The blogs are kindly sponsored by The Energy Brokers
Photo of Nazca Line spider
Here is an extract from an article that appeared in The Times newspaper, by Mark Henderson, Science Editor:
The fate of an ancient and enigmatic South American civilisation which carved a strange network of ritual lines and drawings into the landscape before its sudden collapse has been pieced together by British scientists.
The Nazca civilisation, which thrived in the Ica and Grande de Nazca river valleys in about 1 to AD 500 is best known for creating the mysterious Nazca Lines on the ground. Flights over the lines are popular with tourists. The culture is known to have disappeared quickly between 500 and AD 600.
There is evidence from human bodies that life expectancy was falling and infant mortality rising. The standard explanation is that the region was struck by an extreme El Nino event, bringing higher temperature and increased rainfall.
New research by Dr. Beresford-Jones (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge) has established that this is only part of the story. The lower Ica valley, now a desert, was at one tme heavily wooded, with a tree known as the huarango, which can live for more than 1000 years.
As well as providing the Nazca with wood for fuel and construction and seeds to supplement their diet, the huarango trees played an important ecological role. Their deep root systems held the soil together, protecting it against water and wind erosion. They were a defence against flash floods.
Analysis of ancient pollen has shown that huarango trees declined in the years before the collapse of the Nazca, to be replaced by pollen such as maize and cotton. This suggests that the forest was cleared to make way for agriculture. The forest clearance seems to have removed natural defences that would have protected the Nazca civilisation against the severse El Nino that coincided with their collapse, Dr. Beresford-Jones said.
To view the article in full see the article here on Times Online.
