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Scientists shared evidence in early 2023 of a global cataclysm in 536 AD that led to crop failures, famine, social collapse and darkness around the world. Recent research shared by the History Channel suggests that a massive volcanic eruption and potential subsequent or simultaneous eruptions could have forced the world into darkness for more than 18 months. The hypothesized eruption caused a volcanic winter that significantly shifted the global climate, and may have led to the collapse of empires and widespread plagues, according to Ancient Origins. But there is a huge problem: we don’t have any evidence to suggest the...

Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he's got an answer: "536." Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, "It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year," says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist who chairs the Harvard University Initiative for the Science of the Human Past.

The Dark Ages : Were They Darker Than We Imagined? By Greg Bryant Published in the September 1999 issue of Universe As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of Universe. Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may...

Ancient Global Dimming Linked to Volcanic Eruption Ker Than for National Geographic NewsMarch 19, 2008 A "dry fog" that muted the sun's rays in A.D. 536 and plunged half the world into a famine-inducing chill was triggered by the eruption of a supervolcano, a new study says. The cause of the sixth-century global dimming has long been a matter of debate, but a team of international researchers recently discovered acidic sulphate molecules, which are signs of an eruption, in Greenland ice. This is the first physical evidence for the A.D. 536 event, which according to ancient texts from Mesoamerica, Europe,...