CLIMATE OF THE BLACK SEA REGION AROUND
0 C.E.
J. N E U M A N N
Emeritus, * Department of Atmospheric Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Abstract. Indications of the climate of the Black Sea Region (the region up to
about 500 km from the sea) are examined for a period of a few hundred years
before and after 0 C.E. Much of the information is obtained from the work of
Soviet scientists, some recent discovery regarding ice conditions on a high mountain of Turkey and from archeology of the region.
Levels of the Black Sea, the Caspian and that of the large Lake Van were on the
rise at the time. The most plausible cause for the level rise of the latter two exitless
water bodies is increased precipitation and inflow from the drainage areas; in the
Black Sea's case a contributory factor must have been the level rise of the world's
oceans. Pollen investigations in the southern European Soviet Union, as well as
the large quantities of wine and figs grown on the northern littoral of the Black Sea
at the time, suggest that the climate was a little warmer than at present. The pollen
investigations intimate a temperature level about 0.5 ~ higher than the 'cold'
phase around the middle of the first millenium B.C. Support to the aforementioned inference is offered by the recently discovered ice conditions on Mt.
Erciyas, Turkey, as they were 2000 years ago. It is also inferred that the precipitation level of the region was, generally, somewhat higher than nowadays.
Finally, a brief review is made of glacier, tree-ring density and peatbog data for
Europe and North America. They all show that the period around 0 C.E. was
relatively warm.
1. Introduction
In his poem Georgica, the Roman poet Virgil (70-19 B.C.) has a passage (Book III,
lines 349-383; Virgil, 1916, pp. 178-181) 'describing' the inclemency of climate of
Scythia, Scythia being the name in Antiquity of the area between the Carpathians in
the west and the River Don in the east. Part of that country formed the northern
littoral of the Black Sea. The Roman poet Propertius (c. 50-19 B.C.), a contemporary of Virgil, refers in one of his elegies (Elegies, Book VI-3; Propertius, 1912,
p. 281) to the Getae, the tribe inhabiting the city of Tomis (modern Constanta,
Rumania) and the neighboring area on the western shore of the Black Sea, as
'wintry Getae'. Similarly, the Roman poet Lucan (39-65 C.E.) writes in his work
The Civil War, that the rigor of the winter is such that it 'ties up' (freezes) the
Scythian Sea (the Black Sea) with icy cold that 'no spring can thaw' (Lucan, Book I,
lines 17-18; Lucan, 1969, pp. 4-5); elsewhere (Book VI, line 325; 1969, pp. 3 2 8 329) he refers to the 'Scythian cold'.
However, the most acerbic 'description' of climate of the Tomis area is found in
* In 1986-90 visiting with the Department of Meteorology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen,
Denmark.
Climatic Change 18: 453-465, 1991.
9 1991 KluwerAcademic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
4 54
J. Neumann
the works of Ovid (43 B.C.-17(?) C.E.), who was relegated in the year 8 C.E. by the
Emperor Augustus from Rome to Tomis. In poetical works composed in exile he
repeatedly complains of grimness of the climate of Tomis: boisterous north winds,
cold, snow, frozen Danube and sea; not even the summers are mild. Although his
bitter references to the climate occur in several passages, the most concentrated
passage is found in Book III, Song X, of his poem cycle Tristia (= Songs of Sadness;
Ovid, 1965, pp. 136-139). No doubt, Ovid had personal, subjective reasons to
complain of the climate, but the examples of Virgil, Propertius and Lucan, who had
never been in the region and who never had to suffer from the environmental conditions of the Black Sea, show that there was a widely held view in Rome, at least in
intellectual circles (the Greek literature was much read) that the region's climate
was most harsh. Figure 1 shows the Black Sea Region, including the ancient sites of
Scythia and Tomis.
The Romans' view may have been influenced by the views of noted and respected Greek scientists, such as Eratosthenes (c. 275-194 B.C.) and Hipparchus
(190-125 B.C.) who classed the climate of the Black Sea region as excessively cold.
