The climate downturns in China caused by volcanic eruptions in 535–40 CE and by Thera (Santorini) at the founding of the Shang dynasty (1562 BCE)

Abstract

Abstract It is well known that ancient Chinese written records are an invaluable source of historical information on astronomy, technology, economy, and climate, dating back in some cases to the second millennium BCE. Numerous studies have established that the climatic consequences of the ejection of volcanic aerosols into the atmosphere can have a major impact on the climate worldwide. Here, the Chinese evidence of such a severe climatic anomaly during the decade of the 530s is first reviewed. A preponderance of the evidence from ice cores and tree rings worldwide points to more than one large volcanic eruption during the 530s, although which volcano was responsible has not yet been conclusively established. Even more severe than 1815, the “year without a summer,” due to the eruption of Tambora, in 536–537 summer frosts and snowfall occurred in China causing multi-year drought, crop failures, and catastrophic famine. Study of pre-imperial Chinese texts gives reason to believe that in mid-second millennium BCE a massive loading of the atmosphere with volcanic aerosols from the eruption of Thera (Santorini) may have been the cause of dramatic climatic downturn in the sixteenth century BCE. Dating of the events based on verifiable records of astronomical phenomena suggests that the long-remembered ancient calamity could have been caused by the eruption of Thera in the eastern Mediterranean. This benchmark date can be helpful in establishing a secure chronology of eastern Mediterranean kingdoms in the period.