ABSTRACT
The study of the interaction between climate changes and human cultures falls within the field of bioclimatology, an ecological science dealing with the relation between climate and distribution of living species on Earth. This chapter describes the modern climate and environment of Siberia and North Central Asia, and discusses their evolution. It analyzes several different cases of climate, environment, and cultural interaction, chosen because they provide the best evidence of the interactive process and high significance of the cultural outcome. The climate of North Central Asia is dry continental with hot summer, cool to cold winter and year-round semi-arid to arid, under the influence of three kinds of air masses, from the west, from the east and from Siberia, which defines its partition in three climate zones. The potential impact of Holocene climate changes on East Asian biomes has been evaluated by computer simulations.
