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Role in Human Migration and Agriculture

Climate change has been linked to human migration from as early as the end of the Pleistocene to the early twenty-first century. The effect of climate on available resources such as food drove the movement of populations and determined the ability for groups to begin a system of agriculture or continue a foraging lifestyle.

Groups such as the inhabitants of northern Peru and central Chile, the Saqqaq in Greenland, nomadic Eurasian tribes in Historical China, and the Natufian culture in the Levant all display migration reactions due to climactic change.

Further descriptions of specific cases:

In northern Peru and central Chile climate change is cited as the driving force in a series of migration patterns from about 15,000 B.C. to approximately 4,500 B.C. Between 11,800 B.C. and 10,500 B.C. evidence suggests seasonal migration from high to low elevation by the natives while conditions permitted a humid environment to persist in both areas. Around 9,000 B.C. the lakes that periodically served as a home to the natives dried up and were abandoned until 4,500 B.C. This period of abandonment is a blank segment of the archeological record also known as the Silencios Arqueologics. During this break, there exists no evidence of activity by the natives in the lakes area. The correlation between climate and migratory patterns leads historians to believe the Central Chilean natives favored humid, low-elevation areas especially during periods of increased aridity.

The different inhabitants of Greenland, specifically in the west, migrated primarily in response to temperature change. The Saqqaq people arrived in Greenland around 4,500 B.C. and experienced moderate temperature variation for the first 1,100 years of occupation; near 3,400 B.C. a cooling period began that pushed the Saqqaq toward the west. A similar temperature fluctuation occurred around 2800 B.C. that lead to the abandonment of the inhabited Saqqaq region; this temperature shift was a decrease in temperature of about 4 ºC over 200 years. Following the Saqqaq dominance, other groups such as the Dorset people inhabited west Greenland; the Dorset were sea-ice hunters that had tools adapted to the colder environment. The Dorset appeared to leave the region around 2,200 B.C. without clear connection to the changing environment. Following the Dorset occupation, the Norse began to appear around 1,100 B.C. in west Greenland during a significant warming period. However, a sharp decrease in temperature beginning in 850 B.C. of about 4º C in 80 years is thought to contribute to the demise of Norse occupation in western Greenland.

In Historical China over the past 2,000 years, migration patterns have centered around precipitation change and temperature fluctuation. Pastoralists moved in order to feed the livestock that they cared for and to forage for themselves in more plentiful areas. During dry periods or cooling periods the nomadic lifestyle became more prevalent because pastoralists were seeking more fertile ground. The precipitation was a more defining factor than temperature in terms of its effects on migration. The trend of the migrating Chinese showed that the northern pastoralists were more affected by the fluctuation in precipitation than the southern nomads. In a majority of cases, pastoralists migrated further southward during changes in precipitation. These movements were not classified by one large event or a specific era of movement; rather, the relationship between climate and nomadic migration is relevant from "a long term perspective and on a large spatial scale."

The Natufian population in the Levant was subject to two major climactic changes that influenced the development and separation of their culture.  As a consequence of increased temperature, the expansion of the Mediterranean woodlands occurred approximately 13,000 years ago; with that expansion came a shift to sedentary foraging adopted by the surrounding population. Thus, a migration toward the higher-elevation woodlands took place and remained constant for nearly 2,000 years. This era ended when the climate became more arid and the Mediterranean forest shrank 11,000 years ago. Upon this change, some of the Natufian populations nearest sustainable land transitioned into an agricultural way of life; sustainable land was primarily near water sources. Those groups that did not reside near a stable resource returned to the nomadic foraging that was prevalent prior to sedentary life.