The Climate History Network maintains an bibliography of publications related to historic climatology along with a list of databases that compile proxy data for climate from high-quality academic publications.
Especially valuable is the Paleoclimatology Data Map maintained by the US National Centers for Environmental Information and the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas from the Data Library of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia.
The strongest data, however, are from after 1000CE, with much more powerful data from the last 500 years. It would be difficult to link individual events causally with these climate models.
Take care,
Eric
I have zero expertise in this area but this suggests that on average it wasn’t much different than today:
https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/18/911/2022/
Thanks,
Jan
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> On Behalf Of Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2024 9:13 PM
To: Caley Smith <smith.caley@gmail.com>
Cc: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Record heat Mohenjo Daro
Thanks Caley. Without pretension to precision, I will go with the Archeological Survey of India and date the events of the epic, not the surviving text, to roughly 1000 BCE.
If we include the older surviving structures of the Harappan civilization, we can inquire as to West and Northwest weather patterns back to 4,000 BC, and earlier for less imposing remains. My apologies to actual experts in this area for my crude calculus.
Best wishes,
Howard
On May 28, 2024, at 9:53 AM, Caley Smith <smith.caley@gmail.com> wrote:
I guess it depends on when you are dating the composition of the MBh.
On Tue, May 28, 2024 at 9:37 AM Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Scholars,
Is there any evidence that thousands of years ago, the weather in Pakistan and Northern India was significantly different than it is today? I ask because I’m trying to imagine the conditions roughly around the time of Mahābharata.
Thanks!
Howard
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Eric Moses Gurevitch
National Endowment for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow
Vanderbilt University