Angela
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It's a very good example of how climate change can be a very important factor in political upheavals. Another one is in the Bronze Age, and in the Neolithic as well.
See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...-famine-political-upheaval-ancient-world.html
The analysis is based on tree rings.
The authors point to the period just before 600 AD, when famine followed by the plague decimated them. They also link the wetter weather in Arabia that resulted as perhaps making the Arab expansion more likely. I think the Slavic invasions might also be related.
"Based on these measurements, the researchers believe the Late Antique Little Ice Age began in around 535 AD.
There was a marked temperature drop following three major volcanic eruptions, in 536, 540 and 547 AD."
"Volcanoes can cause climate cooling by ejecting large volumes of small particles – sulphate aerosols - that block sunlight.
The researchers think this spate of eruptions may have combined with a solar minimum, when the sun radiates less heat, extending the grip of the freezing climate for over a century.
These events likely affected food supplies and a major famine struck the region at precisely this time followed immediately by the Justinian plague pandemic.
The Justinian plague started in 541 AD and swept through the Mediterranean, striking Constantinople and killing millions of people in the following centuries."
I have no idea what they're talking about when they say the Western Empire fell "later".
See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...-famine-political-upheaval-ancient-world.html
The analysis is based on tree rings.
The authors point to the period just before 600 AD, when famine followed by the plague decimated them. They also link the wetter weather in Arabia that resulted as perhaps making the Arab expansion more likely. I think the Slavic invasions might also be related.
"Based on these measurements, the researchers believe the Late Antique Little Ice Age began in around 535 AD.
There was a marked temperature drop following three major volcanic eruptions, in 536, 540 and 547 AD."
"Volcanoes can cause climate cooling by ejecting large volumes of small particles – sulphate aerosols - that block sunlight.
The researchers think this spate of eruptions may have combined with a solar minimum, when the sun radiates less heat, extending the grip of the freezing climate for over a century.
These events likely affected food supplies and a major famine struck the region at precisely this time followed immediately by the Justinian plague pandemic.
The Justinian plague started in 541 AD and swept through the Mediterranean, striking Constantinople and killing millions of people in the following centuries."
I have no idea what they're talking about when they say the Western Empire fell "later".