In 536, the Byzantine historian Procopius reported that the Sun shone without its usual brightness. Other writers described summer frosts, failed harvests and seasons that seemed to have become hopelessly confused. For centuries, these extraordinary accounts were treated cautiously, but evidence recovered from ancient trees and polar ice has shown that the chroniclers were recording a genuine climatic disaster.
In this episode of Compact Disasters, we investigate the Late Antique Little Ice Age, a prolonged period of cooling that began with a series of enormous volcanic eruptions during the sixth century. We examine the mysterious atmospheric veil, the years without summer, the resulting food shortages and the possible connections with plague, migration and political upheaval. We also discover how dendrochronology, ice-core sampling and modern climate modelling finally revealed what happened when the Sun appeared to lose its strength.
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