Climate change fostered rise and fall of the Tibetan Empire during 600-800 AD

Juzhi Hou; Kejia Ji; Erlei Zhu; Guanghui Dong; Tao Tong; Guoqiang Chu; Weiguo Liu; Wenxiang Wu; Shuilong Zhang; Jade D'Alpoim Guedes; Fahu Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2023.04.040

Climate change fostered rise and fall of the Tibetan Empire during 600-800 AD

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2023 Jun 15;68(11):1187-1194. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.04.040. Epub 2023 May 2.

Authors

Juzhi Hou¹, Kejia Ji², Erlei Zhu², Guanghui Dong³, Tao Tong⁴, Guoqiang Chu⁵, Weiguo Liu⁶, Wenxiang Wu⁷, Shuilong Zhang⁸, Jade D'Alpoim Guedes⁹, Fahu Chen¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Group of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Group of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
³ College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
⁴ Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100710, China.
⁵ Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
⁶ Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China.
⁷ Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Network Information System Technology, Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
⁹ Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego, San Diego CA 92093, USA.
¹⁰ Group of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: houjz@itpcas.ac.cn.

PMID: 37179230
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.04.040

Abstract

During the 7-9th century, the Tibetan Empire constituted a superpower between the Tang Empire and Abbasid Caliphate: one that played significant roles in geopolitics in Asia during the Early Medieval Period. The factors which led to the rise and rapid decline of this powerful Empire, the only united historical regime on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), remain unclear. Sub-annual scale precipitation and decadal-scale temperature records of the central TP are presented, indicating that the height of this Empire coincided with a two-century long interval of uncharacteristically warm and humid climate. The ameliorated climate enabled the expansion of arable land and increased agricultural production. The close relationship between the precipitation records and historical events implied that the Empire implemented flexible strategies to tackle the effects of climate changes. This has implications for agricultural production in alpine regions including the TP, in the context of current global warming.

Keywords: Jiang Co; Tibetan Empire; Tibetan Plateau; Varve.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Climate Change*
Global Warming*
Temperature
Tibet