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Twilight of the gods? The 'dust veil event' of AD 536 in critical perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID3429337
AuthorsBo Gräslund (Uppsala University), Neil Price (University of the Witwatersrand)
Year2012
Volume86
Issue332
Pages428-443
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00062852
OpenAlexW1957559873
LanguageEN
Citations received55
References cited31

The popular notion of social collapse consequent on natural catastrophe is here elegantly disentangled in a study of the dark summer of AD 536. Leaving aside the question of its cause, the authors show there is good scientific evidence for a climatic downturn, contemporary with good archaeological evidence for widespread disruption of settlement and population displacement in the northern latitudes. They then navigate through the shifting shadows of myth, and emerge with a welcome prize: strong circumstantial reasons for recognising that this widespread horror, like so many others, did leave its imprint on Scandinavian poetry and sculpture

Archaeology · Art · Aside · Circumstantial evidence · Geography · Literature · Mythology · Natural (archaeology) · Perspective (graphical) · Poetry · Population · Settlement (finance) · Sociology · Visual arts · Classics · Demography · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Tree-ring climate responses

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Unique citing works55
Citations per year0,98
Citation span1970 - 2026 (57)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 51

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