Bubonic plague, famine, war and flu
pandemics have made some periods of human history infamous for death and
suffering but one year stands above the rest in terms of misery; 536AD.
According
to research from a Harvard professor, it is a prime candidate for the
unfortunate accolade of the worst year in the entirety of recorded
history.
Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia were plunged into 18 months of solid darkness by a mysterious fog.
It caused snowfall in China, continental-scale crop failure, extreme drought, famine and disease throughout most of the northern hemisphere.
The
bleak year was triggered by a cataclysmic Icelandic eruption,
scientists say, and was an ominous omen for a bleak century of
suffering and death.
Michael McCormick, a Harvard University archaeologist and medieval historian, told Science Magazine that the world did not show signs of recovery until 640AD.
'It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year,' Dr McCormick said.
The
eerie fog created a drab world with darkness residing over the northern
hemisphere for 18 months, with an unrelenting dusk persevering through
day and night.
Effects on the climate were so severe that the Irish chronicles tell of 'a failure of bread from the years 536–539'.
Temperatures
in the summer of 536 fell between 1.5°C (2.7°F) and 2.5°C (4.5°F),
initiating the coldest decade in the past 2,300 years.
The international devastation triggered by
the unidentified fog gave rise to the moniker 'The Dark Ages' which has
been used to refer to this ominous time.
Causes
of the event have remained a mystery to scientists since it was first
discovered via tree ring analysis that the world's temperature dipped
for several years at this point in time.
Dr McCormick and glaciologist Paul Mayewski at the Climate Change
Institute of The University of Maine (UM) in Orono believe to have
finally put the riddle to bed.
In their study, published in the journal Antiquity, the researchers reveal it was likely caused by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Analysis
of ice cores - natural time capsules of Earth's geological past - also
unearthed that two eruptions followed in 540 AD and 547 AD.
Incessant volcanic activity is believed to have produced millions of tonnes of ash which spread over vast swathes of the world.
The
authors of the study write that this introduced a period of economic
ruin which would steadfastly remain in place until a century later.
It
was evidence of lead, and subsequently the smelting of silver, which
rejuvenated the world's economy and finally abated the suffering
triggered by the 536 AD eruption.
The
ice core analysis revealed that sulphur, bismuth and tephra deposits
precede every unusually cold summer and found one for this beleaguered
year.
Spikes in the ice core for lead
proved smelting was taking place to create silver and this coincides
with the advent of coin minting which helped revive the economy,
according to archaeologist Christopher Loveluck of the University of
Nottingham.
A further peak in 660AD told the researchers that silver became the coinage of choice, likely due to a lack of gold, and
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Conspiracies