More evidence a cold spell helped doom the Roman Empire

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By ScienceAdviser. 

Excerpt: Historians have long debated the reasons why the Roman Empire—which once stretched across the Mediterranean sea and from northern Africa to the U.K.—collapsed. Recently, some have pointed to a sudden period of cooling called the Late Antique Little Ice Age. This cold spell could have hindered agricultural production, facilitated disease outbreaks, and driven people to migrate. According to a new paper, serendipitously discovered rocks on the shore of Iceland add to the evidence for this chilly period. ...the change in climate may have compounded the troubles of an empire that was already in decline. “When it comes to the fall of the Roman empire, this climate shift may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back,” co-author Tom Gernon told The Independent....

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