Aaron Putnam’s work on Asia climate history receives notice

The history of the Mongol empire captures people’s attention. In recent years, paleoclimate research has shed more light on some of the military decisions of that time. Most notably, the changing climate of the 1200s may have resulted first in the spread of grasslands, allowing the consequent spread of the Mongol empire. Later, drying could have led to less grass available to sustain the Mongol army, and thereby changed the course of the Mongol invasion. Aaron Putnam is one of the leaders of studying events of this time, and his was recently asked to comment on new research, through interviews in New Scientist and the Christian Science Monitor.