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Research on the climate and vegetation of past times uses scientific techniques

As we can see from this quotation from this page about Classics Research at Cornell University
"It is a common mistake to think that classics is just about the ancient languages -- it is not," said Manning, whose position includes an affiliation with the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS). "I use interdisciplinary approaches that bring environmental, climatic, material culture, geo-archaeological and anthropological evidence together to study past climate, environmental changes, landscapes, societies and people."

Sturt Manning

A History of Climate A brief introduction to the history of climate
NOAA If you have paleoclimatology questions to be answered
What is theHolocene? a useful explanation from Berkeley

The Holocene is the name given to the last ~10,000 years of the Earth's history -- the time since the end of the last major glacial epoch, or "ice age." Since then, there have been small-scale climate shifts -- notably the "Little Ice Age" between about 1200 and 1700 A.D. -- but in general, the Holocene has been a relatively warm period in between ice ages.

'Climate Research University of East Anglia'
High-Resolution Climate Variability of the Holocene
Colorado Geophysics provides many scientific enquiry methods
Quaternary climate change,here

Methods of finding past climate information

  1. Paleolimnology which studies evidence of and from -Lakes, wetland, peatland and estuary systems. at theUniversity ofManitoba
  2. Paleoecology at Carleton University
  3. F A QWhat is DendrochronologyThe International Tree Ring Data Bank Forum University of Melbourne
  4. Stalagmites a link to the BBC about dating a warm period from 800 AD. SPA-12 is a 20cm long stalagmite recovered from Spannagel cave in the Central Alps
  5. Archaeobotany will show plant cover at a given time
  6. Insect remains
  7. Molluscs marine and estuarine
  8. Snow and Ice
  9. Ancient Coastlines
  10. Volcanoes as dating events
  11. Astronomical data
  12. etc to be continued

Also try this site for many of these subjects Kevin Greene Online Companion 'Dating the past'

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A Major Climate Downturn has been described in 535 AD

In 535AD, nature literally came to standstill. Winter gripped the earth for two years Startling new evidence shows that trees all over the world - from Ireland to Siberia, California to Finland - stopped growing during the mid-sixth century. Eyewitness accounts describe what we might now call a 'nuclear winter.' According to the Syrian Bishop, John of Ephesus"The sun became dark ...Each day it shone for about four hours, and still this light was only a feeble shadow"from Wikipedia 'Climate Changes of 535-536'

Prof.Mike Baillie is Professor of Palaeoecology at Queens University,Belfast

'Irish crannogs (wooden forts built over water) are archaeological evidence to support Keys’ and Baillie’s theory of a severely cold period in the sixth century. In fact, much of the wood that Baillie dated came from crannogs in which people sought refuge during times of trouble and clan warfare. The mid-sixth century marks the beginning of the construction of crannogs. Baillie sees a strong connection between the need for such forts and the deteriorating climate.' an excellent page with maps

Suburban Emergency Management Project in the U.S.A

http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/Krakatau.htm Was it caused by a Volcano eg Krakatoa

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