They arrived at this conclusion because they overestimated by 2 ~ latitude the distances of Byzantium and of the mouth of the Dnepr river from the Equator. Since
they postulated that the climate becomes progressively colder with increasing dis-
Fig. 1. Map of the Black Sea Region. Names used in the Antiquity are underlined.
Climatic Change June 1991
Climate of the Black Sea Region Around 0 C.E.
455
tance from the Equator, the Black Sea region was taken by them to be appreciably
colder than it was in reality.
In view of the above 'pronouncements', we have decided to bring together material on the climate of the Black Sea region for the period around 0 C.E. and, since
the scientific literature of the western countries contains little information on the
subject, with the exception of material on the level variations of the Caspian Sea,
we have made an effort to obtain literature by Soviet scientists.
2. Level Variations of the Black Sea and of Neighboring Seas
A. Black Sea
The Soviet publication Sea and Oceanic Level Fluctuations for 15000 Years (1982;
in Russian) is a collection of papers by a number of authors. On p. 163 Serebryannyy presents sea-level data obtained by scientists affiliated with some nine Soviet
scientific institutions, adding to the diagram a curve for the average level of the
world's oceans. For the period between about 2700 and 1400 B.E, he has four dots
representing data procured by the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for
Hydrology and Engineering Geology. These dots, which span 0 C.E., show that the
level of the Black Sea was on the rise at the time and that this rise paralleled the rise
of level of the world's oceans.
In the same volume, on p. 154, Fedorov presents a curve of his own for the Black
Sea level. His graph, too, indicates that the level was on the rise from about 2800 to
1200 B.R
B. Caspian Sea
According to Figure 13.32 in Lamb (1977, p. 134), the Caspian Sea was on the rise
for nearly one thousand years before, and for hundreds of years after 0 C.E. The
Caspian is about 500 km to the east of the Black Sea.
C. Lake Van
This large exitless lake is situated in Eastern Turkey, approximately 500 km to the
south-east from the south-east corner of the Black Sea. In Figure 4 of a paper by
Kay and Johnson (1981), the authors infer from proxy data, that the lake level was
probably in the process of rising in the period of interest in this paper.
A suggested interpretation of the background of the above mentioned level rises
will be put forward in Section 6. The interpretation will be made in conjunction
with the observations described in Sections 3 to 5.
Climatic Change June 1991
456
J. Neumann
3. Peat Formation in the Central Caucasus
We have examined the Soviet publication in Russian Glacial Variation and Moraine
Accumulation Processes in the Central Caucasus (1984), describing and discussing
results of researches of the International Glacial Projects.* We have looked, in particular, for references to the period 300-400 years before and after 0 C.E. A diagram on p. 83 (Figure 20 in the volume) shows the abundance of a number of herb
varieties in the peat. In the diagram the r/c dating closest to 0 C.E. on the B.C. side
is 3500 + 70 B.E, or 1550 + 70 B.C. (depth: 140 cm), while the two datings closest
to 0 C.E. on the other side, are 1930 _+70 B.E, 20 + 70 C.E. and 1840 _+70 B.E,
110 +_C.E. (depths: 105 and 100 cm, respectively). At 3500 + 70 B.R the abundance of the herbs identified is at a minimum, while at 1930 _+B.E there is a maximum, the maximum being followed by a sharp decline, with the exception of two of
the varieties. The next minimum is reached at 1840 + 70 B.P. On p. 103 the authors
report peat bogs, for which the r/c date of 2390 • 80 B.E, 440 _+80 B.C., is given;
on p. 132 peat and sprig fir are reported for 2250 • 60 B.E, 300 _+60 B.C.
