A new study from a consortium of European researchers analyzes a pollen record from Cyprus alongside the historical record, finding a correlation between climate events like recurrent cold periods and changing precipitation and destabilizing events like outbreaks of disease and social unrest. Periods of ecological stress were correlated with the abandonment of large cities and the growth of small villages, suggesting social fission. The authors also suggest that the climate instability reflected in the pollen record may have contributed to the collapse of a number of larger polities. Read more here.
Climate History Network