Deforestation killed Nascas - Cambridge study

Deforestation killed Nascas - Cambridge study

www.heraldsun.com.au

THE mysterious people who etched the "Nazca lines" across deserts in Peru hastened their own demise by clearing forests 1500 years ago, according to a study.
The Nasca people, famed for the lines that depict animals or geometric shapes most clearly visible from the air, became unable to grow enough food in nearby valleys because the lack of trees made the climate too dry, scientists said.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 11/2/2009 by semperfortis]

It's probably fairly damn obvious to us, these days, that chopping down trees and clearing land isn't exactly the smartest thing to do. Yet, we do it.

Suffer the same fate as the Nasans, we shall?

For all of their reported intelligence as a society, they still managed to screw themselves over.

Mother Earth, you're a bitch when you get provoked.

[url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/deforestation-killed-nascas-cambridge-study/story-e6frf7k6-1225793416804]www.heraldsun.com.au[/url ]
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by tezzajw


It seems humanity can't learn from it's mistakes and is therefore doomed to repeat them. It seems the smarter we get, the dumber we really are!

IRM

reply to post by tezzajw


This makes no sense. Why wouldn't these people have simply moved on to the next lush forests in the area? Plus how many people are we talking about? It's not like they had chainsaws and caterpillar machines back then. How many trees could they efficiently clear anyways? Also, it's not simply the lack of trees that are responsible for desertification. Lack of rain, etc. are also responsible. Many indigenous cultures actually cleared trees TO GROW FOOD.


[edit on 2-11-2009 by Zosynspiracy]