Historical climatology
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Historical climatology is the study of historical changes in weather and their effect on human history. This supplants the traditional study of only ice ages and other dramatic effects. This differs from paleoclimatology because historical climatology studies the correlations of human history and climate change and not merely ecological effects. The evidence of a warm climate in Europe, for example, comes from archaeological studies of settlement and farming in the Bronze Age at altitudes now beyond cultivation, such as Dartmoor and Exmoor in England. Similarly, studies of the Norse sagas describe the settlement of Greenland in the 9th century AD, a claim backed by archaeology. Later examples include the Little Ice Age, well documented by paintings, documents (such as diaries) and events such as the River Thames frost fairs held on frozen lakes and rivers in the 17th and 18th centuries.
[edit] Examples
- Bronze Age Europe: warm according to evidence of high-altitude settlement
- 6th century AD: particularly cold
- 11th to early 13th century AD: more stable and warmer
- Medieval Warm Period in Europe: warm as judged by settlement of Greenland
- Little Ice Age in Europe: cold as judged by contemporary paintings and documents
[edit] See also
- Climate
- Paleoclimatology, the pre-historical study of Earth's climate
- Cliwoc, Climatological database for the world's oceans (1750-1854)
[edit] External links
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