Climate history of Byzantium at the crossroads

This chapter is meant as a basic introduction to the field of climate history of Byzantium as of AD 2022. After explaining what climate history is, it discusses the source base and the big questions of the field, as well as it outlooks for the future

Managing the Roman Empire for the long term: risk assessment and management policy in the fifth to seventh centuries

This chapter analyses the reasons for the survival of the eastern Roman state from three different but complementary angles: imperial administration, the environmental conditions impacting land-use for the period, and the ability of the state to leverage resources. We conclude that a major contributory factor in survival was the effective use of natural resources and a self-reinforcing social-ecological system through which the state and its elites and infrastructure facilitated the survival of landscapes, generating the resources necessary for the state’s continued existence. In areas where this broke down—as in the western part of the empire—the Roman state in the long term disappeared

Magnetoelectric Jones Dichroism in Atoms

The authors suggest that atomic experiments measuring the interference between magnetic-dipole and electric-field-induced electric-dipole transition amplitudes provide a valuable system to study magnetoelectric Jones effects.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Holocene hydroclimatic changes in Northern Peloponnese (Greece) inferred from the multiproxy record of Lake Lousoi

This research presents the paleoenvironmental evolution of a drained lake at the Lousoi plateau (northern Peloponnese), for the last 10,000 years, through the study of a 7 m depth core. Analyses conducted on the core include grain size, TOC, TN, pH, EC, total carbonates (), magnetic susceptibility measurements, XRF analysis, and radiocarbon dating. Our paleoenvironmental reconstruction was based on geochemical proxiesrsquo; distribution in the core, combined with sediment physical and textural characteristics and later comparison between additional lacustrine archives from northern Peloponnese. From 10,900 to 7700 cal BP lacustrine, organic-rich deposits were recognized, reflecting increased lake water levels. Wet climatic conditions seem to have prevailed during this phase, interrupted by a dry pulse at 9400 cal BP. Transition to more shallow waters was marked at 8200 cal BP due to increased sediment deposition in the lake, with the environmental status shifting to a more oxygenated phase. Overall, wet conditions prevailed in this period and are in good agreement with regional records. In the Late Holocene period, the lake seems to have been highly affected by pedogenic processes, and thus, it was difficult to distinguish paleoclimatic/paleoenvironmental signals.1. Introduction 2. Study Area 2.1. Regional Setting 2.2. Geological Setting 3. Materials and Methods 3.1. Coring Fieldwork 3.2. Sedimentology 4. Results 4.1. Core Description and Stratigraphy 4.2. Radiocarbon Dating and Age–Depth Model 4.3. Distribution of Geochemical Proxies 5. Discussion 5.1. Early Holocene (11,800–8200 cal BP) 5.2. Middle Holocene (8200–4200 cal BP) 5.3. Late Holocene (4200 cal BP–Present) 6. Conclusion

EU Nature Restoration Law; EGU Response

The EGU Biodiversity Task Force welcomes the ambitious targets outlined in the Nature Restoration Law that was presented by the European Commission on 22 June 2022. To ensure the Nature Restoration Law is successful, the EGU Biodiversity Task Force is recommending seven key points to be added, amended, or strengthened throughout the document

Perspective of Internet Poker Players on Harm-Reduction Strategies: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Internet gambling may increase rates of gambling harm. This current study aimed to assess Internet poker players' views on various harm-reduction (HR) strategies. It also examined differences in these views according to the games played (poker only vs. poker plus other gambling activities), indebtedness, and problem gambling severity. Methods: Internet poker players (n = 311; 94.2% Male) recruited online between 2012 and 2014 were included in the analyses and completed a survey on indebtedness, problem gambling severity index, and ten statements regarding HR features. Results: Among the whole sample, the most frequently endorsed HR strategy was setting money limits, specialized online help, and peer support forums. People who play poker only (70%) are less prone to endorse the utility of information on excessive gambling and specialized healthcare centers. No differences were found between those people with debt versus those without regarding HR assessment. Participants with severe problem gambling were more skeptical about HR strategies based on information on specialized healthcare centers. Conclusion: Setting money limits, online help, and peer support forums are the most commonly endorsed strategies. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of online harm reduction strategies

The Justinianic Plague: an inconsequential pandemic?

