The Climate Change Impacts on Cities in Antiquity in Civilisation Centres of the Extended Mediterranean and Near East Regions (The Import of History)

This document is in the required format. The paper explores the correlation between the climate change and the evolution of settlements. For analysis we picked out the civilisation centres of the extended Mediterranean and Near East regions. Based on the comparison of the selected settlements´ development stages with the charts showing the precipitation in the respective periods, we came up with a set of seven charts covering the period between 3000 BCE and 500 CE, that compare the global precipitation with the manifestation of urban and civilisation activities. The assumption that the global climate course had an impact on the formation, development, and perishing of the ancient civilisations and their cities. When numerous factors or long-term (200 – 400 years) adverse climate conditions are combined then further deterioration may lead to a mass perishing of settlements and civilisations, such as around 2300 BCE, between 1300 – 1200 BCE, and between 400 – 500 CE. The cultures and their cities were able to resist short-term periods of climate changes. It means, that these cities must have been resilient to the short-term climate deviations and the related weather wildness and that they must have been adapted to them