It appears from the above mentioned diagram and the dating quoted on p. 103
that a relatively cool period drew to its close shortly after 300 + 60 B.C. and, in any
case, before 0 C.E. At about 20 + 70 C.E. a short-lived warming set in which terminated about 110 + 70 C.E. Thus, a change of climate must have taken place about
0 C.E. Indeed, such an explicit statement is made by the author(s) on p. 103.
The dates of 3500 • 70, 1930 _+70 and 1840 • 70 B.E are also mentioned in a
paper by Serebryannyy and Malyasova (1981, p. 80). In their conclusions the
authors say that after the Sub-boreal (~ 400 B.C.) lakes and fens of the Central
Caucasus moved to lower altitudes 'due to increased humidification in the Subatlantic"
In a paper by Kotlyakov and Krenke (1979) the statement is made on p. 19 that
'... traces of former glaciation in the Central Caucasus ... indicate that the last but
one period of glacial advance was over by the middle of the first millenium A.D.
The last period of glacial advance started in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries....'
When we combine the information cited in the foregoing four paragraphs, the
picture emerges of a relatively cold period around the middle of the first millenium
B.C., with a warmer and humid (rainy?) period astride 0 C.E.
4. Pollen Studies in the Hill Region in the South of the European Soviet Union
A paper by Klimanov and Serebryannaya (1986) reports on pollen investigations in
the hill region in the south of the European Soviet Union. Station No. 1 of the
authors is at Sindeyevskoe, in the valley of the Bobrava river, latitude 51 ~ N, some
* The title page of the volume does not print the names of the editor(s) and the names of the authors.
However, in the (Russian) Introduction V. M. Kotlyakov is named as editor. The following are listed as
contributors: N. A. Golodkovskaya, E. O. II'vesi, V. M. Kotlyakov, Ye. S. Malyasova, A. V. Orlov and
L. R. Serebryanny.
Climatic Change June 1991
Climate of the Black Sea Region Around 0 C.E.
B.P. 0
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Fig. 2. Estimates of temperature and precipitation for the past 10,000 years in the southern European
Soviet Union, based on pollen investigations of Klimanov and Serebryannaya (1986, Figure 3). The
numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 stand for the serial numbers of the four stations studied by the Soviet authors.
No. 1 is at Sindeyevskoe, about 500 km north of the Sea of Azov, No. 2 is at Rethyazhi, about 600 km
north and Nos. 3 and 4 about 900 km north of the same sea. AT is the temperature difference in ~
and AR the precipitation difference from present-day conditions.
500 km north of the Sea of Azov, between Kursk and Belgorod; station No. 2 is at
Rethyazhi, 52 + N, 600 km north of the same sea. We shall not consider the data of
the remaining two stations which are about 900 km north.
Figure 2 is a copy of Figure 3 of the authors. It is seen in the diagram that for the
period around 2000 B.R, the July temperatures are given as a little higher than at
present, the January temperatures about the same as in recent times at No. 1, and a
little higher than at present at No. 2. The result is that the annual temperatures are
found as much the same as in recent times, with a slight tendency to be a little
Climatic Change June 1991
458
J. Neumann
o
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Fig. 3. Summer temperature in the Alps for the past 10,000 years, based on tree- and snow-line investigations of Patzelt (1980). In the present form, the figure is part of Patzelt's Figure 1.
higher. The annual rainfall is depicted as about the same as at present at No. 1, and
little higher (N 25 mm or so) at No. 2.
The authors add on p. 101 of their paper that around 2410 + 60 B.R, 460 + 60
B.C., the temperatures were lower while at 2265 + 60 B.R, 315 + 60 B.C., they were
close to those at present. This remark is in approximate agreement with what the
volume Glacial Variations (1984), quoted in our previous Section, writes about the
Central Caucasus of the parallel period: a cold period around the middle of the first
millenium B.C., followed by a warming.
5. The Ice on the Summit of Mount Erciyas, Turkey
Early in August 1989 came to the attention of the present writer a report of the
semi-official Anatolian News Agency according to which part of the ice covering
the rocks of the summit of Mt. Erciyas (Erciyas Dagh, summit at 3916 m MSL; for
a location of the Mount, see Figure 1) melted away and revealed a Roman temple
hewn into the rocks. The report went on to state that Turkish archeologists estimate
that the temple was 'carved' 2000 years ago, that is, in Roman times of Asia Minor.
