• DOI:10.1126/science.261.5124.995
• Corpus ID: 31745857

The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilization

@article{Weiss1993TheGA,
  title={The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian Civilization},
  author={Harvey Weiss and Marie Agn{\`e}s Courty and Wilma Wetterstrom and Françoise Guichard and Louise M. Senior and Richard Meadow and A Curnow},
  journal={Science},
  year={1993},
  volume={261},
  pages={1004 - 995}
}

• H. Weiss, M. Courty, +4 authors A. Curnow
• Published 20 August 1993
• Environmental Science
• Science

Archaeological and soil-stratigraphic data define the origin, growth, and collapse of Subir, the third millennium rain-fed agriculture civilization of northern Mesopotamia on the Habur Plains of Syria. At 2200 B. C., a marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, subsequent to a volcanic eruption, induced a considerable degradation of land-use conditions. After four centuries of urban life, this abrupt climatic change evidently caused abandonment of Tell Leilan, regional desertion, and collapse of the Akkadian empire based in southern Mesopotamia. Synchronous collapse in adjacent regions suggests that the impact of the abrupt climatic change was extensive.