Stalagmites in the Kunaba Caves of Northern Irak

Stalagmites show that there were two distinct phases in the climate of the assyrian age. The first was one of the wettest periods of the whole four thousand years span. This phase came to an end around seven 25 b c, just before king ashubanipal came to the throne. And this second period was marked by increasingly dry conditions. In fact, the region was soon gripped by a megga drought - even with all our modern farming techniques,. crop productivity in northern erac is highly sensitive to small changes in rainfall. And itis possible that a protracted period of drought may have acted to weaken the imperial centre of ase.