Ancient Garbage Heaps Show Fading Byzantine Empire Was 'Plagued' By Disease and Climate Change

LiveScience ^ | March 25, 2019 | Mindy Weisberger

[Alas Babylon!]

Camels were the SUV of their day.

But did they fart? Because AOC says cows do, and that causes climate change!

[Fiji Hill]

Archaeologists recently investigated accumulated refuse in trash mounds at a Byzantine settlement called Elusa in Israel's Negev Desert... trash disposal -- once a well-organized and reliable service in outpost cities like Elusa -- ceased around the middle of the sixth century, about 100 years prior to the empire's collapse.

The Roman Empire lost a lot of territory to the Arabs in the seventh century, but it didn't collapse. In fact, it made a comeback late in the first millennium AD. The final decline began, arguably, with the Battle of Manzikert in AD 1071.

[zeestephen]

“They found that trash had built up in that location over a period of about 150 years and that the accumulation terminated in the middle of the sixth century. This suggested there was a failure of infrastructure, which happens when a city is about to collapse, the researchers noted.”

Or, they decided to move the trash dump to a new location?

[mrsmith]

LOL!
So stupid!

The Ottoman Empire was destroyed by the US anti-=slavery .

Look up “harvest of the steppes”.

The Ottonams economy was based on slavery.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Good point.

And when was that giant volcanic eruption in Iceland, with the ash cloud that kept the northern hemisphere in the dark for 18 months, dropped temperatures drastically and led to mass crop failure /starvation? I think it was mid-6th century. More volcanic eruptions followed, then the bubonic plague: like about 50 million dead.

Volcanoes --> huge cloud cover --->crop failures ---> mass human die-off.

Yes, climate change. And all of it natural.

[lizma2]

LOL!

No grain, rats, and fleas. Same as the Black Death. (Same bug.)(And Wiki says it may have killed up to 13 to 26% of the population.)

There is a theory that cooler temps were involved in the Black Death. Cooler temps pulled the rats closer into humans.

Geology shows us the planet warmed and cooled even before humans existed.

[Widget Jr]

It is all right to talk about climate change and little ice ages, as long as the right people are talking about them. The little ice ages are usually “corrected” out of most climate change models. At that time, the plague wiping out the population was a bigger problem than chilly weather.

[Pelham]

Do camel farts contribute to global warming?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Not much garbage to throw way in those days. The occasional broken clay pot. Fire ashes. Animal bones. Fruit and vegetable peelings, seeds and cores. Maybe a piece of worn-out clothing now and then. Maybe a rare bit of corroded iron.

I imagine those ancients were really big on recycling and had little to throw away in the dump. We should learn from our ancestors.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I applaud you for not writing “baited breath.” Well done, DAC.

Nothing worse than nightcrawler breath.

[sparklite2]

I imagine those ancients were really big on recycling and had little to throw away in the dump. We should learn from our ancestors.

---

Cheer up. We’re only one EMP away from them.

[ifinnegan]

I’m a bit skeptical climate change affected things equally to 100 million dead from disease.

But hey,

[Cronos]

Climate change happens naturally. Sometimes it is influenced by humans and animals as ONE of the factors - two cases as proof of animal and human influence on climate:

1. Elephants convert forestlands into savannah by eating bark, pulling down trees etc.
2. Humans changed the environment and thereby the climate in the range from Iraq to Morroco. Have you ever wondered why Iraq was a font of civilization? Or why the Romans, Greeks and Carthaginians wanted north Africa? These were fertile lands, made agriculturally rich by human intervention (irrigation etc.). But then the goat herding arabs came and didn't maintain these and the millenia old irrigation collapsed

Climate change in today's context is happening -- I know I'm going out on the limb saying that -- but it isn't purely human interaction. There are some effects we have and some things we can do, but veering to either extreme is bad. The envirowackos are neglecting a lot of good things

[Cronos]

Have you read Harry Turtledove's "Agent of Byzantium" - he hypothesizes what if Muhammad had become a Christian! Good read, I recommend it

however I believe that

1. Muhammad did not exist -
   1. there is zero historical record of that name for the first 100 years of the Arab empire
   2. Muhammad is a title meaning "praiseworthy one"
   3. it is used 4 times in the Quran while Jesus is mentioned 24 times
   4. The Hadiths elaborate about a robin-hood like fictional character that is an amalgamation of different warlords etc AND they were written 200 years after the establishment of the Arab Empire
2. The byzantines had alienated the Afro-Asiatic (Semites(Syriacs, Arameans, Assyrians), Egyptians, Berbers) of their Empire and the entire Oriental vs Orthodox fight has heavy nationalistic overtones
3. The Byzantines and Persians used the Arab Ghassanids and Lakhmids kinda stupidly - just as they would later do with the Turks, Norsemen etc. The Arab revolt was going to happen when they found how weak their masters were

[Cronos]

It's not all cyclical but it is also not solely caused by humans. The desertification of the Sahara for instance took place millenia ago but millenia in the future it may be grassland again.

While it is cyclical, it is over such vast periods of time that it is not "all ok"

[Cronos]

The loss of Egypt and North Africa were hard - those were the bread basket areas (incredible as it may seem today)

Manzikert was hard yes, but terminality was caused by the IV Crusade diverting to attack and conquer Constantinople in 1204 (note: i'm Catholic but I still see this as a mistake, up there with the Crimean war)

[Cronos]

The article is about the Eastern Roman Empire, not the Ottomans. This is dated to the 6th century - centuries before the Ottomans.

The Ottoman Empire was destroyed by a combination of events - the loss at the 2nd Seige of Vienna in 1683, the rise of nationalism in the 1800s, the increasing power of the Sultanas etc.

[Jimmy Valentine]

The great plague in Justinians time seriously weaker Byzantium. The loss in the battle of Manzikert set the Ottoman forces loose.

[COBOL2Java]

And when was that giant volcanic eruption in Iceland, with the ash cloud that kept the northern hemisphere in the dark for 18 months, dropped temperatures drastically and led to mass crop failure /starvation? I think it was mid-6th century. More volcanic eruptions followed, then the bubonic plague: like about 50 million dead.

Volcanoes --> huge cloud cover --->crop failures ---> mass human die-off.

Yes, climate change. And all of it natural.

---

The Worst Time in History to Be Alive, According to Science

This total eclipse of the sun lasted for over a year.

[Fiji Hill]

Manzikert was hard yes, but terminality was caused by the IV Crusade diverting to attack and conquer Constantinople in 1204 (note: i'm Catholic but I still see this as a mistake, up there with the Crimean war)

The Fourth Crusade did, indeed, quicken the demise of the Roman Empire. There are some historians who argue that the Roman Empire actually ended in 1204 and not 1453.