Scientists at the University of Wyoming (USA) came to the conclusion that ancient civilizations that existed in the last 10 thousand years were synchronized with each other, as indicated by approximately the same changes in the consumption of resources and energy. Thus, different cultures were linked to each other as a result of globalization, and the death of one of them provoked the disappearance of others. The researchers' article was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers analyzed historical records (over the past 130 years) and radiocarbon data of wood, charcoal, bones and other samples up to 10 thousand years old, taken from various sites in the United States, Australia, Great Britain, northern Chile and other countries. Based on this information, scientists were able to estimate the energy consumption (in the form of food and feed for farm animals, fossil fuels, electricity) by human societies at different periods of time. Experts also compared rhythmic changes in energy consumption between civilizations in different regions of the Earth and evaluated the level of synchronization.
It turned out that the levels of energy consumption in ancient human cultures did oscillate in rhythm with each other, but the level of synchronization dropped with increasing geographical distance between peoples. Scientists explain this result by the fact that there were connections between societies both in short periods of time (trade, migration and political), and for millennia (general economic policy).
However, the process of globalization could lead to the simultaneous collapse of many civilizations. People seek to develop infrastructure to make resource flows more stable across decades or centuries, but this makes socio-economic systems more specialized and more vulnerable to significant environmental changes. According to the researchers, this should be taken into account in sustainable development policy, which involves the interaction of different countries and the coordinated use of resources.