Ancient Nazca civilization brought about its own demise by destroying forests

London, November 2 : In a new research, archaeologists have determined that the ancient Nazca civilization, which once flourished in the valleys of south coastal Peru, brought about its own demise by destroying forests which kept its delicate ecosystem in balance.

According to a report in the Telegraph, a team of archeologists discovered a sequence of human-induced events which led to the “catastrophic” collapse of the Nazca around 500 AD.

The Nazca civilization, noted for creating vast patterns in the desert that can only be seen from the air, disappeared partly because it damaged the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, the study found.

In the study, the researchers found that the Nazca cleared areas of forest to make way for their own agriculture over the course of many generations.

In doing so, the huarango tree, which once covered what is now a desert area, was gradually replaced by crops such as cotton and maize.

But, the tree was crucial to the desert''s fragile ecosystem as it enhanced soil fertility and moisture and helped to hold the Nasca’s narrow, vulnerable irrigation channels in place, according to the researchers.

The Nazca eventually cut down so many trees that they reached a tipping point at which the arid ecosystem was irreversibly damaged.

An El Nino-style flood then occurred, but its impact would have been far less devastating had the forests which protected the delicate desert ecology still been there, the researchers determined.

According to Dr David Beresford-Jones, of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, “These were very particular forests. The huarango is a remarkable nitrogen-fixing tree and it was an important source of food, forage, timber and fuel for the local people.”

“It is the ecological ‘keystone’ species in this desert zone, enhancing soil fertility and moisture, ameliorating desert extremes in the microclimate beneath its canopy and underpinning the floodplain with one of the deepest root systems of any tree known,” he said.

“In time, gradual woodland clearance crossed an ecological threshold - sharply defined in such desert environments - exposing the landscape to the region''s extraordinary desert winds and the effects of El Nino floods,” he added.

“The mistakes of prehistory offer us important lessons for our management of fragile, arid areas in the present,” said Oliver Whaley, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

--ANI