Isotopic evidence of an environmental shift at the fall of the Kushite kingdom of Meroe, Sudan

Previously investigated factors leading to the collapse of the Meroitic kingdom (c.300 BC–AD 350) in the Middle Nile Valley include socio-political and economic instability. Here we investigate potential contribution of the environmental factors using stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of human and animal dental enamel in 79 samples from 13 archaeological sites located between the First Nile Cataract and the Blue Nile. The results show increasing ẟ18Oca values towards the end of the Meroitic and in the Post-Meroitic period suggestive of an environmental shift towards more arid conditions that likely contributed to the fall of the Kushite kingdom.