Severe climate change kick-started civilisation, says British scientist

SEVERE climate change thousands of years ago may have led to the birth of civilisation, an expert said yesterday.

Global warming is seen as one of the greatest threats facing the human race but between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago, an increase in harsh, arid conditions may have played a key role in the rise of the first major civilisations, according to Dr Nick Brooks, from the University of East Anglia.

At the time, natural fluctuations in the Earth’s orbit brought about a climate shift, causing regions where humans previously enjoyed a fruitful hunter-gatherer existence to dry up.