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Max Engel - Heidelberg University, Institute of Geography & Helmut Brueckner - Institute of Geography, University of Cologne HOLOCENE CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN THE NEAR EAST AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION Mesopotamia gave rise to the first urban-type societies with complex political hierarchies. Its rich history full of important cultural achievements was accompanied by fundamental environmental changes over the Holocene. While geo-bio-archives from the broader region reflect some variability in climate histories, there is a clear consensus on a more humid climate regime during the Early Holocene, promoting early rain-fed agricultural practices in Northern Mesopotamia, underpinning the foundation of initial urbanisation. In the southern basin, decreasing rainfall and higher competition for natural resources at a somewhat later stage in combination with the development of irrigation techniques and the transgression of the sea seem to have contributed to the formation of co
