Posted on 04/01/2019 6:21:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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. At that time, a climate event known as the Late Antique Little Ice Age was taking hold in the Northern Hemisphere, and an epidemic known as the Justinian plague raged through the Roman Empire, eventually killing over 100 million people. Together, disease and climate change took a devastating economic toll and loosened Rome's grip on its lands to the east a century earlier than once thought...
Unlike the architecture of an ancient city, which could be repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, landfills steadily accumulated over time, creating continuous records of human activity. Clues found in preserved garbage dumps could thereby reveal if a city was thriving or in trouble... a variety of objects: ceramic pot sherds, seeds, olive pits, charcoal from burned wood and even evidence of discarded "gourmet foods" imported from the Red Sea and the Nile... The scientists carbon-dated organic material such as seeds and charcoal in layers of trash mounds located near the city... 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... Elusa's decline began at least a century before Islamic rule wrested control of the region from the Romans... Elusa was struggling during a period that was relatively peaceful and stable; it was during this time that the Roman Emperor Justinian was expanding the empire's boundaries across Europe, Africa and Asia...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
But did they fart? Because AOC says cows do, and that causes climate change!
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.
“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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I applaud you for not writing “baited breath.” Well done, DAC.
Nothing worse than nightcrawler breath.
I imagine those ancients were really big on recycling and had little to throw away in the dump. We should learn from our ancestors.
I’m a bit skeptical climate change affected things equally to 100 million dead from disease.
But hey,
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
however I believe that
While it is cyclical, it is over such vast periods of time that it is not "all ok"
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 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.
The great plague in Justinians time seriously weaker Byzantium. The loss in the battle of Manzikert set the Ottoman forces loose.
Volcanoes --> huge cloud cover --->crop failures ---> mass human die-off.
Yes, climate change. And all of it natural.
This total eclipse of the sun lasted for over a year.
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.
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