August 16, 2018
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How humans survived climate change 8,200 year ago
Humans were forced to adapt to sudden climate change 8,200 years ago, after a sudden shift to a colder climate, new research has revealed.
Early farmers helped stave off food scarcity by altering the animals they reared, a study of animal fats preserved in pottery vessels has revealed. Changes in dwelling structures also showed a shift from communal households to small, independent families, eventually leading to the settlement's abandonment. Scientists made the discovery at a UNESCO World Heritage site in Turkey that was inhabited from approximately 7,500 BC to 5,700 BC.
A team of researchers, led by the University of Bristol, focused on the stone and copper age city settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia. During the height of the city's occupation, a well-documented climate change event occurred. This resulted in a sudden decrease in global temperature, caused by the release of a huge amount of glacial meltwater from a massive freshwater lake in northern Canada.
Examining animal bones excavated at the site, scientists concluded that the herders of the city turned towards sheep and goats at this time, as these animals were more drought-resistant than cattle. Study of cut marks on the animal bones also revealed butchery practices. The high number of such marks at the time of the climate event showed that the population worked on exploiting any available meat due to food scarcity.
The authors examined animal fats surviving in ancient cooking pots, where they detected the presence of ruminant carcass fats, consistent with the animal bones discovered at Çatalhöyük. For the first time, compounds from animal fats detected in pottery were shown to carry evidence for the climate event in their isotopic composition.
Using the 'you are what you eat (and drink)' principle, the team deducted that the isotopic information carried in the hydrogen atoms - the deuterium to hydrogen ratio - from the animal fats was reflecting that of ancient rainfall.
A change in the hydrogen signal was detected in the period corresponding to the climate event, thus suggesting changes in rainfall patterns at the site at that time.
Dr Mélanie Roffet-Salque, lead author of the paper, said: 'Changes in precipitation patterns in the past are traditionally obtained using ocean or lake sediment cores. This is the first time that such information is derived from cooking pots. We have used the signal carried by the hydrogen atoms from the animal fats trapped in the pottery vessels after cooking. This opens up a completely new avenue of investigation – the reconstruction of past climate at the very location where people lived using pottery.'
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Science.
Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk
