Roman Warm Period

The Roman Warm Period has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to 400 AD.

Various proxies have been proposed as evidence for the Roman Warm Period, such as the Roman introduction of vineyards into Britain. Growing grapes for wine depends on a number of factors, including climate. Vineyards in the south of England were successful during the early Medieval period, and since the later 20th century numerous commercial vineyards have been established across England and Wales.^[1]

Olive presses have been found at Sagalassos in Anatolia, although it is now too cold to grow olives in this area.^[2]

Theophrastus (371 – c. 287) wrote that date trees could grow in Greece if planted, but could not set fruit there.^[2] This is the same situation as today.^[3] So it seems it that Greek climate in the fourth and fifth centuries was equivalent to that of modern times.^[3] This is confirmed by dendrochronological evidence from wood found at the Parthenon.^[3] By the time Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants in 218 BC, the climate was significantly warmer than at present.^[4]

The phrase "Roman Warm Period" appears in a 1995 doctoral thesis.^[5] It was popularized by an article published in Nature in 1999.^[6]

Proxies

Glaciers: A 1986 analysis of Alpine glaciers concluded that the 100 AD to 400 AD period was significantly warmer than the immediately preceding and following periods.^[7]

Deep ocean sediment: A 1999 reconstruction of ocean current patterns based on the granularity of deep ocean sediment concluded there was a Roman Warm Period that peaked around 150 AD.^[6]

William P. Patterson, Kristin A. Dietrich, Chris Holmden, and John T. Andrews, Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</ref>

References

^ ^a ^b Walter Scheidel, Ian Morris, Richard P. Saller, The Cambridge economic history of the Greco-Roman world, p. 19.
A.G. Brown, I. Meadows, S.D. Turner, D.J. Mattingly, "Roman vineyards in Britain: stratigraphic and palynological data from Wollaston in the Nene Valley, England," Antiquity, Dec, 2001.
"The History Of English Wine Production". English Wine Producers. http://www.englishwineproducers.com/history.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
"Midlands and North Vineyard Listing". English Wine Producers. http://www.englishwineproducers.com/midsvineyard.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
^ ^a ^b Scheidel, p. 19.
^ ^a ^b ^c Scheidel, p. 17.
^ Scheidel, p. 18.
^ Patterson, William Paul, Stable isotopic record of climatic and environmental change in continental settings, 1995. Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan. "The Roman warm period though it has been suggested was responsible in part for advances in civilization, also had a dangerous side."
^ ^a ^b Bianchi, G.G. and McCave, I.N. 1999. "Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland". Nature 397: 515-517. "In our record, a peak in deep-current speed centred at 1850 yr BP(AD100) coincides with the Roman Warm Period."
^ Röthlisberger, F. 1986: 10 000 Jahre Gletschergeschichte der Erde. Sauerländer.