Jul 31, 2020 21:00:00

Examine how the epidemic of infectious diseases and climate change destroyed civilization from the ancient 'garbage dump'

The knowledge from past pandemics such as the

Spanish common cold is very useful for the measures against the new coronavirus infection. Mankind has experienced many pandemics other than the Spanish cold, and the first one is said to have been the ' Justinian plague ' that spread from 541 AD. While the evidence to infer the situation at that time was limited, a new clue obtained by an Israeli archaeologist team at the 'Ancient garbage dump' caused the 'plague' and 'climate change' that caused the pandemic It's becoming clear how we destroyed it.

The rise and fall of viticulture in the Late Antique Negev Highlands reconstructed from archaeobotanical and ceramic data | PNAS
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/07/21/1922200117

Ancient trash heaps reveal the Plague of Justinian's economic toll | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/ancient-trash-heaps-reveal-the-plague-of-justinians-economic-toll/

Grape pips reveal collapse of ancient economy in the grip of plague and climate change | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/bu-gpr072220.php

Israeli archaeological teams have uncovered evidence of life in the 6th century AD from a 'trash dump' in the desert Negev Plateau in southern Israel. People at that time discarded unnecessary things in the garbage dump, but for the archeology team, this dump is 'a valuable record of the lives of the residents at the time'.

This time, the research team took the approach of guessing the life at that time from the seeds contained in the garbage dump. The research team collected about 10,000 seeds such as grapes, wheat and barley from three garbage dumps.

It seems that the garbage dumps were especially rich in grape seeds, and this result is consistent with the result of previous research that 'Geneva had viticulture for export'.

According to one of the participants in the study, Daniel Fuchs of the University of Bar-Iran, analysis of litter dumps resulted in a sharp increase in the proportion of grape seeds to other grains over the 4th and 6th centuries. After that, it suddenly decreased. This means that grapes originally grown for eating by myself and family changed to 'cultivation for sale', and then the grape cultivation and trade collapsed for some reason. I will.

We also examined the change in the ratio of 'wine bottles used in Gaza' excavated from the garbage dump and 'bag type bottles' not suitable for camel transportation, and as the number of grape seeds increased. It has also been shown that the number of “Gaza wine bottles” is increasing. From here, it can be seen that the increase in viticulture was due to export to Gaza.

Although the Geneva Plateau flourished prominently in culture, two events hit the society in the mid-6th century: the plague epidemic and the volcanic eruption. At the time of the plague to the Palestine region from Egypt, and produced many of the dead spread to the imperial capital Constantinople, Empire lost about half of the population of the state of the temporary dysfunctional got into . Market stagnation in Gaza is believed to have also affected Geneb's economy, and researchers believe that if the disease spread to Geneb, it would have hindered the supply of agricultural products. ..

Based on the research conducted so far, it is said that a large-scale volcanic eruption occurred between 535 and 536 AD, followed by global cooling over the next 10 years. Although this caused a drought in Europe, it is believed that heavy rains continued in Levant , including Negev, which adversely affected agriculture.

What happened in 536 AD, which is said to be the 'worst year' in human history? -GIGAZINE

As shown in this study, the decline of civilization in the 6th century was caused by the emergence of weaknesses in the political and economic systems due to two factors: plague and climate change. “We can prepare for imminent climate change and the next outbreak. The question is whether we are wise enough to do it,” Fuchs said.