MOSCOW, 6 Apr. Thanks to mummies, scientists have reconstructed the climate of the ancient world, writes Phys.org with reference to the International Journal of Wood Culture.
Specialists analyzed the wooden tablets that in the Roman era were attached to the body of the deceased before being handed over to the embalmer. These artifacts contain more information than names. Scientists drew attention to the rings that are visible on the tree. Each signifies a year, and by their shape one can judge the weather. For example, narrow rings can indicate dry times.
A few pieces of wood are not enough to get an idea of the climate in antiquity. But there are enough tablets on the mummies.
«There are thousands of them in museums around the world, and they are made from many different types of wood,» explains archaeologist François Blondel.
A new study took 300 copies into account and found matches in the sequence of rings. Thus, scientists received an initial idea of what the climate was like in the eastern Mediterranean, on the territory of modern Lebanon, the Greek islands and the mouth of the Nile. It was here that the trees from which the analyzed samples were created grew.
But the exact time of this or that climatic event has not yet been established from the tablets on the mummies. Archaeologists may have to do radiocarbon dating.