Droughts Altered Ancient Civilization's Lifestyle in the Indus Valley, Study Finds
Via University of Cambridge
Summary
A 2023 study published in Communications Earth & Environment found that a series of prolonged droughts, each lasting more than 85 years, likely forced dramatic changes in lifestyle and settlement patterns within the ancient Indus Valley Civilization roughly 4,200 years ago. Researchers from Cambridge analyzed climate records preserved in a Himalayan cave stalagmite to reconstruct centuries of rainfall history.
The evidence showed that as the multi-century arid period set in, the inhabitants of large Indus urban centers gradually abandoned those megacities in favor of smaller, more dispersed rural settlements further east. Agriculture shifted away from water-intensive crops toward drought-tolerant summer millets over a span of roughly 200 years. The research reframes the civilization's transformation as a gradual environmental adaptation rather than a sudden collapse.
