Is it possible that climate change could have kick-started the end of Antiquity? When temperatures drop and the climate becomes drier, the Huns swarm Europe. It’s the last straw and brings about a mass migration that shakes the foundations of the Roman Empire. They abandon cities like London – the ghost-towns of Antiquity. But could this have been enough to herald the beginning of the ‘Dark Ages’ that follow?
Historic sources from Byzantium right across to China have a different suggestion, now backed up by new scientific insights: around 536 AD, the Ilopango Volcano in Central America erupts. The eruption is violent and propels ashes right up into the Stratosphere. The result: the sun dims to a blueish hue that struggles to break through the ash-layer. The following 10 years are extraordinarily cold: this is the beginning of the dark middle ages, marked by famine, war, and an almost complete loss of cultural heritage.
