Drought as a possible contributor to the Visigothic Kingdom crisis and Islamic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula
Metadata
Show full item recordAuthor
Camuera, Jon; Jiménez-Espejo, Francisco José; Soto Chica, José; Jiménez Moreno, Gonzalo; García-Alix Daroca, AntonioEditorial
Springer Nature
Materia
Climate change Environmental Impact Limnology Palaeoclimate
Date
2023-09-15Referencia bibliográfica
Camuera, J., Jiménez-Espejo, F.J., Soto-Chica, J. et al. Drought as a possible contributor to the Visigothic Kingdom crisis and Islamic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula. Nat Commun 14, 5733 (2023). [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41367-7]
Sponsorship
Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, Agencia Estatal de Investigación /10.13039/501100011033/ and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - A way ofmaking Europe, in particular the grant numbers FJC2020-044215- I; The grant number Retos P20_00059; The action Proyectos I + D + i del Programa Operativo FEDER 2018 (grant number A-RNM-336-UGR20; Research group RNM-190 from the Junta de Andalucía (Regional Government of Andalusia); The project SBPLY/21/ 180501/000205; Scientific Research and Technology Transfer Projects of the Junta deComunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha)Abstract
The Muslim expansion in the Mediterranean basin was one the most relevant and rapid cultural changes in human history. This expansion reached the Iberian Peninsula with the replacement of the Visigothic Kingdom by the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate and the Muslim Emirate of Córdoba during the 8th century CE. In this study we made a compilation of western Mediterranean pollen records to gain insight about past climate conditions when this expansion took place. The pollen stack results, together with other paleohydrological records, archaeological data and historical sources, indicate that the statistically significant strongest droughts between the mid-5th and mid-10th centuries CE (450–950 CE) occurred at 545–570, 695–725, 755–770 and 900–935 CE, which could have contributed to the instability of the Visigothic and Muslim reigns in the Iberian Peninsula. Our study supports the great sensitivity of the agriculture-based economy and socio-political unrest of Early Medieval kingdoms to climatic variations