Volcanoes are famous for their fireworks—sudden, spectacular eruptions, gushing fountains, landscape-eating flows of lava. But often the climatological consequences of these eruptions, especially the explosive ones, are even more impactful. Huge plumes of ash blot out the sun and eventually fall to cover the land, and in human history they’re often marked with crop failures, starvation, and gloom—as well as social upheaval. Now an international team of archaeologists, volcanologists, hydrologists, and climate scientists is linking an ancient volcanic eruption with a pivotal time in Mediterranean history—around 43 B.C., the time…
