Climate and the Roman, Late Antique and Byzantine Worlds, Oxford University via Zoom, March 24, 2021, 2:00–4:30 pm
The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research is excited to host this event organised by Peter Frankopan, featuring guest speakers exploring the topic from a number of angles.
Historians are paying a great deal of attention to climate data when thinking and writing about the past. While part of the reason for this is the current focus on climate change in the modern world, significant advances in climate science are opening up rich and multiple new sources of data, information and insight.
Records from speloethems, fossiled pollen, lake sediment, coral and ice cores (amongst others) represent invaluable resources that help add texture to historical interpretation and in some cases, demand that conventional wisdom be challenged and in some cases over-turned.
This event will gather some of the pioneers of this field to look at some of the opportunities and challenges that climate science presents – with topics ranging from the impacts of major volcanic eruptions and pandemics to socio-economic and cultural change.
Advance registration required.