Scientists discover the ancient river origins of the cradle of civilization

This week, a new study in Communications Earth & Environment revealed that the Euphrates River was formed by the merging of two ancient rivers during the Late Miocene period.

For decades, the exact age and path of the waterway that fueled the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia remained a geological mystery. Researchers used sedimentary analysis to prove that the river originally flowed into a dry Mediterranean basin rather than the Persian Gulf. This massive shift in flow patterns explains how the fertile Mesopotamian landscape was shaped millions of years before the first human cities emerged.

These findings will now help climate scientists model how major river systems might react to extreme environmental changes in the future.