The report came to the present writer's attention through a news item in the issue
of the Neue Ziircher Zeitung ('Fernausgabe') for 9 August, see p. 7 of the issue.
The fact that the Romans were able to hew a temple (actually the facade of a
temple) indicates that 2000 years ago the summit, or a part of it, was free of ice,
suggesting that the climate of the period was somewhat milder than in the earlier
decades of the 20th century C.E.
Climatic Change June 1991
Climate of the Black Sea Region Around 0 C.E.
459
6. Archeologicai, Historical and Literary Evidence
A. Crimea
The British archeologist Minns (1913) writes on p. 495 of his work Scythians and
Greeks about the south-west corner of the Crimean Peninsula. The area south of
the Sevastopol Roadstead is sometimes referred to as the 'Lesser Peninsula'. Relating to the exposed plateau of the Lesser Peninsula, Minns writes the following
(italics by J.N.): 'This place is now mostly barren; it lacks moisture and the soil is
very thin: only in the ravines are there attempts at gardening, and a few vineyards
on the southern slopes ... Yet in ancient times its whole surface was
undoubtedly cultivated. Dubois de Montprreux traced all over it the lines of regular
boundary walls and in many places the foundations of ancient homesteads'. In
Minns' statement 'ancient times' refers to the last centuries of the B.C. era; Dubois
de Montp&eux was a French scholar who travelled in the area around 1840 and
published a multi-volumed work on his observations and inferences. Minns himself
travelled and explored the archeology of the region. It is relevant to point to the
expertise of Minns on the archeology of Southern Russia: he was member of some
of the Imperial Russian scientific societies.
The area of the Lesser Peninsula housed in the last few centuries B.C. the prosperous city of Chersonesus (see Figure 1), settled originally by Greek colonizers.
Minns (p. 495) quotes an inscription (published by Latyshev, 1916, Inscription No.
418) dating back to the third century B.C.*, found at the site of Chersonesus, in
which a citizen by the name of Agasicles is held up for praise for his services in redistributing of vineyards. Minns adds that the wine and other produce of the area
were exported. Referring to the contrast of productivity of the land in ancient times
to its appearance in recent times (beginning of the 20th century C.E.) by the term
'enigma', he makes the following comments of importance to our present study: 'I
have no explanation of the enigma to offer unless it were a great diminution of rainfall... In later times when decay set in Chersonese had to rely on imported wine and
grain paid for with hides and wax...'.
Also Rostovtzeff (1949), a scholar of the economies of the Roman Empire and
of the Hellenistic World, depicts the area of Chersonesus as a wine producing
country. In another work, the same scholar (1922, p. 69) points out that the agricultural exports of Chersonesus to Greece and other areas of the Near East brought in
large quantities of jewelry and objects of art of gold and silver from Greece and
elsewhere, as testified by tombs of the fourth century B.C.
K. Neumann (1855, p. 67) states that wild ('wild und verwildert') fig trees are
found (19th century C.E. observation) in the southern valleys of the Crimea. These
wild fig trees were, in all probability, descendants of fig trees cultivated in the An* An estimate of dating of the inscription was kindly supplied to us by Prof. J. Blomqvist, Institute of
Classics, Lurid University, Lund, Sweden.
Climatic Change June 1991
460
J. Neumann
tiquity. Figs were an important food item of Greece and, in fact, of the whole Near
East of the Antiquity.* Figs are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, in
several cases side by side with vine.
B. Inferences from the Classical Greek Literature
Buchinsky (1963, p. 91) states, without supplying the pertinent bibliographic references, that B. M. Multanovsky examined passages of Homeric poems relating to
the lands close to the northern littoral of the Black Sea. Multanovsky concluded
that 'in the middle of the first millenium B.C. and in the beginning of our epoch, the
climate of the Ukraine was somewhat colder and more humid than now'. We add
that, as far as the Homeric poems are concerned, these were composed before
about 500 B.C. when the climate of the Ukraine was colder, see Figure 1, taken
from the paper of Klimanov and Serebryannaya (1986).
