The disappearance of the ancient landscape and the climatic anomaly of the early Middle Ages

Archaeological surveys and rescue archaeology, particularly in the Rhône Valley and northern Gaul, have precisely dated the disappearance of occupied sites in late antiquity. Landscape archaeology reveals a concurrent shift from arable land to pasture and reforestation. Recent climate studies indicate this period also experienced an extended period of cold, wet weather. This article explores the potential connections between these phenomena. A preliminary suggestion posits that the widespread reversion from arable to pasture, affecting regions from Italy to Poland, cannot be solely attributed to political and fiscal disruption of the ancient world. Instead, it should be considered an effect of the climatic anomaly

Agriculture · Anomaly (physics · Arable land · Archaeology · Art · Climate change · Excavation · Geography · Late Antiquity · Pasture · Period (music · Physical geography · Reforestation · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Tree-ring climate responses · Forestry · Geology

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