Davin News Server

On Thu, 11 Dec 2025 11:53:21 -0700, Dr. Rocktor wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Dec 2025 06:20:10 -0000 (UTC)
> Dhu on Gate <campbell@neotext.ca> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:58:13 -0700, Dr. Rocktor wrote:
>> 
>> >> The Holocene is due to end. The Holocene is overdue to
>> >> end!  And, no, not because of Gwobull Warbling. It was
>> >> already overdue to end in Roman times... pre Roman times!  
>> > 
>> > Many trace the decline of the Roman empire to a series of colder and
>> > drier winters that played havoc with grain production and thus
>> > hobbled their armies' conquest and retention progress.  
>> 
>> Na.  Roman Armies (actually all armies) needed to "eat peasants" as
>> they moved: "gleaners" went an' took what there was.  They ran into
>> trouble in places where there were no peasants with grain stores to
>> steal, like Scotland: smoked fish and mussels don't keep so well in
>> the rain.
>> 
>> Dhu
> 
> Not what really happened.
> 

The Romans got the shit kicked outta them in Scotland by some 
Irish Xians (Dalriata!) at the Height of the Roman Climate Optimum.

They never got to Avalon.  Took that creep Patrick to sneak them in ;-)

Dhu


> https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-climate-change-and-disease-helped-fall-rome-180967591/
> 
> The end of this lucky climate regime did not immediately, or in any simple deterministic sense, spell the doom of Rome. Rather, a less favorable climate undermined its power just when the empire was imperilled by more dangerous enemies—Germans, Persians—from without. Climate instability peaked in the sixth century, during the reign of Justinian. Work by dendro-chronologists and ice-core experts points to an enormous spasm of volcanic activity in the 530s and 540s CE, unlike anything else in the past few thousand years. This violent sequence of eruptions triggered what is now called the ‘Late Antique Little Ice Age,’ when much colder temperatures endured for at least 150 years.
> 
> This phase of climate deterioration had decisive effects in Rome’s
> unravelling. It was also intimately linked to a catastrophe of even
> greater moment: the outbreak of the first pandemic of bubonic plague.
> 
> https://medium.com/@michaelzibulevsky/when-the-earth-shifted-how-climate-change-sowed-the-seeds-of-romes-fall-51cd631b6ade
> 
> As the environment that sustained Rome’s agricultural system began to
> shift, the empire faced a slow unraveling that no legion or law could
> halt. This is the story of how changing weather patterns, faltering
> harvests, and dwindling populations undermined the foundation of one of
> history’s greatest civilizations.
> 
> A Changing World
> By the 4th century, however, the climate began to shift. The Roman Climate Optimum gave way to cooler, less stable conditions, marking the onset of the Late Antique Little Ice Age. This period brought irregular rainfall, longer droughts, and harsher winters. North Africa, once lush with wheat fields, faced desertification as the Sahara expanded. Fertile farmland transformed into arid plains, and irrigation systems, neglected due to war and resource scarcity, worsened the crisis.
> 
> In the heartland of Italy, harvests began to fail. The once-reliable agricultural output of the empire could no longer meet the demands of its growing urban centers and armies. The interconnected system of cities and farms, already stretched thin, began to break down.
> 
> The Consequences of Collapse
> The consequences of these changes were profound. Grain shortages in
> Rome and Constantinople sparked unrest among urban populations. In
> rural areas, farmers abandoned their lands as repeated crop failures
> left them unable to pay taxes or sustain their families. Much of this
> abandoned land fell into the hands of large estate owners, but even
> they could not fully exploit it without the labor force that Rome’s
> dwindling population could no longer provide.

 -- 
Je suis Canadien:
  Ce n'est pas Francais ou Anglais,
  C'est une esp`ece de sauvage. 
  Ne obliviscaris: vix ea nostra voco!

 *A mari ad mari ad mari*

  Duncan Patton a Campbell