One of the web sites connected to a homepage for Baillie. It looked
like he had credible publications in the radiocarbon/dendrochronology
line, but perhaps not too strong when it came to popularizing his
work and making connections to history.
The ca. 1624BC tree ring anomaly corresponds to the Thera eruption in
the Mediterranean, which certainly disrupted the Minoan civilization,
centered in the area.
I do not know of a comparable eruption in the 6th century AD, but ice
core data should provide evidence if there was one.
One of the major Indonesian volcanos caused enough global cooling and
loss of light in the 1810's to cause crop failures in the US and
Europe ("the year without a summer", "eighteen hundred and froze to
death", etc.). However, I don't think anything could be considered a
collapsed civilization from that time.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at
Droitgate Spa
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