Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Prolonged Droughts May Have Caused End Of Indus Megacities: Study

Apr 28, 2023 | Pratirodh Bureau

Drought dries up a tributary of the Ganga river in Sonepur, Bihar. Efficient irrigation and water management practices will play an essential role in reducing the water requirements of Indian agriculture (Image: Alamy)

Source: PTI

A series of severe and lengthy droughts may have caused the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization cities, according to a study which looked into ancient rock formation from a cave in Uttarakhand.

The beginning of this arid period starting at around 4,200 years ago and lasting for over two centuries coincides with the reorganisation of the metropolis-building Indus Civilization, which spanned present-day Pakistan and India.

The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, identified three protracted droughts each lasting between 25 and 90 years during this arid period.

“We find clear evidence that this interval was not a short-term crisis but a progressive transformation of the environmental conditions in which Indus people lived,” said study co-author Cameron Petrie, Professor at the University of Cambridge, UK.

The researchers charted historic rainfall by examining growth layers in a stalagmite — a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave — collected from a cave near Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.

By measuring a range of environmental tracers including oxygen, carbon and calcium isotopes, they obtained a reconstruction showing relative rainfall at seasonal resolution.

The team also used high-precision Uranium-series dating to get a handle on the age and duration of the droughts.

“Multiple lines of evidence allow us to piece together the nature of these droughts from different angles and confirm they are in agreement,” said study lead author Alena Giesche, who conducted the research as part of her Ph.D. in Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences.

Giesche and the team identified distinct periods of below-average rainfall in both the summer and winter seasons.

“The evidence for drought affecting both cropping seasons is extremely significant for understanding the impact of this period of climate change upon human populations,” said Petrie.

The droughts during this period increased in duration, to the point where the third would have been multi-generational in length, the researchers said.

The findings support existing evidence that the decline of the Indus megacities was linked to climate change.

“But what’s been a mystery until now is information on the drought duration and the season they happened in,” said Giesche.

“That extra detail is really important when we consider cultural memory and how people make adaptations when faced with environmental change,” the researcher added

According to Petrie, the archaeological evidence indicates that over a 200-year period, the ancient inhabitants took various steps to adapt and remain sustainable in the face of this new normal.

During this transformation, larger urban sites were depopulated in favour of smaller rural settlements towards the eastern extent of the area occupied by Indus populations.

At the same time, agriculture shifted towards reliance on summer-crops, especially drought-tolerant millets, and the population transitioned to a lifestyle that appears to have been more self-reliant.

Tags: Climate Change, Communications Earth & Environment, droughts, Indus Valley Civilization, Pratirodh, prolonged droughts

Continue Reading

Previous As Pharma Cos Move In, What Next For J&K’s Medicinal Plants?
Next Resurrection of the Humble Millets: Cui Bono?

More Stories

  • Featured

Wangchuk’s Resilience Shines Amid Detention And Legal Battles

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

A Grassland Gets A Lifeline, Offers A Lesson

2 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Nations Struggle To Quit Fossil Fuels, Despite 30 Years Of Climate Talks

2 days ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Wangchuk’s Resilience Shines Amid Detention And Legal Battles
  • A Grassland Gets A Lifeline, Offers A Lesson
  • Nations Struggle To Quit Fossil Fuels, Despite 30 Years Of Climate Talks
  • Modi ‘Frightened’ Of Trump Over India-Russia Oil Deal: Rahul
  • The Misleading Trope Of Gay Marriages In India Being ‘Urban’, Elitist’
  • In The High Himalayas, Women Build A Shared Future For The Snow Leopard
  • TISS Students Face Police Action Over Event Commemorating G.N. Saibaba
  • How To Conduct Post-Atrocity Research – Key Insights From Field Practitioners
  • Groundwater More Crucial For Ganga’s Summer Flow Than Glaciers
  • IYC Demands Justice For Kerala Techie Anandu Aji In Delhi Protest
  • Why Do Oil Giants Invest In Green Energy?
  • This Village In TN Shows How Community-Led River Restoration Works
  • Haryana’s Narrow Redefinition Of Aravalli Hills Sparks Conservation Alarm
  • Machado’s Peace Prize: A Tradition Of Awarding Nobels For Complex Reasons
  • Why Heat Warnings Need To Get More Local
  • Kharge Blasts BJP’s ‘Manuwadi System’ Amid Rising Atrocities Against Dalits
  • The ‘One Piece’ Pirate Flag: The Global Emblem Of Gen Z Resistance
  • Ways In Which Tiger Conservation Safeguards India’s Water Future
  • ‘No Dignity For Dalits Under BJP-Led Govt’
  • In A Big Shift, Now Tibetan Buddhist Nuns Are Getting Advanced Degrees

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Wangchuk’s Resilience Shines Amid Detention And Legal Battles

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

A Grassland Gets A Lifeline, Offers A Lesson

2 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Nations Struggle To Quit Fossil Fuels, Despite 30 Years Of Climate Talks

2 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Modi ‘Frightened’ Of Trump Over India-Russia Oil Deal: Rahul

2 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

The Misleading Trope Of Gay Marriages In India Being ‘Urban’, Elitist’

3 days ago Shalini

Recent Posts

  • Wangchuk’s Resilience Shines Amid Detention And Legal Battles
  • A Grassland Gets A Lifeline, Offers A Lesson
  • Nations Struggle To Quit Fossil Fuels, Despite 30 Years Of Climate Talks
  • Modi ‘Frightened’ Of Trump Over India-Russia Oil Deal: Rahul
  • The Misleading Trope Of Gay Marriages In India Being ‘Urban’, Elitist’
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.