
The study identifies the Roman period (1-500 AC) as the warmest period of the last 2,000 years. Map A shows the central-western Mediterranean Sea. Red triangle shows the location of the sample studied, while the red circles are previously-found marine records used for the comparison. Map B shows the Sicily Channel featuring surface oceanographic circulation and sample location. Black lines follow the path of surface water circulation
The Empire coincided with a 500-year period, from AD 1 to AD 500, that was the warmest period of the last 2,000 years in the almost completely land-locked sea.
The climate later progressed towards colder and arid conditions that coincided with the historical fall of the Empire, scientists claim.
Comment: When followed the warm period was much more devastating: 536 AD: Plague, famine, drought, cold, and a mysterious fog that lasted 18 months
Spanish and Italian researchers recorded ratios of magnesium to calcite taken from skeletonized amoebas in marine sediments, an indicator of sea water temperatures, in the Sicily Channel.















Comment: See also:
- Highest flooding in Europe for 500 years, historical records show correlation with abnormal cold
- Tree-rings prove climate was warmer in Roman and Medieval times than it is now - and world has been cooling for 2,000 years
- Plague and climate change devastated fading Byzantine empire
- Britain's peasant houses and the Black Death building boom
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