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This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute?

Historical instances of dramatic societal upheaval have been attributed to changes in climate.

Now a cave in China has been shown to contain both physical evidence for specific periods of drought

and written records of the hardships in the form of graffiti by people suffering from those droughts.

The findings are in the journal Scientific Reports. During the past 500 years, people made regular

pilgrimages to the Diyu Cave in the Chinling Mountains of Central China. During seven of the visits,

the oldest one going back to the year of 1520, pilgrims left messages on the cave walls related to droughts.

Researchers were able to link those graffiti, which contain dates, to physical evidence of the water shortages.

For example, lack of water caused changes in ratio of stable isotopes in specific layers of cave formations such as stalagmites.

The site has thus provided the first known case of historical

and geological records existing in the same cave. Cambridge University Earth scientist

Sebastian Breitenbach is a co-author of the study. He says that records found in caves

and lakes in the last decade reveal possible links between climate change and the downfall

of several Chinese dynasties,

including the Tang and Ming. He also notes, quote,

things in the world are different from when these cave inscriptions are written,

but we're still vulnerable to these events, especially in the developing world.

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