13th Century Mass Murderer Identified By Modern 'Criminal' Investigation.

[mongers]

Mystery 13th Century eruption traced to Lombok, Indonesia
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News

Scientists think they have found the volcano responsible for a huge eruption that occurred in the 13th Century.

The mystery event in 1257 was so large its chemical signature is recorded in the ice of both the Arctic and the Antarctic.

European medieval texts talk of a sudden cooling of the climate, and of failed harvests.

In the PNAS journal, an international team points the finger at the Samalas Volcano on Lombok Island, Indonesia.

Little remains of the original mountain structure - just a huge crater lake.

The team has tied sulphur and dust traces in the polar ice to a swathe of data gathered in the Lombok region itself, including radiocarbon dates, the type and spread of ejected rock and ash, tree-rings, and even local chronicles that recall the fall of the Lombok Kingdom sometime in the 13th Century.

"The evidence is very strong and compelling," Prof Clive Oppenheimer, from Cambridge University, UK, told the BBC.


Co-worker Prof Franck Lavigne, from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France, added: "We conducted something similar to a criminal investigation.

"We didn't know the culprit at first, but we had the time of the murder and the fingerprints in the form of the geochemistry in the ice cores, and that allowed us to track down the volcano responsible."

The 1257 eruption has been variously linked with volcanoes in Mexico, Ecuador and New Zealand.

But these candidates fail on their dating or geochemistry, the researchers say. Only Samalas can "tick all the boxes".
Global event

The team's studies on Lombok indicate that as much 40 cubic kilometres (10 cubic miles) of rock and ash could have been hurled from the volcano, and that the finest material in the eruption plume would likely have climbed 40km (25 miles) or more into the sky.

It would have had to be this big in order for material to be carried across the entire globe in the quantities seen in the Greenland and Antarctic ice layers.

The impact on the climate would have been significant.

Medieval texts describe atrocious weather the following summer in 1258. It was cold, and the rain was unrelenting, leading to flooding.

Archaeologists recently put a date of 1258 on the skeletons of thousands of people who were buried in mass graves in London.

........

The bowl that is today Segara Anak Crater Lake formed after the eruption

Full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24332239

[Malthus]

Oh, Indonesia and its wacky volcanoes ... I remember when I was in Bali and I visited Mt. Batur ... a volcano inside a set of enormous craters, the outer one being 10 km across. That must have been something, when it blew. 

Can see it in panorama here:

http://www.360cities.net/image/inside-mount-batur-s-caldera#-280.69,-22.81,79.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Batur

[merithyn]

I read about this. Because that's the timeframe that I spend most of my studies, I was thrilled! There are illuminated manuscripts in the Newberry Library in Chicago that have drawings of the failed crops and "dark skies" of that year.

Is it sad that I'm getting goosebumps?

[mongers]

I read about this. Because that's the timeframe that I spend most of my studies, I was thrilled! There are illuminated manuscripts in the Newberry Library in Chicago that have drawings of the failed crops and "dark skies" of that year.

Is it sad that I'm getting goosebumps?

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought. 

[merithyn]

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought.

Learning about royalty and wars is easy. I want to know about the day-to-day stuff.

Like, the idea that Totnes, Devon was once a thriving minter for the kings of old. How did that happen? Why? (The nearby mines, of course, coupled with a straight shot across water to London.) How did they process the coins, and what "security" was in affect at the time? How did that directly affect the growth of that city, and what caused it to suddenly start dropping population in the 15th century? How did that affect the wool and cloth industry there?

Oh, so many questions!

[Valmy]

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought.

Learning about royalty and wars is easy. I want to know about the day-to-day stuff.

Eh...not really.  There is alot of propaganda and ass covering to sort through, especially when wars are involved.  Learning the details you find things are often dramatically different than the accepted story.  Especially when they do archaelogical excavation of the sites and so forth.

Like, the idea that Totnes, Devon was once a thriving minter for the kings of old. How did that happen? Why? (The nearby mines, of course, coupled with a straight shot across water to London.) How did they process the coins, and what "security" was in affect at the time? How did that directly affect the growth of that city, and what caused it to suddenly start dropping population in the 15th century? How did that affect the wool and cloth industry there?

Oh, so many questions!

Oh yeah that stuff rocks to.  Just not sure why it was necessary to be all like 'things in history that do not interest me are totally lame man' like you and Mongers are doing.  I suspect even the two of you know that is not true.  Heck what happened to Totnes, Devon is of course tied up in that stuff as well.

[Valmy]

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought. 

A nice contrast to what?  Does a political or military history exist that just goes 'so this person married Z queen, this king followed Y king and this battle was fought at this date'?  I mean outside of trivia books or something.

