Twilight of the gods? The ‘dust veil event’ of AD 536 in critical perspective

Gräslund, Bo; Price, Neil

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00062852

Cited by 98 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…For example, the event has been connected to an apparent collapse of Scandinavian societies, evidenced by ( Fig. 4a): abandoned settlements (Solberg 2000;Gräslund and Price 2012;Löwenborg 2012), findings of sacrificial gold offerings (Axboe 2001) and evidence of sudden decreases in agriculture (Tvauri 2014;Pedersen and Widgren 2011).…”

Section: Societal Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and societal impacts of a volcanic double event at the dawn of the Middle Ages

et al. 2016

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Volcanic activity in and around the year 536 CE led to severe cold and famine, and has been speculatively linked to large-scale societal crises around the globe. Using a coupled aerosol-climate model, with eruption parameters constrained by recently re-dated ice core records and historical observations of the aerosol cloud, we reconstruct the radiative forcing resulting from a sequence of two major volcanic eruptions in 536 and 540 CE. We estimate that the decadal-scale Northern Hemisphere (NH) extra-tropical radiative forcing from this volcanic Bdouble event^was larger than that of any period in existing reconstructions of the last 1200 years. Earth system model simulations including the volcanic forcing show peak NH mean temperature anomalies reaching more than −2°C, and show agreement with the limited number of available maximum latewood density temperature reconstructions. The simulations also produce decadal-scale anomalies of Arctic sea ice. The simulated cooling is interpreted in terms of probable impacts on agricultural production in Europe, and implies a high likelihood of multiple years of significant decreases in crop production across Scandinavia, supporting the theory of a connection between the 536 and 540 eruptions and evidence of societal crisis dated to the mid-6th century.

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Section: Societal Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and societal impacts of a volcanic double event at the dawn of the Middle Ages

et al. 2016

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“…The beginning of the period saw a profound recession caused by climate change during the years AD 536-537 that has been documented by scientific investigations, through the analyses of written sources, and also in the archeological record (Gr€ aslund and Price, 2012). Transportation and transfer by sea was considerably more effective than inland travel, and the sea connected the northerners with the rest of the Norse World and beyond.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in dietary practices and social organization during the pivotal late iron age period in Norway (AD 550–1030): Isotope analyses of merovingian and viking age human remains

Naumann

Price

Richards

2014

American J Phys Anthropol

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Human remains representing 33 individuals buried along the coast in northern Norway were analyzed for diet composition using collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. Where possible, both teeth and bone were included to investigate whether there were dietary changes from childhood to adulthood. A general shift was documented from the Merovingian Age 550-800 AD to the Viking Age AD 800-1050 (VA), with a heavier reliance on marine diet in the VA. Dietary life history data show that 15 individuals changed their diets through life with 11 of these having consumed more marine foods in the later years of life. In combination with (87) Sr/(86) Sr data, it is argued that at least six individuals possibly originated from inland areas and then moved to the coastal region where they were eventually interred. The trend is considered in relation to the increasing expansion of the marine fishing industry at this time, and it is suggested that results from isotope analyses reflect the expanding production and export of stockfish in this region.

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“…In the Mälaren Valley area around Stockholm, these changes are reflected in a change in settlement patterns across the region, with a cessation of many otherwise stable villages and their attendant burial grounds and a relocation of settlements to higher ground (Löwenborg 2012); changing ritual practices can also be observed, moving from the outdoors to house interiors (Arrhenius 2013). This picture is replicated across all of central Sweden, and extends to many areas of Scandinavia, coupled with a detectible woodland regression into a very large proportion of what had previously been arable land (Gräslund and Price 2012;Price and Gräslund 2015; see these publications for a wider archaeological discussion of the AD 536 event). It has been suggested that not only did agricultural production become depressed due to generally adverse conditions, but that the lower temperatures and increased precipitation led to a spread of endemic ergot, a crop disease that can, in turn, cause traumatic physical and mental conditions in humans (Bondeson and Bondesson 2014).…”

Section: Case Study 1: the Ad 536 Eventmentioning

confidence: 84%

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

2016

Self Cite

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Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences and the humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe's prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that archaeologists engage with debates in human-environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science. We are living in a climate of fear about our future climate. The language of the public discourse around global warming routinely uses a repertoire which includes words such as 'catastrophe', 'terror', 'danger', 'extinction' and 'collapse'. To help make sense of this phenomenon the story of the complex relationships between climates and cultures in different times and in different places is in urgent need of telling. If we can understand from the past something of this complex interweaving of our ideas of climate with their physical and cultural settings we may be better placed to prepare for different configurations of this relationship in the future. Mike Hulme (2008, 5)

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Twilight of the gods? The ‘dust veil event’ of AD 536 in critical perspective

Cited by 98 publications

References 31 publications

Climatic and societal impacts of a volcanic double event at the dawn of the Middle Ages

Climatic and societal impacts of a volcanic double event at the dawn of the Middle Ages

Changes in dietary practices and social organization during the pivotal late iron age period in Norway (AD 550–1030): Isotope analyses of merovingian and viking age human remains

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise?

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