A study published in Nature Geoscience uses chemical signatures from cave stalagmites in modern-day Iran to pinpoint the cause of the Akkadian Empire's collapse around 2150 BCE. The data reveals a sudden, century-long shift in the Tigris-Euphrates water cycle.
The researchers argue that prolonged megadroughts decimated the empire's agricultural base, leading to social unrest and eventual abandonment of major cities. This high-resolution climate record provides the most definitive evidence yet for environmental factors in the fall of the world's first empire.