Buchinsky refers also to a work by A. A. Borisov (both Multanovsky and Borisov were meteorologists) investigating climatic fluctuations in the Crimea. Based on
findings of large amounts of pine pollen in peat bogs in Crimea, he came to rather
similar conclusions as Multanovsky. Unfortunately, Buchinsky does not give the
literature references to Borisov's work either.
C. The Fate of a Bridge over the Southern Danube
In Vol. 2 of his work Climate: Present, Past and Future, Lamb (1977, p. 272 and
Plate VI) points out that in 101-105 C.E. a bridge mounted on stone pillars was
constructed across the Danube at the Iron Gate for the Dacian campaign of the
Emperor Trajan (53-117 C.E.). The bridge 'stood for almost 170 years at a point
where in most recent centuries such a structure might be expected to be carried
away by ice in one or other of the severe winters'. The Iron Gate (see Figure 1) is
close to 500 km to the west of the Black Sea.
In support of Lamb's comment we quote from Podossinov (1987, note 416) that
a Rumanian investigator, S. I. G. Petrescu, showed that in the years 1836-1950 the
lower Danube froze over in 91 years (out of 115), the ice cover persisting for 40
days in the mean.
* With further reference to the growing of wine on the littorals of the Black Sea, we shall quote in this
footnote a statement by the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 B.C. to at least 21 C.E.). We quote in a
footnote because he is not always reliable in his writings. In Book VII-3.11 of his Geography (Strabo,
1924, p. 211) Strabo writes about the Dacians, living west and north of the Danube delta. It would
follow from what he writes about Dacia that much wine was produced in the kingdom. If this statement
is correct, then the climate of the region in Strabo's time could not have been colder than at present.
Actually, Strabo writes 'Getae' in place of 'Dacians', but Brandis, author of the entry Dacia in Paulys
Encyclopiidie der Altertumswissenschafi (Vol. IV, 1910, col. 1963), points out that Strabo repeatedly
makes the error of calling the Dacians 'Getae'.
Climatic Change June 1991
Climate of the Black Sea Region Around 0 C.E.
461
7. Comments on Sections 2 to 5
Barring tectonic changes of importance, one of the possible and, perhaps, the most
plausible cause for the rise of levels of the Caspian and Lake Van may have been
increased precipitation on, and inflow from, the drainage areas as well as precipitation over the water bodies themselves. We exclude the possibility of a level rise
principally due to reduced evaporation as by most indications cited in the previous
sections the period of concern to us was not colder than the recent past. On the
contrary, the period may have been slightly warmer, as indicated by pollen studies
in the southern European Soviet Union (Klimanov and Serebryannaya) and by the
production of large quantities of wine and figs (Minns, Rostovtzeff). The statements
that the Sub-boreal in the Central Caucasus ended about 400 B.C. (Serebryannyy
and Malyasova), that a glacial maximum of the same mountain area occurred
around the middle of the first millenium C.E. (Kotlyakov and Krenke), that is, well
after 0 C.E., all indicate that the period of concern to us was relatively warm compared with the period a few hundred years earlier and a few hundred years after
0 C.E. The pollen data of Klimanov and Serebryannaya suggest that the period of
concern to us was approximately 0.5 ~ warmer in southern Russia than the 'cold'
period earlier in the first millenium B.C.
As to the rise of level of the Black Sea, it may have been partly due to causes
similar to those that brought about the level rise of the Caspian and Lake Van.
However, an additional cause may have been the level rise of the world's oceans.
8. Climatic Changes in Some Other Areas Around 0 C.E.
In this section we shall quote briefly climatic variations around 0 C.E. in some
other areas, principally from Europe. In all the cases, there appears to have been a
relatively warm period around 0 C.E., though there were differences in dates of
beginning and/or end of the cold periods preceding and/or succeeding the warm
period. Generally, papers on climatic change place more emphasis on cold than on
warm periods.
