Researchers in the Dead Sea have found evidence of unprecedented drought circa 120,000 years ago, and again approximately 10,000 years ago.

The causes of the droughts, during which time the rainfall had been only approximately 20% of modern levels, were entirely natural but have led scientists to believe that core samples which they took during studies in 2010, could be harbingers of future drought. The region, widely seen as the cradle of human civilisation, is currently undergoing the worst drought in around 900 years.

One of the previous droughts occurred during a spell between the Ice Ages when the average atmospheric temperature on earth rose by approximately 4C more than the 20th-century average. This is also the rise predicted by climate change scenarios that could trigger the end of civilisation as we know it, unless we do something about it.

Rainfall in the region has dropped by 10% since 1950, and is predicted to continue falling throughout this century. Proof of this can be seen by the 15 years of drought that has already been experienced and is still ongoing in Syria, which is also thought to have triggered the civil war in that country.

Evidence from beneath the Dead Sea tells of droughts far worse than anything experienced in human history, and this at a time when the population was much less than the current 7 billion-plus that are stretching the world’s water resources currently.

Today the Dead Sea is once again wasting away because humans are depleting all its fresh water sources.

According to Steven Goldstein, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty, and co-author of the study, “Our study shows that in the past, without any human intervention, the fresh water nearly stopped flowing. This means that if it keeps getting hotter now, it could stop running again. This time, it would affect millions of people.”

In other words, the message that the Dead Sea is sending is that unless we start saving, reusing and recycling water, we could be in for another devastating drought that could mean war, famine and the destruction of Modern Civilization as we know it.

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