Weathered History

MAPPA MUNDI

In pre-modern Europe, climate—or, more precisely, climata—meant the different, yet stable five climatic zones of the globe as defined by Hippocrates (460–377 BCE) and Parmenides (515–450 BCE): Latitude determined whether these zones were cool or hot, which in turn exercised—in these philosophers’ minds—a decisive influence on people’s mentalities and, ultimately, on entire human cultures.

These assumptions are at the core of a school of thought called “climate determinism,” which was very influential until the 19th century and is still reflected in popular thinking today.

Martin Bauch

WINDMAKER IlOS

But even if climate has remained abstract and invisible to humans up until the present day, its everyday manifestation on a local, short-term scale—called “weather”—has been of utmost importance to humans since prehistoric times.

It influenced people’s well-being and livelihoods, given agriculture’s dependence on seasonal conditions; it facilitated or hindered their travel. This figure, made from wood and stingray tail spines, was used by sailors on the coral atoll of Woleai in Micronesia as a magical object. They carried it with them and used it to pacify stormy seas and secure their safe return.

Micronesian oral tradition has it that captains threatened the clouds of rising storms with the spines and asked the protective spirits Nunve and Peoolop for better meteorological conditions during their journey. Such efforts to protect themselves from weather or influence conditions are characteristic of all human cultures, a shared heritage of humanity.

Martin Bauch

ICE CORE DRILL HEAD

What we know today about past climatic change relies strongly on so-called “proxy data” that can be retrieved from all kinds of natural archives containing indirect information about climate trends. Ancient ice, for example, contains information about the state and composition of the atmosphere at the time when this ice fell to the earth as snow. The idea of using ice as a climate record emerged in the 1950s and 1960s.

In order to reach the oldest ice, hidden deep down in glaciers, scientists developed drills that could reach thousands of meters into the polar ice sheets and retrieved ice cores covering more than 100,000 years of climate history. Their study showed recent climate anomalies as well as volcanic eruptions and the nuclear bomb tests of the 20th century. Beyond that, the extensive time period enabled scientists to identify both regular climate cycles and abrupt climatic changes in the deep history of the earth. These ice core studies helped to expand the temporal frame of climate science far beyond human time scales.

Dania Achermann

THE ERUPTION AMONG THE DEER

Discovered in 1994, the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave (Ardèche, France) is associated with the first sustained presence of Homo sapiens in Europe and has yielded some of the earliest manifestations of prehistoric art.

These include the oldest known depictions of a volcanic eruption, embedded in and partly covered over by later giant deer depictions.

Recent research suggests that these renderings may record eruptions in the Bas-Vivarais volcanic field (French Massif Central) witnessed by Paleolithic contemporaries.

Some volcanic eruptions, like the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (36,000 BCE) and the Laacher See eruption (11,000 BCE) are also thought to have had major demographic and culture-historical impacts.

Felix Riede

TESTIMONY OF AN IRISH OAK TREE

The sample visualizes this tree’s experience of the famous 6th century climatic anomaly between 536 and c.550 CE. After 536 CE, the rings become hard to discern for several years, indicating bad conditions for tree growth. This climatic disturbance is now believed to have been wrought by a sequence of major explosive volcanic eruptions in 536, 540, and 547 CE that injected sulfur dioxide gas into the high atmosphere to induce dramatic global cooling for over a decade.

These conditions have been linked to accounts of obscured and discolored sunlight, extreme weather, famine, and mass mortality in written sources from Europe to China.

This section from an Irish oak shows the annual growth rings between 385 to 644 CE. The early growth vessels that formed each spring are visible as roughly parallel bands of white dots.

Francis Ludlow

RELIQUIARY CROSS FROM ST. ALBANI, GÖTTINGEN

The flood event of July 1342, presumably the largest inundation of Central Europe during the last millennium, affected an area between the Rhône River and Hungary, from the Alps to the lower mountain ranges in central Germany. Torrential rains resulted when a so-called Genoa low, packed with humidity from the Mediterranean, turned north over eastern central Europe.

As a result, the Danube, Rhine, Main, and Elbe, and many of their tributaries, rose above their banks and engulfed huge swaths of central Europe, causing soil erosion, harvest loss, dearth, and the destruction of infrastructure. The event stretched over several weeks, but it is mostly remembered as the Flood of St Mary Magdalene’s Day (July 22).

Hermann the goldsmith is the only individual we know by name as having drowned in this flood in the early decades of the Little Ice Age, for his son, a wealthy citizen of the central German city of Göttingen dedicated this reliquary cross to the memory of his father in the mid-1350s.

Martin Bauch

1540 STEINWEIN BOTTLE

There is a tradition in wine history to celebrate extraordinary vintages by keeping some bottles for future generations, for example, in memory of the outstandingly hot and dry summer of 2003. Very rarely, artifacts such as bottles or barrels survive for centuries.

