Volcanic forcing on the 160s BCE and other tales from the Astronomical Diaries and polar ice cores

Sigl et al. 2015 provide an updated chronology for volcanic activity over the last 2,500 years. This informs us of three volcanoes in the decade of the 160s BCE; two of which originated in the northern hemisphere, and another major one from the tropics. This paper focuses on the climate data in the Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia to assess for signatures of volcanic forcing, while outlining the social impact as recorded in the historical information sections of the diaries.

Rhonda McGovern is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, working on the “Climates of Conflict in Ancient Babylonia” project.