Did a mega drought topple empires 4,200 years ago?
People abandoned thriving cities in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and farther afield at about the same time as a decades-long drought gripped parts of the planet.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Nature
![](/sites/ess.uci.edu/files/news/d41586-022-00157-9_20062422.jpg)
Water flows from a vessel held by a god in this seal of an Akkadian king from around 2200 bc, about the time that a drought affected the empire.
Picture Credit:
The Art Archive/Shutterstock
People abandoned thriving cities in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and farther afield at about the same time as a decades-long drought gripped parts of the planet.