A~
Gamper and Suter (1982) describe the postglacial history of the Swiss/kips, based
on the work of Swiss scientists (e.g., Zoller, Schindler and (H.) Rrthlisberger
(1966)). The period of interest in this study is discussed by them on p. 110 and p.
112 while on p. 111 they present a diagram rifled 'Postglaziale Chronologie'. It is
shown by the works summarized by Gamper and Suter that in the two millenia
astride O C.E. there were two major cold phases in the Alps: One from 2880 to
2320 B.E, or 870 to 370 B.C. (the diagram does not show the error limits of the r/c
estimates), designated G/Sschener I, and the second cold phase between 1600 and
1300 B.P., or 350 to 650 C.E., designated Grschener II. On dendrochronology,
Climatic Change June 1991
462
J. Neumann
which provides the most reliable datings, the two authors quote the study of Bircher
and Renner of 1962, showing moderately warm conditions between the two
G6schener phases, especially in the part falling before O C.E.
Pollen, timber- and snow-line investigations in the Swiss and Austrian Alps give
further confirmation to a warm phase between the two Grschener cold phases, see
Bortenschlager (1977), Patzelt (1977 and 1980) and Zoller (1977). Fig. 3 is a copy
of part of a diagram from Patzelt's 1980 paper, showing that the warm phase was
centered shortly before O C.E., and that at its peak it was 1.5 ~ warmer than the
preceding cold phase. The results of the aforementioned scientists is further illustrated in Table I (actually, the 'Table' is a diagram) in a paper by (F.) Rrthlisberger
et al. (1980).
A diagram from a paper by Furrer and Holzhauser (1989), kindly made available in advance of publication by Prof. H. Holzhauser (Geographical Institute, University of Ziirich, Ziirich, Switzerland), shows that the Great Aletsch Glacier was
on the retreat from a date not long before O C.E. Around 100 C.E. the glacier was
as backward as in 1987, and the authors think that the retreat continued until about
250 C.E., that is, at the latter date it was, it is believed, in a position behind that of
1987.
Italy
(a) Lamb (1977, p. 4) cites the Roman agricultural writer Columella (ft. about 3 0 60 C.E.) to the effect that Italy's climate of his time was milder than that of the
previous centuries. Columella quotes the Sasernas, father and son, both agricultural scientists (c. 100 B.C.), that in their time 'the vine and the olive were still slowly working their way northwards upon the leg of Italy'.
(b) Lamb (1977, p. 4) also points to some statements made in the works of Pliny
The Elder (23/24-79 C.E.) and the earlier Theophrastus (372/369-288/285
B.C.). In Book XVI-XV of his Natural History, Pliny (1960, p. 413) writes that the
most suitable roof shingles are got from hard-oak, and the next best from other
acorn-bearing trees and from the beech, but these are the least good to last with the
exception of those from the pine. In the next section of the work, i.e. Book XVIXVI (Pliny, 1960, p. 413) he asserts that '...the pine and the fir.., were in those
days considered exotics, because there were none in the neighbourhood of the
capital Rome'. The phrase 'in those days' refers, roughly, to 280 B.C. The date is
based on a statement of the Roman biographer-historian Cornelius Nepos (e. 9 9 c. 24 B.C.) whose pertinent work was available in Pliny's time but is no longer
extant.
The implication of Pliny's statement is that in his time (1st century C.E.) pine
and fir were growing in and around Rome, suggesting a warmer climate. Pliny's
statement seems to be supported by the noted botanist Theophrastus who writes in
his book Enquiry into Plants, Book V-VIII-3 (Theophrastus, 1961, p. 465) that 'the
country of the Latins ... contains ... wonderful beech'. Pliny's statement agrees with
Climatic Change June 1991
Climate of the Black Sea Region Around 0 C.E.
463
what we have quoted from Columella: a warm period around O C.E. Theophrastus'
statement was made around 300 B.C.
