Consequences of slightly earlier development of civilization

Dorozhand

Banned
I've been picturing for a while an interesting scenario in which the ball starts rolling for the development of agriculture and large-scale urban civilization slightly earlier than in OTL, on the order of a few thousand years. I see several subtle and interesting consequences of such a development, one of the more intriguing to me being the potential for a powerful early center along the Yellow Nile, a former tributary of the Nile which flowed down from the Ouaddai highlands of Chad from ca. 8000 to 1000 BCE. If its rise is timed just well enough during the period when the river was strong and the Sahara was a wetter grassland, the Yellow Nile and its valley could have been a potent agricultural region. IOTL we basically just missed it.

What are some other things that early civilization "just missed" that could have proven interesting in its development had it occurred not long earlier?
 
Since no one else will reply, I will give my opinion even though this is far from my area of expertise.

As far as the Saharan pump theory, if a civilization was to form there, it would be situated along the rivers connecting to the Nile up to the Libyan coast forming a network across the Eastern Sahara of fishermen and farmers along the shores of rivers, likely too with villages on the exterior of these rivers close to the likely Savannah surrounding. Cities would still be along the river but would look essential like an extended Egyptian river going culture but with more variety into the the Savannah. If possible and depending on the size of the river systems, this could connect Egypt to West African gold as well as that found in Punt and Kush.

However, this situation of prosperity is inevitably short and the mass exodus and human suffering caused from the rapid desertification is frightening, likely this would cause a dark age as refugees from the disaster would wreak havoc upon cultures in the way of its migration, with the assumption that large populations are created due to large scale agriculture.

Likely in this situation, we would see land covering the Persian gulf, with the extended Tigris and Euphrates passing Basra and reaching down to Dilmun and perhaps Suhar. Thus the myths of the Sumerians would be a reality of sorts, in how a powerful civilization exists in the fertile land to the south of Eridu and contemporary with the famed land of Dilmun. What is here is anyone's guess, perhaps in this pot of land is the origin of the Sumerian tongue and maybe the Elamite and Kassite isolates. In this area we see a much larger Mesopotamian culture group extending far to the south and even more fertile than later. This civilization would likely surpass the one in Africa in terms of prosperity as the distance to India would be shorter.

However, once again, the ice caps will melt and recede in cycle and the result will be the wholesale flooding of these lands, destroying these civilizations. These refugees due to the nature of the disaster, likely do not destroy in their path as they are carried into the ocean or submerged.

India would definitely have more coast line, meaning cities outward. Also the distance from the early Indus Harappan will be shorter to the people of Mesopotamia and the cultures therein, thus by virtue of push and pulls, will create more trade societies to take advantage of the shorter distance.

Then of course there is whatever is going on in Göbekle Tepe, the societies here would become advanced in response to the civilization to its south (assuming they aren't just as advanced otl, which we will likely never know).

Frankly we do not quite understand civilization before Sumeria, the possibility of advanced societies (without writing), in the manner of the Inca is entirely possible, as their remains would be submerged in water, or eroded away or possibly used as material by later civilizations. In all honesty it is easier to discover bones of extinct animals than it is to decipher the history of human civilization before Sumer.
 
I thought to some degree that some civilisation (or at least semi-agricultural society) already existed there, and when the Sahara dried, they became the ancestors of the Ancient Egyptians and possibily contributed to agriculture elsewhere in the Middle East as well. I'm also inclined to believe the "Green Sahara" was the ancestral place of the Afroasiatic languages and migrations out of there as the Sahara dried helped contribute to the spread of the language.
 
I thought to some degree that some civilisation (or at least semi-agricultural society) already existed there, and when the Sahara dried, they became the ancestors of the Ancient Egyptians and possibily contributed to agriculture elsewhere in the Middle East as well. I'm also inclined to believe the "Green Sahara" was the ancestral place of the Afroasiatic languages and migrations out of there as the Sahara dried helped contribute to the spread of the language.

