The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

Volume 3 The Classical World, Episode 80, The Volcanic Winter of 536. The During volume three we spoke of the Mesoamerican culture based at the ancient

city of Teatouacan and how during the sixth century this once great city at one time the greatest

in the Americas dwindled away into insignificance leaving behind its great pyramids.

One of the reasons put forward for its demise is the theory of the late antique little ice age.

The late antique little ice age Little Ice Age is an evident cooling of global temperatures that occurred during the

6th century.

There is evidence of strange climatic weather behaviors recorded during this period, but nobody seems to be able to pinpoint exactly why this took place.

There are some strong opinions about a sequence of events

within the scientific communities and the purpose of this episode is to discuss

those theories and opinions in a bid to try to

uncover the truth. The intrigue is based around the writings of

contemporaries who mention a persistent dark cloud in the skies around this time.

And not many historians were able to connect these writings to the cause of just one event,

until it was suggested that a volcanic eruption took place in around the year 536. It was at this point that historians started

suggesting that these widespread contemporary writers may have been talking

about the consequences of one particular and catastrophic

volcanic eruption that caused a volcanic winter experienced by many

different nations and that the dimensions of dark clouds by

different writers was in fact writers referring to the same specific and related phenomenon.

Dendrochronology.

Studies of climate change can be investigated in a number of ways, with some sciences being

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