The oldest drinkable wine on earth is the 1540 Steinwein, which allegedly comes from the Würzburger Stein, a vineyard overlooking that German city.

It celebrates the “millenium vintage” of 1540, a year of major drought all over Europe with temperatures likely exceeding those of 2003.

These exceptional conditions yielded a spectacularly sweet and cherry-like vintage in many regions. In Würzburg an amount of it was kept in a nicely decorated barrel, regularly filled up with new wine to avoid oxydation.

The remaining wine was bottled at the end of the 17th century and belonged for a while to the cellar of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. In 1961, one of the two remaining bottles was tasted; the wine specialist Hugh Johnson described it as a Madèira-like wine.

Thomas Labbé

The next flood marker indicates the peak of the Main during the ice drift event of February 29, 1784.

The third mark records the flood of January 27, 1682. The flood event at the very bottom of the archway is that of March 30, 1845. Other high flooding events, such as February 1451 and February 1546, have been left off.

Katrin Kleemann

RAINFALL REPORT ON "NG WAH" BRAND OF CIGARETTE PAPER BOX

In December 1941, the British colony of Hong Kong fell to the Japanese invading army. The Hong Kong Observatory was a key strategic site for the Japanese forces who took over the premises for the duration of the war.

Many of the staff were imprisoned at the camps subsequently set up in Hong Kong. These prisoners tried to maintain as much of a “normal” life as they could.

For the meteorologists, this meant keeping a daily record of the weather, using whatever materials they had at hand. The backs of cigarette cartons offered scraps of paper on which they could continue to record the daily weather.

This carton, and the few others like it, represent a unique and almost unrivaled record of the weather kept even during man-made disaster like war.

Fiona Williamson

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF USEFUL ARTS: DANISH DART-POINTS

Around 13,000 years ago, there was a cataclysmic eruption of the Laacher See volcano in present-day western Germany. The eruption not only temporarily dammed the Rhine and devastated the immediate surroundings but transported fine ash over vast swaths of Europe. This ash—hard, irritating, and poisonous— disrupted social networks and patterns of seasonal movement of hunter-gatherers. Some groups evaded the rain of ash by moving into southern Scandinavia, where they became isolated and lost the art of making bows and arrows.

This loss finds its archaeological expression in the large tanged points that dominate the period in the eruption’s wake. These projectiles are now seen as the cultural markers of the so-called Bromme culture. The object shown here is the first such projectile point, discovered in 1915. They may be the marker of post-disaster cultural change.

Felix Riede

THE HAGELKREUZ EAST OF KOTTENHEIM

By the 14th century at the latest, the custom of outdoor processions with the Eucharist had become customary. Such rituals took place on Corpus Christi and other feast days as prayers against epidemics and inclement weather. The Blessed Sacrament was carried through the fields and briefly placed in the niche of way crosses. During the processions, bells were rung to banish demons.

The Hagelkreuz (“hail cross”) at Kottenheim has such a niche for placing the host; its traditional name indicates the function of this weather cross, which was designed to fend off hail. Charters from Kottenheim mention a “Haell Crutz” or “Haelcrutz” already in 1534 and 1535. These crosses may well have been at other places than the present cross, which dates to 1582, for such processions usually went to four locations in the fields and meadows around a village.

Stefan Wenzel

RINGING THE CHURCH BELLS AGAINST BAD WEATHER: THE SO-CALLED SCHILLERGLOCKE

Before the invention of the lightning rod in the mid-18th century, a coping mechanism to deal with approaching storm clouds was to ring the church bells, which was thought to protect the community from adverse weather. This practice went back to pre-Christian times: the idea was that ringing the bells would drive off the god of thunder, Thor or Donar.

Ringing the bells against bad weather was predominant in Catholic regions within the German territories. It persisted until the late 18th century, when new laws prohibited the ringing of the bells during thunderstorms, because bell towers attracted lightning that often killed the bell ringer.

Beginning in the fifteenth century, some bells also bear inscriptions: Vivos voco. Mortuos plango. Fulgura frango. (“I call the living. I mourn the dead. I break lightning.”)

Katrin Kleemann

HENDRICK AVERCAMP: WINTER LANDSCAPE WITH ICE SKATERS

The Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634) is famous for his winter scenes. From 1608 to 1625, he painted a series of winter landscapes with skaters, showing Dutch people and the “melting-pot” on the ice. In all his paintings, the weather is quite similar: very cold and anticyclonic with stratus clouds. A comparison of his paintings with the weather diary of the Frisian David Fabricius reveals that Avercamp deliberately chose to depict such weather.

Even if the dates are not totally the same, we can say that only 16.8% of the days in winter (between December and February) were below freezing without precipitation. Thus, Avercamp produced an image of winter without rainfall or milder days, though they were quite normal at that time.

