Posted on 04/15/2018 6:41:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A recent study indicates that volcanic eruptions in the mid 500s resulted in an unusually gloomy and cold period. A joint research project of the Chronology Laboratory of the Finnish Museum of Natural History and Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) suggests that the years 536 and 541-544 CE were very difficult... An extended period of little light may make it difficult for humans to survive. The level of production of plants is dependent on the amount of available sunlight. Food production, i.e, farming and animal husbandry, rely on the same solar energy. Humans, meanwhile, become more prone to disease if they are not exposed to enough sunlight to produce vitamin D. The aerosols that were released into the atmosphere with the eruptions covered the sun for a long time. The exceptionally poor climate conditions were significantly detrimental to farming and reduced the production of vitamin D among the populace. This means that the people who were already weakened by hunger also had to grapple with a compromised immune system... The new study tracks the correlation of carbon isotope variation and volcanic eruptions from the 19th century until recent years, and shows the dramatic reduction in available sunlight in 536 as well as between 541 and 544 CE. The variation of summer temperatures was similarly reconstructed on the basis of the density of the trees' annual growth rings. The unusually poor years coincide with the bubonic plague epidemic that devastated the Roman Empire. The epidemic caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium began in 542 CE and killed approximately half, or more, of the inhabitants of what was then considered the Eastern Roman Empire. The plague spread through Europe, from the Mediterranean, possibly as far north as Finland, and had killed tens of millions of people by the 8th century.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Belisarius was one of the baddest-@$$ generals in history. He expanded and placed the Eastern Roman Empire on a sound military footing while the Western Empire disintegrated.
“Ban volcanos!”
Pure genius. Wish I thought of that. The credit belongs to you FRiend.
Taught to us in 4th grade by the best teacher I ever had.
Well, I am a strong believer, but I use CE in preference to AD in deference to my many jewish friends. I always think "Christian Era", and they can think "Common Era".
I do not think there is any kind of scriptural requirement to use a particular dating system.
The BC/AD system of numbering years was not even thought up until about the year 525, by which time we had lost track of the actual year of the birth of Christ. So, the best modern thinking is that it was sometime between 6-4 BC.
oh ya....using Mom’s memory jog instead of Latin.... :<(
Well said.
Nuts, in my Comment #47 all paragraphs were eliminated and links were not highlighted. Hope to get links improved.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150708133858.htm
Somewhere in my search for more information I came across the information that Rabaul’s date was not 536, but had been corrected based on better dating methods. I think it was in the second link at Comment #48.
High-definition archaeology reveals secrets of the earliest cities
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-high-definition-archaeology-reveals-secrets-earliest.html
Lead pollution in Greenland ice shows rise and fall of ancient European civilizations
http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news%2C29414%2Carchaeologist-we-have-evidence-presence-roman-legionaries-poland.html
Pottery Inscription Provides New Dates for Java Sea Shipwreck
https://www.archaeology.org/news/6625-18051-china-trade-ceramic
Ice Core Study Tracks Roman Lead Levels
https://www.archaeology.org/news/6624-180516-roman-lead-pollution
85,000-year-old footprints found in kingdom
Fossil
https://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/85-000-year-old-footprints-found-in-kingdom-1.2221112
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.