Chinese Cave Drawings Document Hundreds of Years of Drought

Sean Breslin
Published: August 19,2015

This image from the study shows writings on the wall of Dayu Cave in Xiaojie, China.
(L Tan/Scientific Reports)

In recent years, scientists have used precise monitoring techniques, like the U.S. Drought Monitor, to measure the severity of drought conditions in many parts of the world. But before we had this technology, humans had other ways of documenting the weather and climate we were seeing.
Scientists recently discovered cave drawings in Dayu Cave, located in the Qinling Mountains of central China, according to a recent report published in the journal Scientific Reports. This cave graffiti was found to hold secrets about past drought events in the area, dating back as far as the year 1520.
How do they know? Because when the scientists compared the dates of the scribblings with historic records of drought in the area, they lined up perfectly.
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But that's not the only thing these writings revealed to scientists. The study found that these cave drawings were done by people who made pilgrimages to Dayu Cave, and scientists found mentions of drought in seven different instances of these scribblings.
Precipitation records over the last 1,800 years also show that the fall of several Chinese dynasties have coincided with major droughts, the study reminded.
"Things in the world are different from when these cave inscriptions were written, but we're still vulnerable to these events — especially in the developing world," Sebastian Breitenbach, Cambridge University earth scientist and co-author of the study, told Scientific American.
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