A gigantic volcanic bang some time around the twelvemonth 2900 BCE may havedarkened the sun , precede to freeze temperatures , crop failures , and dearth across the northern hemisphere . At more or less the same time , a Neolithic residential district in Denmark sacrificed hundreds of so - call " sunlight stone " , peradventure in an attempt to regenerate the rude order and write themselves from ruin .
Between 2013 and 2018 , archaeologist excavating the site of Vasagård West on the Danish island of Bornholm identify a total of 614 flat shale composition engrave with sun motifs and other ikon resemble fields and agricultural green goods . funnily , all of these sun Stone come out to have been forget in a ditch during a single event some 4,900 age ago , at a time when designs like these were exceedingly uncommon .
Speaking to IFLScience , Dr Rune Iversenfrom the University of Copenhagen explained that “ we had all these mental image of Dominicus motifs from the exact same time and that we could refer to a certain event . So that , of course , made us speculate whether that was get by some sort of rude disaster . ”
Stone plaques with sun motifs.Image credit: John Lee, The National Museum of Denmark
team up up with climate scientists from the Niels Bohr Institute , Iversen and his fellow find that ice cores in both Greenland and Antarctica expose evidence that large measure of sulfates were injected into the air around 2900 BCE . This indicate that a largevolcano eruptionprobably occurred at this time .
“ We do n’t have it off where the vent is located , though it could be around the equator somewhere , because it ’s trackable in both Greenland and Antarctica , ” suppose Iversen . Regardless of its location , the detonation was clearly significant , and is estimated to be the fifteenth mostpowerfuleruption of the last 12,000 years .
“ We really found that this eruption had taken space and that it can be rather narrowly date , but we wanted a little bit more than that , ” continued Iversen . “ Because we can say , okay , there ’s an eruption , but did it affect Bornholm ? ”
To find out , the study author examined sediment layers in a lake in nearby Germany , which suggest a substantial driblet in sunshine around the meter of the eruption . Studying tree rings from both Germany and the US , meanwhile , revealed poor ontogenesis around 2900 BCE , along with grounds of natural spring and summertime frosts at this point in chronicle .
An average Danish summertime can be reasonably harsh in itself , but if you then subtract seven grade , it ’s a really bad summertime – so it ’s not in force for the harvest home .
Such finding suggest that the eruption darkened the Sun across the entire northern hemisphere , with major implications for the Neolithic occupant of Bornholm . While there are no written sources from this period , the researcher are able to get a sense of the desolation by reading ancient Grecian and Roman accounts of the so - called " Caesar volcano " ( Mount Okmok ) , which erupt in Alaska in 43 BCE and triggered dearth and disease throughout the Mediterranean .
“ We are compare this consequence to the Caesar vent because it ’s basically of the same magnitude , ” explained Iversen . “ It has been described in the classical sources with harsh winters and bad summers . They talk about temperatures knock off by about seven level in the summertime , for example . ”
“ An median Danish summer can be reasonably rough in itself , but if you then take off seven degrees , it ’s a really bad summer – so it ’s not ripe for the harvest , ” he enjoin .
In their newspaper , the researchers explain that the unique sun stones at Vasagård West may therefore have been stick as a sacrifice aimed at take back the sun and define the extent of this natural disaster .
“ We see grounds of a community of interests gathering in a joint travail to enact alteration , lease in the use of symbolization that was arguably directed toward the ostracism of the darkened sun and the restoration of the harvest , ” save the study writer .
The survey is release in the journalAntiquity .
