An international scientific team suggested that climate changes played a major role in the prosperity and decline of ancient civilizations in the Middle East, a result that was reached through their study of the history of ancient Persian societies and empires, whose rise and fall coincided with the occurrence of difficult climatic fluctuations.

According to a press release issued by the Swedish Linkoping University on January 18, the rise of ancient states and civilizations was closely related to the climate and its negative changes such as drought, and vice versa, a factor that many historians and archaeologists neglected in understanding And explain the emergence and disappearance of civilizations.

4,200 years ago, there were advanced societies living in the Kunar Sandal region in Iran now (Shutterstock)

Kunar Sandal region in Iran reveals historical secrets

The study, conducted by scientists from several universities, including Linkoping University, the Institute for Geosciences Research in Iran, the French University of Marseille, the University of Tehran and the Max Planck Institute in Germany, which was published on December 15 in the Quaternary Science Reviews. ) that Iran, which today has desert areas, knew thousands of years ago frequent periods of drought and humidity.

"4,200 years ago, there were very advanced societies living in the Konar Sandal region near the Jiroft Valley," said study leader Joyanto Roth, a professor at Linkoping University, in the press release. behind the collapse of this advanced society.

For this, the researchers analyzed the remains of decomposing plants in the depths of the soil, dating back thousands of years, using advanced scientific techniques that enabled them to identify the agricultural species that were produced by the Kunar Sandal communities, as well as the identity of the animals that lived in the region, and then compared all this with the available historical information about This community.

Scientists were able to know the periods when the region was wet and flourished in the agricultural sector, and when its population switched to relying on grazing during periods of drought.

Scientists have found that the extinction of these communities coincided with the occurrence of long periods of drought that led to a decline in agricultural crops in a way that it was no longer possible for the population to resist and survive.

About 600 years after the fall of the advanced societies of Kunar Sandal, Iran witnessed the rise of powerful empires (Shutterstock)

How did the Achaemenid and Sassanian Empire rise?

After the fall of the advanced societies of Kunar Sandal, about 600 years ago, Iran witnessed the rise of powerful empires that grew and prospered in a period when the climate was humid for decades, which led to the prosperity of the agricultural sector and the rest of its branches.

The study indicated that the Sasanian Empire, which lasted from 651 to 224 years BC, and the Achaemenid Empire, which lasted from 550 to 330 years BC, flourished during this period when the region was wet.

"The climate has always played a fundamental role in the Middle East," Joyanto said in the press release. Archaeologists have always said that the fall of these empires was for political reasons or because of the spread of epidemics, but they neglected the climate factor that contributed to the disappearance of many ancient empires.

"We are not saying that the words of archaeologists are incorrect, but we stress the need to include the climate factor in the equation when studying the causes of the rise and fall of ancient empires and societies," added Joyanto.