Climate Change Didn't Cause Massive Population Collapse at the End of the Bronze Age

It turns out that climate change didn't cause the end of the Bronze Age. Scientists have discovered that a huge population collapse in Europe at the end of this age wasn't caused by a sudden shift in temperature.

In order to better understand what the climate was like during this time period, the scientists analyzed past climate records from peat bogs in Ireland. Then, they compared archaeological data to these climate records in order to see if dates aligned. After, the researchers compared this information with evidence of climate change across NW Europe between 1200 and 500 BC.

In this case, the scientists found that human activity started to decline after 900 BC, and fell rapidly after 800 BC. This indicated a population collapse, but the climate records showed that colder, wetter conditions didn't occur until about two generations later.

"Our evidence shows definitively that the population decline in this period cannot have been caused by climate change," said Ian Armit, the lead author of the study, in a news release.

In fact, the researchers found clear evidence for rapid change of climate to much wetter conditions starting during 750 BC.

So what caused the population collapse? It's likely that the sudden and widespread fall in numbers was due to social and economic stress.

"Although climate change was not directly responsible for the collapse it is likely that the poor climatic conditions would have affected farming," said Armit. "This would have been particularly difficult for vulnerable communities, preventing population recovery for several centuries."

The findings reveal that while climate change is a serious factor, it wasn't behind the collapse of this population of people.

"Often, in examining the past, we are inclined to link evidence of climate change with evidence of population change," said Armit. "Actually, if you have high quality data and apply modern analytical techniques, you get a much clearer picture and start to see the real complexity of human/environment relationships in the past."

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.