Humans are ultimately dependent upon the natural world around them, so the study of past environments can yield much information about the people of the past. In particular, as you learned in this chapter, climatic shifts can have a significant and sometimes devastating effect on humanity.
It has long been known that our planet's climate moves in cycles. One particularly rapid climatic shift is the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Use your book as well as some internet research to investigate the following questions about the influence of El Niño events on ancient cultures.