4.2 Kiloyear Drought Triggers Akkadian Empire Collapse

Around 2200 BCE a multi-century aridification event struck the Near East, Mediterranean, and South Asia. In Mesopotamia, reduced precipitation halted dry-farming agriculture across northern plains. Tel Leilan and other Akkadian settlements were abandoned within decades, and population displacement reached hundreds of thousands. The event coincides with the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and the Liangzhu culture of China. Evidence derives from lake sediments, speleothems, ice cores, and tree rings. Some scholars dispute a direct causal link between climate and collapse.