient city in the Americas. Source: Mark / Adobe Stock.

Ancient Pyramid Cities of Peru: A Catalogue of Swift Decline

From 2600 BC to 1533, the legacy of the Peruvian region has revealed no end of epic tales of power, growth, unification, and demise. This is shown by the myriad of deserted pyramid cities that dot...
View of Angkor Wat Temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Source: tawatchai1990 / Adobe Stock.

Angkor Wat Archaeological Digs Yield New Clues to its Civilization’s Decline

By Alison Kyra Carter /The Conversation Cambodia’s famous temple of Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest religious monuments, visited by over 2 million tourists each year. It was built in the...
 Large asteroid hitting Earth

Ancient Cataclysms: 9 Catastrophes That Rocked the World

Ancient cultures around the world have passed down their tales of devastating natural disasters in oral traditions, folklore, historical accounts, pictorial representations, and through myths...
Hunger stones have been revealed in Europe

Drought Stones Pass Messages of Warning to Europeans

The recent unusually warm weather has resulted in a number of important archaeological sites being revealed as vegetation has died in Europe. The recent drought has also brought to the surface some...
Honduras Mayan city ruins in Copan. The picture presents detail of decorating walls of the temple.

The Maya’s Mystifying Collapse – Has the Truth Finally Been Uncovered?

Did the longstanding mystery of what caused the downfall of the Maya - of one of the ancient world's great civilizations – just get solved? Nothing is mightier than an empire at its peak. Great...
Maya ruins surrounded by lush green vegetation of the current climate.

New Scientific Proof Emerges for the Cause of the Downfall of the Maya Civilization

The severity of drought conditions during the demise of the Maya civilization about one thousand years ago has been quantified, representing another piece of evidence that could be used to solve the...
A conus shell necklace with abalone pendants and the pot in which it was found.

Witchcraft, Hunger, War, and Disease: Charting the Downfall of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo

About 590 years ago, the inhabitants of a large village in New Mexico abandoned it, just 125 years after its founding. Researchers think severe drought, food shortages, illness, and possible warfare...
An inscription from 1891 found in Dayu Cave.

Unique inscriptions in Chinese cave reveals record of ancient droughts

Researchers have discovered unique inscriptions on the wall of a cave in China recording the effects of droughts on the local population over the course of 500 years. The inscriptions were found on...

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