Most recent research suggests that the Afroasiatic "original homeland" might have been in or near the Levant, but the case is far from established either way.
 
You are going to have a lot of megalakes in the Sahara. Lake Megachad was bigger than the Caspian sea 7 000 years ago, and there will be several more. Some close to the Med. This could build a maritime tradition that OTL Africa missed. It may also mean African mosquitoes and diseases reaching Europe though.

You'll still have the first Dark Age when he Sahara dries up. The Sarasvati will dry up, etc
 

Dorozhand

Banned
A really horrifying thought is placing the development of human civilization at just the right point that the desiccation of the Sahara begins in earnest in the "modern" industrial age of its history. Imagine the degree to which such an environmental catastrophe would shake humanity. Like the drying of the Aral sea dozens of times over.
 
A really horrifying thought is placing the development of human civilization at just the right point that the desiccation of the Sahara begins in earnest in the "modern" industrial age of its history. Imagine the degree to which such an environmental catastrophe would shake humanity. Like the drying of the Aral sea dozens of times over.

Yes, if such an event occurred at that stage, the suffering would be untold, same for the flooding of the Persian gulf timed right. It would be best for this event to happen early in human development.
 
Yes, if such an event occurred at that stage, the suffering would be untold, same for the flooding of the Persian gulf timed right. It would be best for this event to happen early in human development.
After doing a quick Google search, I found this article, which seems to indicate the Desertification took place over a period of 1,500 years. Still relatively quick, and bound to have major effects on the society living there, but I would think they would be able to adapt somewhat...
 
After doing a quick Google search, I found this article, which seems to indicate the Desertification took place over a period of 1,500 years. Still relatively quick, and bound to have major effects on the society living there, but I would think they would be able to adapt somewhat...

The flooding would likely be a long event sure, but the amount of refugees created would be terrible for economics of this society of humans. As far as the Sahara, it is the same, the refugees is the problem and what they then do as a huge population after losing their homes.
 

Dorozhand

Banned
The flooding would likely be a long event sure, but the amount of refugees created would be terrible for economics of this society of humans. As far as the Sahara, it is the same, the refugees is the problem and what they then do as a huge population after losing their homes.
I could imagine the destruction of the Saharan civilizations resulting in a kind of Great Migration -esque movement of peoples towards the North African littoral, central and west Africa, and into and past Egypt, overturning social and political structures and wreaking havoc on any local Empires. Once the dust settles, though, the result will be a hardy mix of desperate pastoralists fleeing the desert and city-dwelling peoples whom they invaded, creating the potential for a cultural pollination event not unlike that brought about by the Mongols.

The real downside to this event in particular is the very fact that it will be so slow. As the environment's agricultural carrying capacity dwindles, there will be a constant pulse of refugees outwards for as long as 1500 years. Even when populations adapt to the changing environment and adopt more efficient ways of living to maintain a population, the environmental collapse is inexorable and eventually they too will be driven out and those who remain will adapt to even drier conditions, beginning the cycle again until the last to leave will be the pastoralists, who may well be horse-riders, and may have themselves invaded the region, taking control of the last dying cities (which will shrink until they are caravan stops) or been the remains of what had been an agricultural civilization.

A very sad story indeed. I kind of want to write it.
 
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I could imagine the destruction of the Saharan civilizations resulting in a kind of Great Migration -esque movement of peoples towards the North African littoral, central and west Africa, and into and past Egypt, overturning social and political structures and wreaking havoc on any local Empires. Once the dust settles, though, the result will be a hardy mix of desperate pastoralists fleeing the desert and city-dwelling peoples whom they invaded, creating the potential for a cultural pollination event not unlike that brought about by the Mongols.


The changes brought about these migrations could be huge. Especially for Africa. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about any of this, so forgive me if I am wrong, but perhaps this could start an earlier agricultural revolution for Africa below the Sahara, as the people fleeing the desertification south bring there expertise with them.
 
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