Between about A.D. 1200 and 1500 large areas of the Americas, along with their sophisticated cultures, were abandoned. These include the Four Corners region in the Southwest, the Hohokam area of southern Arizona, the middle Mississippi Valley around Cahokia, and the lower Ohio Valley known as the Vacant Quarter. All of these abandonments seem to be linked to large scale drought known as a megadrought, which was part of a global climate event known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
In this meticulously researched volume, archaeologist John S. Cable of the Palmetto Research Institute examines the apparent abandonment of 34.5 million acres on the Carolina coast north of Charleston during the fifteenth century. Using extensive ceramic analysis, Cable demonstrates that this Southeastern abandonment did in fact take place, and that it followed the same patterns observed in other parts of the country. Emigration to surrounding areas led to the development of new cultural groupings and population centers.
Megadrought in the Carolinas is an important addition to the growing body of scholarship relating to climate-based changes in the Americas that demonstrate the impact of climate on human activity.
