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"Analysis of deep sediments around the Nile River in Egypt has shown a massive drought 4,200 years ago contributed to the end of Egypt's pyramid-building era, according to a new U.S. study."

"Sumerian Language & Climate: Long Drought Killed Off Ancient Tongue, Research Suggests"

"A 300-year drought may have caused the demise of several Mediterranean cultures, including ancient Greece, new research suggests. A sharp drop in rainfall may have led to the collapse of several eastern Mediterranean civilizations, including ancient Greece, around 3,200 years ago. The resulting famine and conflict may help explain why the entire Hittite culture, chariot-riding people who ruled most of the region of Anatolia, vanished from the planet, according to a study published today (Aug. 14) in the journal PLOS ONE."

"Thousands of years after their owners' mouths stopped moving forever, the teeth of Egyptian mummies are telling scientists details about their civilization. After analyzing the oxygen isotope levels in teeth recovered from the mummies, researchers at the Université de Lyon in France were able to determine that the ancient Egyptians endured an extensive period of drought."

"By combining data from coastal Cyprus and coastal Syria, this study shows that the LBA crisis coincided with the onset of a ca. 300-year drought event 3200 years ago. This climate shift caused crop failures, dearth and famine, which precipitated or hastened socio-economic crises and forced regional human migrations at the end of the LBA in the Eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia. The integration of environmental and archaeological data along the Cypriot and Syrian coasts offers a first comprehensive insight into how and why things may have happened during this chaotic period. The 3.2 ka BP event underlines the agro-productive sensitivity of ancient Mediterranean societies to climate and demystifies the crisis at the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition."

"By combining data from coastal Cyprus and coastal Syria, this study shows that the LBA crisis coincided with the onset of a ca. 300-year drought event 3200 years ago. This climate shift caused crop failures, dearth and famine, which precipitated or hastened socio-economic crises and forced regional human migrations at the end of the LBA in the Eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia. The integration of environmental and archaeological data along the Cypriot and Syrian coasts offers a first comprehensive insight into how and why things may have happened during this chaotic period. The 3.2 ka BP event underlines the agro-productive sensitivity of ancient Mediterranean societies to climate and demystifies the crisis at the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition."

"Where some people might see only a sere landscape and crumbling stacks of bricks, he sees a civilization that became increasingly hierarchical and income-stratified, held together by ritual that came unglued when a series of droughts left too many people with not enough food. It's not a new or radical story, Stuart said. "It happened in Rome and in Byzantium.""