Soils and climate are major
factors determining the rise of civilizations. Natural ecology, agricultural potentials and animal herding
practices are affected, out of which economic activity, trade and inventiveness
develops. Climatic stability
maintains societies, while desertification can bring human societies down,
stimulating famine, starvation, mass-migrations and culture collapse. A major
climate change impacted the Old World Saharasia Desert Belt -- North Africa, the Middle East and
Central Asia -- which prior to c.4000 BCE was a relatively well-watered
savanna-grassland thick with plants and animal life, and productive soils upon
which many now-vanished human societies thrived. Garamantia (North Africa), old Assyria (Middle East), and
Altyn Depe (Central Asia) among others vanished under centuries-long withering
droughts. Epochs of conflict developed over remnant oases and exotic rivers,
with subsequent starvation-trauma, mass-deaths, conflict-aggression and social
collapse. Archaeology and history
shows the progressive appearance and intensification of social violence and war
alongside this desertification, where hunting tools were converted into
war-weaponry, and more peaceful cultures progressively were displaced or
vanished as fertile conditions disappeared. As the land dried up, soils dessicated, and crops and
wildlife vanished, aggressive male-dominated societies appeared. Women, who traditionally were the
agriculturalists and food-gatherers, lost status. Attending malnutrition affected Infants and children
dramatically, with a mild or severe psycho-neurological retardation. Human behavior and social institutions
then progressively turned towards more violent modes. Social violence and war appears earliest within human
history on these dessicating Saharasian landscapes, while well-watered regions
most distant remained peaceful the longest. These conclusions on the origins of
war developed from a systematic evaluation and mapping of global cultural,
archaeological, climate and soils data. World maps indicate a strong
geographical correlation between regions of hyper-arid desert and low
productivity, to the most extremely patriarchal authoritarian and violent of
world cultures.