An unlikely set of clues helps reconstruct ancient Chinese disasters

A recent study led by Nanjing University meteorologist Ke Ding and colleagues suggests warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean may have driven a chain of events that produced devastating floods in the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization.

“Warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean may have brought devastating floods to the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, according to a recent study in which its authors link three wildly different lines of evidence to tell the story”

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The authors link three lines of evidence—typhoons, oracle bones, and abandoned settlements—to argue that intense typhoons battering the southern Chinese coast hundreds of kilometers away could explain massive flooding in the Yellow River heartland.

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They further say those typhoons were amplified by a sudden shift in Pacific temperature cycles thousands of kilometers to the south and east.

The team frames their results as a kind of handwritten warning from the Shang Dynasty about how to prepare for modern climate change.

Around 3,000 years ago, two major polities flourished in central China.

In the Yellow River Valley, the Shang Dynasty produced the first Chinese writing and conducted large-scale human sacrifices at its capital, Yinxu.

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On the Chengdu Plain, the Shanxingdui culture built a walled capital and created large bronze heads, gold foil masks, and tools of jade and ivory, many of which were buried in huge sacrificial pits.

The study ties disruptions in these societies to extreme weather impacts linked to Pacific temperature changes.

Archaeological sites across central China show that between 2,500 and 4,000 years ago disasters struck thriving societies, decimating populations, forcing settlements to relocate, and triggering major cultural shifts and political upheaval.

“Warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean may have brought devastating floods to the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, according to a recent study in which its authors link three wildly different lines of evidence to tell the story”

Ars Technica

Both civilizations later rebounded — populations swelled and settlements were rebuilt relatively quickly in archaeological terms — but life was clearly disrupted for a measurable period.