Dry storms triggered by changes in solar radiation caused massive wildfires 8,200 years ago that spurred the birth of agriculture

A study led by Professor Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds new light on one of humanity’s most significant turning points: the Neolithic Revolution. Published in the Journal of Soils and Sediments, the research presents compelling evidence that catastrophic wildfires and soil erosion, driven by natural climate changes, may have triggered the first widespread transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in the southern Levant over 8,000 years ago.

The study challenges long-standing debates about whether this shift was driven by human action or by climatic factors. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Frumkin and his team analyzed key environmental records, including microcharcoal in lake sediments, carbon and strontium isotopes in cave speleothems, Dead Sea water levels, and soil deposits across the region.

Our findings point to an intense period of natural fires and vegetation collapse, caused by an increase in lightning activity during the early Holocene, Frumkin explained. These fires would have ravaged large swaths of vegetation, causing severe soil degradation on mountain slopes and the accumulation of fertile land in the valleys, thereby creating ideal conditions for the earliest farming communities.

Fires dry storms neolithic agriculture — The Neolithic site of Motza, which shows structures built on thick redeposited soils. The high concentration of clay prevents infiltration of rainwater. The Har Nof cave is located on the eroded slope of the bottom hill. Credit: A. Frumkin

The study places this environmental turning point at around 8,200 years ago, coinciding with a major climatic event in the Northern Hemisphere. Dry storms, generated by orbital changes in solar radiation, are believed to have triggered the widespread fires. The result was a radically transformed landscape, where ancient hunter-gatherers were forced to adapt by domesticating plants and settling in fertile, water-rich valleys.

This was not a gradual cultural transition but a response to environmental collapse, Frumkin emphasized. Agriculture and settlement patterns were likely shaped by necessity, not just innovation.

The research also highlights how Neolithic settlements in the southern Levant were concentrated on thick, restructured soil deposits, particularly along the Jordan Valley and surrounding basins. These soils, derived from hillside erosion, offered early farming communities two essential elements: fertility and access to water.

The study reinforces the idea that the Neolithic Revolution was neither a uniform nor an exclusively cultural process, but rather an adaptation forced by abrupt environmental changes. While previous research had debated whether agriculture emerged as a deliberate innovation or in response to demographic pressures, this study suggests that soil degradation and massive fires played a decisive role in transforming human societies.

The findings have significant implications for archaeology and paleoclimatology, as they directly link a global climatic event to a fundamental shift in human social organization. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of analyzing geological and sedimentary records to understand how ancient societies responded to environmental crises.

Although the Levant is one of the most thoroughly studied regions for this period, Frumkin notes that future research should explore whether similar phenomena occurred in other areas where agriculture emerged, such as Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent.

In the meantime, the study provides a clearer view of how climate and natural disasters may have been the true architects of one of the greatest leaps in human history.

SOURCES

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Frumkin, A. Catastrophic fires and soil degradation: possible association with the Neolithic revolution in the southern Levant. J Soils Sediments (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s11368-025-04021-x