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Ancient catastrophes

December 16, 2003

ANCIENT HUMAN CIVILISATION AND RAPID NATURAL CHANGE

Prof. Suzanne Leroy, of the department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Brunel University, one of the country's top palaeoecologists - a specialist in ancient environments - will be organising an international research conference of scientists in January, which will be held beneath the shadow of an acacia tree in the Sahara desert.

The conference, in Mauritania, will examine the effects of desertification on what 10,000- 5,0000 years ago was a fertile, habitable landscape teeming with wild life and inhabited by people who painted on rocks, wore jewellery, carved arrow heads, went fishing and swimming and made pottery.

"We will be looking at 10,000 to 5,000-year old rock art, depicting cattle, giraffes, elephants and crocodiles: evidence that the area was once green and fertile," says Prof. Leroy. "In the desert, it is possible to find 5,000-year old finely carved arrow heads, ostrich shell beads, pottery, axe heads and other jewellery, evidence of a lost civilisation." Scientists will also be taken to Chinguetti, a town which is literally being encroached by sand dunes and has United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) national heritage site status. (The lower level of the houses is already below the sand - one enters through the first floor).

Prof. Leroy and earthquake expert Dr Iain Stewart, associate lecturer at Brunel and an honorary lecturer at Glasgow University, are jointly leading a series of international projects looking at the effect of environmental catastrophes and rapid climate changes on human history during the last 10,000 years. The investigation has funding from the International Council for Science (Icsu), Unesco and other organisations, until 2007.

The Mauritanian research trip, which will include experts in finding traces of ancient lightning in the sands (which can be dated by adjacent pottery remains), will be the first in a series of studies in different countries. Thirty-three participant-scientists from all over the world will be conducting empirical research at these sites. Some scientists will be taking cores from boats to look in the sediment for traces of ancient tsunamis. Others will be examining mineral deposits in caves, such as stalagmites and stalagtites, to investigate palaeotemperatures and ancient weather conditions.

In June 2004, Dr Stewart will lead the project's second field-trip - to western Turkey to examine the effects of the earthquakes that racked the country 2,000 years ago.

Other scientific expeditions are planned for Mozambique and Argentina (autumn 2004), the Canadian Arctic (summer 2005), Papua-New Guinea (2006) and Egypt (2007).

Scientists will include experts in earth sciences, geography, archaeology, anthropology and ecology and will focus on such questions as how ancient communities responded to extreme climate changes or environmental disturbances, such as a volcanic eruption.

Brunel University