Beyond one-way determinism: San Frediano’s miracle and climate change in Central and Northern Italy in late antiquity

Giovanni Zanchetta, Monica Bini, Kevin Bloomfield, Adam Izdebski (), Nicola Vivoli, Eleonora Regattieri, Ilaria Isola, Russell N. Drysdale, Petra Bajo, John C. Hellstrom, Robert Wiśniewski, Anthony E. Fallick, Stefano Natali and Marco Luppichini
Additional contact information
Giovanni Zanchetta: University of Pisa
Monica Bini: University of Pisa
Kevin Bloomfield: Cornell University
Adam Izdebski: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Nicola Vivoli: University of Pisa
Eleonora Regattieri: Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, IGG-CNR
Ilaria Isola: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV Sez. Pisa
Russell N. Drysdale: The University of Melbourne
Petra Bajo: Croatian Geological Survey
John C. Hellstrom: The University of Melbourne
Robert Wiśniewski: University of Warsaw
Anthony E. Fallick: Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, SUERC
Stefano Natali: University of Florence
Marco Luppichini: University of Florence

Climatic Change, 2021, vol. 165, issue 1, No 25, 21 pages

Abstract: Abstract Integrating palaeoclimatological proxies and historical records, which is necessary to achieve a more complete understanding of climate impacts on past societies, is a challenging task, often leading to unsatisfactory and even contradictory conclusions. This has until recently been the case for Italy, the heart of the Roman Empire, during the transition between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In this paper, we present new high-resolution speleothem data from the Apuan Alps (Central Italy). The data document a period of very wet conditions in the sixth c. AD, probably related to synoptic atmospheric conditions similar to a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. For this century, there also exist a significant number of historical records of extreme hydroclimatic events, previously discarded as anecdotal. We show that this varied evidence reflects the increased frequency of floods and extreme rainfall events in Central and Northern Italy at the time. Moreover, we also show that these unusual hydroclimatic conditions overlapped with the increased presence of “water miracles” in Italian hagiographical accounts and social imagination. The miracles, performed by local Church leaders, strengthened the already growing authority of holy bishops and monks in Italian society during the crucial centuries that followed the “Fall of the Roman Empire”. Thus, the combination of natural and historical data allows us to show the degree to which the impact of climate variability on historical societies is determined not by the nature of the climatic phenomena per se, but by the culture and the structure of the society that experienced it.

Keywords: Precipitation; Roman Empire; Miracles; Social feedbacks; Cultural change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03043-x

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