Ancient Chinese Mysteries Solved by Cave Rocks

This was reported on fox news.com,

WASHINGTON — A stalagmite rising from the floor of a cave in China is providing clues to the end of several dynasties in Chinese history.

Slowly built from the minerals in dripping water over 1,810 years, chemicals in the stone tell a tale of strong and weak cycles of the monsoon, the life-giving rains that water crops to feed millions of people.

Dry periods coincided with the demise of the Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasties, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

www.foxnews.com...

(Rune... remember our policies (and their copyright statements) say that you can only copy the first few paragraphs. Then you link to the rest of it.)

[edit on 7-11-2008 by Byrd]

www.foxnews.com...

Here's the link, though that's pretty much a copy and paste of the article.
Pretty nifty article, adding it to favorites.

It IS an interesting article, and perhaps a technique they can use elsewhere. Deep caves which are not tourist sites could provide many clues since they're pretty much an untouched environment. Tourist caves could also provide some clues, but the are so carefully tended to ensure they grow and flourish that the recent data would be warped by management practices.

...and did you notice at the end of the article who funded the study? Interesting....

[edit on 7-11-2008 by Byrd]