Britain
According to Barber (1982, p. 108) the Bottom Fell Moss peat bogs indicate shifts
to wetter conditions about 2830 and about 1350 B.R, that is about 880 B.C. and
600 C.E. Additionally, he quotes recent work in northern England pointing to a
climatic 'deterioration' about 2686 and 1550 B.R, that is, about 736 B.C. and 400
C.E. Thus, an 'amelioration' is indicated indirectly for the in-between period.
Ireland
After the dying out of peat surfaces in Ireland, renewals of growth are commonest
around 800 B.C. and 500 C.E. (Lamb, 1985, p. 138). By implication, this would
mean that conditions around 0 C.E. were more quiescent with temperatures at a
higher level. Indeed, Figure 55 in Lamb's aforecited text gives for England a period
of prevailing temperatures a little higher than a few hundred years earlier and later.
Denmark
Aabe (1976) studied the variations of Danish raised bogs over a period of 5500
years. His Figure 3 indicates that in the period between a before and after 0 C.E.,
shifts took place around 600 B.C., 250 and 450 C.E. These results suggest, too,
relatively quiet and warm conditions about 0 C.E., especially shortly before it.
Scandinavia
According to Karlrn (1982, p. 31) the dates of glacier expansion closest are 2200
and 1900 B.R, i.e. the former is later and the latter is earlier than in the Alps. Yet,
the intervening period must have been relatively warm.
North America
It is a striking fact that in California there were cold periods both in the first millenium B.C. and the first millenium C.E., the dates paralleling to some extent those
in Europe and the general area of the Black Sea. LaMarche's (1976) study of the
average ring widths of bristlecone pines at the upper tree line in the White Mountains, California, indicates that about 550 B.C. a cold phase set in, and another
about 600 C.E., while the tree rings of the period from about 300 B.C. to 450 C.E.
show a warm period, the peak 'heat' being reached around 0 C.E. Since his work
was based on tree rings, the datings can be considered as rather accurate.
Work done by Porter (1964) shows advance of glaciers in the North-Central
Climatic Change June 1991
464
J. Neumann
Brooks Range of Alaska about 2830 _+ 120 B.R, that is, 865 + 120 B.C. This is the
date of glacial advance closest to 0 C.E., with no indication of another cold phase
in the first millenium C.E.
Denton and Karlrn, (1973, pp. 157-161) consider that the occurrence of glacier
expansion in the first millenium B.C. was worldwide. Even more significant for our
study is the fact that they consider that the period around 0 C.E. was a period of
glacier contraction worldwide. See, in particular their Figures i and A.10, p. 153, in
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences publication Understanding Climatic
Change, A Program for Action (1975) where LaMarche's tree-ring data for California are set in juxtaposition with data of advance and retreat of Holocene Alaskan,
glaciers.
Acknowledgments
The writer is pleased to put on record his indebtedness to the following: Prof.
Jerker Blomqvist, Institute of Classics, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden, for
literature and comments on the literature of the Greek Antiquity; Prof. Hans-Peter
Holzhauser, Geographical Institute, University of Zfirich, Ziirich, Switzerland, for
literature and correspondence on the variations of glaciers of the Alps; Prof.
Gernot Patzelt, Institute of High-Mountains Research, University of Innsbruck,
Innsbruck, Austria, for literature and for permission to reproduce part of a diagram
from one of his papers (Figure 2 in the present study); Ms. Laura Rontu, Finnish
Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland, for the arduous task of translating from
the Russian literature.
At the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, the writer was kindly
helped by the following: Dr. Kristine Heltberg, Slavic Institute, for clarifying some
points from the Russian literature; Mr. Erik Kristiansen, Geological Library, for
literature searches; Mr. R S. Jorgensen and his fellow librarians at the Geographical
Library for their assistance with maps; Ms. Conny Jensen, Institute of Geophysics,
for the preparation of the drawings for the figures in this paper.
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(Received 20 June, 1989; in revised form 25 January, 1990.)
Climatic Change June 1991