Existing mortality estimates assert that the Justinianic Plague (circa 541 to 750 CE) caused tens of millions of deaths throughout the Mediterranean world and Europe, helping to end antiquity and start the Middle Ages. In this article, we argue that this paradigm does not fit the evidence. We examine a series of independent quantitative and qualitative datasets that are directly or indirectly linked to demographic and economic trends during this two-century period: Written sources, legislation, coinage, papyri, inscriptions, pollen, ancient DNA, and mortuary archaeology. Individually or together, they fail to support the maximalist paradigm: None has a clear independent link to plague outbreaks and none supports maximalist reconstructions of late antique plague. Instead of large-scale, disruptive mortality, when contextualized and examined together, the datasets suggest continuity across the plague period. Although demographic, economic, and political changes continued between the 6th and 8th centuries, the evidence does not support the now commonplace claim that the Justinianic Plague was a primary causal factor of them. © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

Palaeoenvironmental History of the Gredos Range (Spanish Central System, Avila) in Visigothic Times: The Impact of the Justinianic Plague (AD 541–543)

This paper evaluates the possible impact of the early medieval pandemic known as the “Justinianic plague” as one of the factors that shaped the mountain ecosystems in the Spanish Central System of the Iberian Peninsula. For this purpose, we focus on two high-resolution, radiocarbon-dated natural pollen records from the Gredos Range (Avila). These cores frame the information they offer within the general picture of the socio-political and environmental transformations of Late Antiquity. Along these three centuries, between c. AD 400 and AD 720, the palynological sequence allows us to recognize eight short phases (on a ten-year and even five-year scale) through which the forest formations traversed. This analysis has made it possible to identify olive and chestnut tree arboriculture since the beginning of the studied interval, as well as to characterize the fluctuation in the thinning processes of the high montane pine forests, due to slash-and-burn practices to open pastures, especially from the permanent occupation of the piedmont in Visigothic times (c. AD 450). The sequence also shows a significant decrease in the anthropic signal during a short period (c. AD 540-545) that can be disassociated from the early effects of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (c. AD 450-660) and which is possibly more related to the plague, as evidenced by the subsequent recovery of anthropic pressure on the pine forest and the extension of the olive and chestnut grove in the 6th and 7th centuries AD.El presente trabajo evalúa la posible influencia de la pandemia altomedieval conocida como «plaga de Justiniano» como uno de los factores que contribuyeron a configurar los ecosistemas de montaña enclavados en el Sistema Central de la península ibérica. Para ello, el artículo se centra en dos registros polínicos naturales de alta resolución y bien datados mediante radiocarbono, obtenidos en la Sierra de Gredos (Ávila), y enmarca la información que ofrecen en el cuadro general de las dinámicas sociopolíticas y ambientales de la Antigüedad Tardía. En el intervalo de tres siglos, entre c. 400 y 720 A. D., la secuencia palinológica permite reconocer ocho fases breves (de escala decenal e incluso quinquenal) que marcaron las transformaciones del paisaje. Este análisis ha posibilitado identificar la implantación de la arboricultura de olivo y castaño desde el inicio del intervalo estudiado, así como caracterizar la fluctuación en los procesos de clareo de los pinares altimontanos, por la incidencia de talas y rozas con fuego para abrir pastizales, especialmente desde la ocupación permanente del piedemonte en época visigoda (c. 450 A. D.). La secuencia analizada muestra un significativo aminoramiento de la señal antrópica durante un breve intervalo (c. 540-545 A. D.) que cabe desvincular de los efectos tempranos de la Pequeña Edad de Hielo tardoantigua (c. 450-660 A. D.) y resulta más plausible relacionar con la plaga, como avala la subsiguiente recuperación de la presión antrópica sobre el pinar y la extensión del olivar y el castañar en los siglos VI y VII A. D.- Introducción - Zona de estudio - Consideraciones metodológicas - Historia de la vegetación e impacto humano (400-720 A.D.) - Conclusiones, variabilidad climática y efectos de la pandemia (541-543 A.D.