Climate history – Prof. Wisniewski’s research

“In 6th century Italy, saints were said to perform an unusual number of water miracles. Paleoclimatological data from a stalagmite may reveal why.

In early medieval Italy (then a troubled peninsula transitioning from the collapse of Roman rule) a group of monks at a mountaintop monastery had a water problem. To fetch their supply, they needed to descend from the monastery’s steep and rocky perch. To their aid came St. Benedict, who spontaneously brought water to the summit in the form of a spring.

According to a new study, this account does more than relay the performance of a miracle. It also suggests that climate change played a previously unassociated role in societal shifts long recognized by historians”

A popular science article, related to the research conducted in our faculty by the team of Prof. Robert Wiśniewski [read more]