[Ed Anger]

Meri would like the history channel show 'Going Medieval'. A lot of the mundane stuff is covered.

[merithyn]

Learning about royalty and wars is easy. I want to know about the day-to-day stuff.

Eh...not really.  There is alot of propaganda and ass covering to sort through, especially when wars are involved.  Learning the details you find things are often dramatically different than the accepted story.  Especially when they do archaelogical excavation of the sites and so forth.

There is a hell of a lot more information to sort through to get those answers when discussing royalty and wars than there are when discussing the day-to-day life of a peasant. Yes, it may take some doing, but the information is handy. One cannot say the same for the stuff that I prefer to learn about.

Like, the idea that Totnes, Devon was once a thriving minter for the kings of old. How did that happen? Why? (The nearby mines, of course, coupled with a straight shot across water to London.) How did they process the coins, and what "security" was in affect at the time? How did that directly affect the growth of that city, and what caused it to suddenly start dropping population in the 15th century? How did that affect the wool and cloth industry there?

Oh, so many questions!

Oh yeah that stuff rocks to.  Just not sure why it was necessary to be all like 'things in history that do not interest me are totally lame man' like you and Mongers are doing.  I suspect even the two of you know that is not true.  Heck what happened to Totnes, Devon is of course tied up in that stuff as well.

I didn't say it was lame; I said that it doesn't interest me. I also said that there's a lot more digging required to figure out the stuff that I am interested in than in figuring out wars, etc. In fact, the stuff that I'm interested in requires that I actually make an effort to try to learn the techniques involved in day-to-day stuff, as it's the only way to really understand what little information we've been able to salvage. That interests me.

Why the wars were fought by whom and for what? Yeah, I don't really care. Other historians can work that stuff out, and more power to them.

I'm not sure why it offends you that I feel that way, though.

[merithyn]

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought. 

A nice contrast to what?  Does a political or military history exist that just goes 'so this person married Z queen, this king followed Y king and this battle was fought at this date'?  I mean outside of trivia books or something.

Wow. This really bothers you, doesn't it?

Dude, if you like that kind of history, then by all means, read up on it. Study it to your little heart's content. Just because Mongers and I prefer a different take on history doesn't mean that we're dissing your personal pet projects.

[mongers]

No, I too like finding out about these non-traditional historical narrative forces. A nice contrast to you know, who married Z queen, which king followed Y kings and when was X battle fought.

Learning about royalty and wars is easy. I want to know about the day-to-day stuff.

Eh...not really.  There is alot of propaganda and ass covering to sort through, especially when wars are involved.  Learning the details you find things are often dramatically different than the accepted story.  Especially when they do archaelogical excavation of the sites and so forth.

Like, the idea that Totnes, Devon was once a thriving minter for the kings of old. How did that happen? Why? (The nearby mines, of course, coupled with a straight shot across water to London.) How did they process the coins, and what "security" was in affect at the time? How did that directly affect the growth of that city, and what caused it to suddenly start dropping population in the 15th century? How did that affect the wool and cloth industry there?

Oh, so many questions!

Oh yeah that stuff rocks to.  Just not sure why it was necessary to be all like 'things in history that do not interest me are totally lame man' like you and Mongers are doing.  I suspect even the two of you know that is not true.  Heck what happened to Totnes, Devon is of course tied up in that stuff as well.

How exactly do you get that from this:

A nice contrast to you know..

Other than by mis-characterising someone's post?

[merithyn]

Meri would like the history channel show 'Going Medieval'. A lot of the mundane stuff is covered.

I've seen it. Another great favorite of mine is Tales from the Green Valley from BBC. It shows two historians and three archeologists trying to live as early 16th-century farmers for a year. It's fascinating how much they learn about food production, household work, and general money-making schemes for plebes of the time.

[Malthus]

I recommend this book for the "everyday stuff". I liked it. Suitable for the curious non-academic, like me, but I think even the serious academic type would find something they didn't know in it. 

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Travelers-Guide-Medieval-England/dp/1439112908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380730677&sr=8-1&keywords=a+time+traveler%27s+guide+to+medieval+england

[mongers]

Meri would like the history channel show 'Going Medieval'. A lot of the mundane stuff is covered.

I've seen it. Another great favorite of mine is Tales from the Green Valley from BBC. It shows two historians and three archeologists trying to live as early 16th-century farmers for a year. It's fascinating how much they learn about food production, household work, and general money-making schemes for plebes of the time.

Next week I'm going to a talk by one of the 'stars' of that and the victorian farm series.

[merithyn]

Next week I'm going to a talk by one of the 'stars' of that and the victorian farm series.

WHICH ONE??????

I them all, but Peter and Ruth are my favorites.