Climate Change in The Ancient World

[The_Athenian]

Recent reports have revealed that the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations in the Middle East, the fall of Egypt as a major power were due to a major climate event.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/world/middleeast/pollen-study-points-to-culprit-in-bronze-era-mystery.html?hp&_r=0

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/science-collapse-late-bronze-age-civilizations-climate-change-01316.html

Other studies have shown that the Sahara was once a vibrant and lush region, that was heavily populated.

What about incorporating climate change events early on?

My idea: At the very beginning of the game North Africa should have virtually no desert, it should be savannah and grassland. But it's terrain tiles should at first slowly, then rapidly begin to turn to desert.

Later, the discovery of Iron working could lead to more Desert popping up in Egypt and the Greater Middle East. This transition would be quicker as it happened over a 150 year period.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

The problem is that, even on Odyssey, time just flies past.
Furthermore, the changing of plots to simulate climate change... is a very poor method. Since there is no type of intermediate plot between grass/plains and desert, any change would be very sudden and disruptive — as well as ugly.
I was actually thinking about climate change in the context of Civ 4 yesterday, and had an idea. More along the lines of the french revolution than the bronze age collapse, but it doesn't matter.

For example, cooler times could be represented by having some farms and orchards temporarily lose 1 food, while warming could remove fish, crabs and shellfish.
However it is done, however, it still seems... wrong.

 

[Xyth]

Very familiar with the Bronze Age collapse and climate change's role in it. Studied it at university. I think there's a role for such long term climate effects in HR.

Natural Wonders are coming in 1.21 and in the process of adding them I wrote some experimental code that I hope to eventually expand and use as a Global Warming replacement. Still at the conceptual stage so nothing I can detail yet. However, Platyping has just released a 'Seasons' mod component which is vaguely similar to some of what I was thinking about. Check it out. Something for 1.22 perhaps.

 

[stoferb]

That made me think of another feature that is very evident up here in scandinavia. Ever since the last ice age the land once covered in ice is rising in some parts of the country still up to a centimeter a year. The baltic coastline especially has dramatically changed throughout the last 6000 years because of this combined with rised or lowered sealevels and other geological events that have either made the baltic sea an inland lake or connected with the atlantic ocean. Land that in finland and sweden are the most densely populated now where at the bottom of the baltic sea 6000 years ago.

Don't know how one would implement all this. Sufficient to say that the ancient world didn't look the same for a bunch of reasons. Climate being one but also geological events and processes. For example I've read somewhere that the cool climate in late bronze age and the collaps of civilizations in the near east is believed to be partly caused by a huge volcanic eruption on crete.