The main purpose of this paper is to examine how the Westviking were influenced by winter, snow and cold in their day-to-day life as they were making progress in the West.
Connecting Roman and Medieval Climate and Historical Change: Five Challenges for the 21st Century
November 29, 2014 By
Michael McCormick discusses use of latest tools of climate science, human genetics and computer science to better understand the history of Medieval Europe and Rome,
Of sagas and sheep: Toward a historical anthropology of social change and production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland
November 6, 2014 By
This dissertation deals with the formation of chiefdoms, communities, ecclesiastical institutions and state, and with production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland in the context of climatic change and ecological succession.
Daily Weather Observations in Sixteenth-Century Europe
September 14, 2014 By
Thirty-two weather diaries written in astronomical calendars in central Europe in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are presented and discussed.
Climatic Change and the North Atlantic Seaways During the Norse Expansion
June 24, 2014 By
In order to appreciate how the Norse expansion might have been influenced by climatic fluctuations it is necessary to consider in outline the mechanisms which control weather and climate in the North Atlantic area at the present day, and which also obtained in the past.
Wax or wane? Insect perspectives on human environmental interactions
May 19, 2014 By
The sites discussed in this paper include a range of sites investigated on national road schemes and other development projects across Ireland, covering a long time-span from the Neolithic period through to the medieval period.
Norse cultural reaction to climate change during the little ice age and their societal collapse in Greenland
April 12, 2014 By
This study aims to understand the adaptations of the Norse Greenlanders to climate change in their new home.
How warm weather led to the rise of Genghis Khan
March 11, 2014 By
In the thirteenth-century a Mongol warrior named Genghis Khan took control of the nomadic tribes on the Great Stepee and launched a series of invasions that would see a vast empire being established from China to Eastern Europe. Now a team of researchers have shown that their success can be partly attributed to climate change.
Floods and weather in 1342 and 1343 in the Carpathian Basin
January 15, 2014 By
Concerning weather, weather-related extremes and catastrophic consequences, 1342 was an extraordinary year in most parts of Central Europe, even in such an extraordinary decade as the 1340s. Accounting with the seven flood events (including one Danube flood) mainly of great magnitude, at present 1342 is the most important known flood year of medieval Hungary.
Into the frontier: medieval land reclamation and the creation of new societies. Comparing Holland and the Po Valley, 800-1500
September 29, 2013 By
In the paper it is shown that medieval land reclamation led to the emergence of two very divergent societies, characterised by a number of different configurations; (a) power and property structure, (b) modes of exploitation, (c) economic portfolios, and (d) commodity markets.
The Medieval Metal Industry Was the Cradle of Modern Large-Scale Atmospheric Lead Pollution in Northern Europe
September 4, 2013 By
This study indicates that the contemporary atmospheric pollution climate in northern Europe was established in Medieval time, rather than in the Industrial period. Atmospheric lead pollution deposition did not, when seen in a historical perspective, increase as much as usually assumed with the Industrial Revolution (1800 A.D.).
Feasting with Early Medieval Chiefs: Locating Political Action through Environmental Archaeology
May 18, 2013 By
This excellent paper was the first given in the session on Early Medieval Europe. It looked at various archaeological excavations in Iceland and Denmark and the political role feasting played in pre-Christian Viking societies.
Climate in Medieval Ireland: AD 500-1600
April 14, 2013 By
The aim of the dissertation is to reconstruct climate in Medieval Ireland using documentary and dendrochronological proxy data from Ireland and Northern Europe.
The Light was retreating before Darkness: Tales of the Witch hunt and climate change
March 10, 2013 By
Little by little, out of the old conviction —pagan and Christian— of evil interference in atmospheric phenomena evolved the belief that some people may use malign sorcery to set off whirlwinds hail, frosts, floods and other destructive weather events.
Dark ages and dark areas: global deforestation in the deep past
January 1, 2013 By
The ‘darkness’ that envelopes the ages and areas of the forest of the past consists broadly of two elements. First, there are the problems intrinsic to forests as living ecosystems or entities. Many of these are still more or less uncertain and murky. Second, there are the difficulties of knowing what human activity took place.
The Impact of Climate Change on Late Medieval English Culture
December 28, 2012 By
This thesis challenges the extremes of both environmental determinism and the modernist perspective that humanity exists in social and/or cultural isolation from the natural environment.
Climate Change in the Recent Past: Selected Climate Events from Historical Records
September 23, 2012 By
Another important sign of a mild climate during the MWP is the fact that England was a major wineproducing country. Between 1100 and 1300, vineyards spread across southern and central England and as far north as Hereford.
Tree-Ring data shows that Northern Europe has been cooling over the last 2000 years
July 11, 2012 By
Was the climate during Roman and Medieval times warmer than today?
The Danube Floods and Their Human Response and Perception (14th to 17th C)
March 19, 2012 By
This study will examine in particular the reactions of the people living close to the Danube River and its catchment area in “Austria” between the 14th and 17th centuries.
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