Global Warming Hurt Early Civilizations?

The Daily Mail reports on findings that suggest that early civilizations were negatively impacted by sudden global warming approximately 5,000 years ago. From the article:

A research team, led by the University of Miami (UM), discovered that during the first half of the Holocene, the region most likely experienced wet conditions. 

This period was followed by relatively drier and dustier conditions during middle to late Holocene, which is consistent with historical records.

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'We see that transitions in several major civilisations across this region,' said Arash Sharifi, Ph.D. candidate at the department of marine geosciences and lead author of the study. 

'[This is] evidenced by the available historical and archaeological records, coincided with episodes of high atmospheric dust. 

'Higher fluxes of dust are attributed to drier conditions across the region over the last 5,000 years.'

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Researchers at Cornell University said was just enough change in the climate to upset food resources and other infrastructure. 

The said this is likely what led to the collapse of the Akkadian Empire and affected the Old Kingdom of Egypt and a number of other civilisations.

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