Changes in weather 700 years ago might have forced Tibetans to reorganize their society, an anthropologist has claimed.

Mark Aldenderfer of the University of Arizona, who is leading a research project in far western Tibet, is quoted by national Geographic as saying in preliminary findings that an abrupt shift in the Asian monsoon caused famine, population movements and political reorganization.

The research project was started last year and will continue with at least two more field seasons.

"Can we learn anything from what they did in 1300 A.D. that would help us understand how people are going to have to deal with any kinds of similar sorts of changes that might take place in the Asian monsoon during the process of global warming?" Aldenderfer asked.

Scientists credit the Asian monsoon with bringing much-needed summer rains to nearly half the world's population.

The seasonal shift in wind usually brings moisture-laden clouds to India, Bangladesh, China, and other countries in south East Asia.

The shift over far western Tibet was probably to a drier phase. Aldenderfer said scientists are still working out the exact nature of the shiftfor example, whether bouts of rainfall became harder but shorter, or whether it didn't rain at all.

"All I can say is that overall it became drier in India and Tibet," said another researcher, Carrie Morrill of the National Climatic Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Either way, the change would have altered the way springs channel water off the Tibetan plateau, according to Aldenderfer.

Aldenderfer says that his Tibet project is beginning to reveal how the culture high up on the plateau responded. He and his colleagues say they also have some evidence of large-scale abandonment of agricultural fields.

The team will return to Tibet this summer to continue their investigations.


'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Trees to Predict Climate Change
2. A Timely Reminder Of Devastating Health Impact Of Climate Change
3. Impact of Climate Change in Africa
4. Climate Sceptics Issued With Challenge by a U.K Scientist
5. Climate Change can Raise Incidence of Disease: Expert
6. Penguin: an Alternative Bio-indicator to Monitor Climate Change
7. Latest IPCC Report Highlights Need for Integrated Climate/human Behavior Models
8. Kolkata, Mumbai to Face Maximum Brunt of Climate Change
9. Climate Change Threatens Sundarbans and World Heritage Sites
10. Experts Congregate for UN Climate Summit in Bangkok
11. Capricious Climate in Indonesia Adds to Farmers’ Wo