Dr. Elena Xoplaki

Justus-Liebig University Giessen

10:30 July 5, 2019

No. 319, Building 40

Late Antiquity, 300-700 AD, was a period of large-scale climate fluctuations and abrupt climatic shifts in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. The “Late Roman Drought” a longer dry period extended from northwest Italy to the Black Sea and the southeast corner of the Mediterranean Basin. The dry phase ended rather abrupt in the course of the fifth and sixth century and was followed by the “Late Antique Pluvial”. The humid period is synchronous with what seems to be the climax of rural prosperity in the Eastern Roman Empire. We combine palaeoclimate proxy records with palaeoclimate model simulations, discuss their ability and potential, and study the processes and underlying dynamics during these phases. New historical data inform about socio-economic consequences.