Ancient cave yields clues to Chinese history

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A stalagmite rising from the floor of a cave in China is providing clues to the end of several dynasties in Chinese history. Slowly built from the minerals in dripping water over 1,810 years, chemicals in the stone tell a tale of strong and weak cycles of the monsoon, the life-giving rains that water crops to feed millions of people.

Dry periods coincided with the demise of the Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasties, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

In addition, the team led by Pingzhong Zhang of Lanzhou University in China noted a change in the cycles around 1960 which they said may indicate that greenhouse gases released by human activities have become the dominant influence on the monsoon.

(snip)

Chemical concentrations in the stalagmite indicate a series of fluctuations lasting from one to several centuries and roughly similar to records of the Little Ice Age, Medieval warm period and Dark Age cold period recorded in Europe.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iU45zxe8mvdZFFiukzE3akrN0OzQD949N8N02

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Fascinating stuff!

[Octafish]

1. Good Weather means Good Times.

When the weather was lousy, and the monsoon was small,
crop yields suffered and civilizations went hungry.
Hungry people make it harder for a society to stay organized.
Disorganized societies fail to prosper and thrive.
Such civilizations decay, decline and disappear.

Hope it's a lesson (cough - global warming) we today can remember.

Thank you for an excellent article, Coventina!

[xchrom]

2. recommend -- this is so cool. nt

[1776Forever]

3. Amazing isn't it that we are finding answers of human influence through this study!

Excellent - thanks for posting!