His paintings have been viewed as “testimonies” to the Little Ice Age. The winter of 1608 was very severe, and, like Bruegel the Elder in 1565, Avercamp started painting these winter scenes just after such a harsh winter.

A lot of later Dutch artists also painted beautiful winter landscapes that showed different types of weather, including Jan van Goyen, Aert van der Neer, and Jacob van Ruisdael.

Alexis Metzger

THE INSTALLATION OF LIGHTNING RODS: THE SO-CALLED HEMMER'SCHER FÜNFSPITZ

Until the mid-18th century, there was no real protection from lightning strikes during thunderstorms. In 1752, the American naturalist and diplomat Benjamin Franklin invented the so-called “Franklin rod,” a lightning rod. In 1770, the first Franklin rod in Germany was installed on St. Jacobi Church in Hamburg. In the 1770s and 1780s, the German meteorologist and physicist Johann Jakob Hemmer built a lightning rod with five tips.

This so-called Hemmer'scher Fünfspitz (Hemmer’s five points) was installed on top of buildings. The tips were designed to fall to the ground when struck by lightning and thus show the usefulness of this new device. Despite some initual opposition to lightning rods being installed on top of churches, they soon proved their value in saving lives and protecting property.

Katrin Kleemann

THE MAIN FLOOD OF 1784 IN WÜRZBURG

In many parts of Europe, the winter of 1783/84 was extremely cold and snowy, potentially a result of the Icelandic Laki fissure eruption (June 1783–February 1784). That winter, several German rivers froze, but around February 23, an influx of warm air led to a melting of the ice and snow.

In Würzburg, the frozen river Main started to break up on February 27, and strong rainfall caused flooding and ice drift between February 28 and March 1.

This contemporary coloured copper engraving depicts locals trying to save the Main bridge from being damaged by debris floating down the river: Some people can be seen using sticks with hooks on the bridge, attempting to collect debris out of the river.

In the background, cannons are being fired from the Marienberg fortress to break up the ice and prevent it from damaging the bridge and other infrastructure near the river.

Katrin Kleemann

Whereas 1857 still saw a favorable grain harvest, conditions in 1858 had a “detrimental influence on the quantity and quality of products,” according to a record from the canton of Ribeauvillé.

Harvests were very bad. The water scarcity led to numerous tensions and conflicts between water users, farmers, and industrialists. But one of the unexpected consequences is the use of glass ornaments in France.

REMEMBERING THE GREAT FAMINE FOR CENTURIES: MEMORIAL STONE FROM SCHMIDTSTEDT

Between approximately 1315 and 1321, people perished all over Europe from famine and hunger-related diseases. The so-called “Great Famine”—caused mainly by unusually cold and wet conditions—went down in history as the most widespread, weather-induced famine of the last millennium.

In remembrance of the 7,985 victims from Erfurt in Thuringia, this memorial stone was installed close to the site where the dead had been buried in mass graves in the nearby village of Schmidtstedt. For centuries—from at least 1341 until as late as 1923— memorial processions to this now deserted place on the outskirts of Erfurt commemorated the famine victims. The memorial stone thus represents how the memory of a medieval climate-related disaster was preserved in local popular memory well into modern times, for a total of almost 600 years.

Annabell Engel

[Translated inscription]
In the year of the Lord 1316, here were buried 100 x 60, 33 x 60, and 5 humans, who have died in the years of dearth. God have mercy on them.

PROCESSION DURING THE DROUGHT

The image of Our Lady of Guápulo is venerated in the Sanctuary of Guápulo (Quito, Ecuador), which was built in the 16th century. The image was used in rogation ceremonies to pray for better weather conditions. Rogation ceremonies are Roman Catholic rituals celebrated to beg for relief from divine punishment. There are two kinds related to climate: pro pluvia rogations (celebrated during droughts when rain is needed) and pro serenitate rogations (celebrated to stop excess rainfall). The sanctuary is located 6.5 km away from the city center of Quito.

[Translation of the painting's inscription]
"In the year of 1621 there was in the city of Quito a great drought. Many crevices were open in the land and all the cattle died. The people almost died, but they agreed to process with the Lady to Santa Bárbara, and when they reached the cathedral, the rain relieved their distress."

During the rogations, the image was carried in processions from the sanctuary to the cathedral in the city center. The movements of the image—i.e. when it was carried in such processions—were recorded in the ecclesiastical records of Quito.

Based on the rogation dates, it is possible to deduce when periods of extreme drought and precipitation affected Quito from 1600. We know that the severest drought during the last 400 years occurred in 1692–1701, when a great famine devastated Quito.

Fernando Domínguez-Castro

THE "DANDY HORSE"

In 1817, the German inventor Karl von Drais presented this predecessor of the bicycle. He advertised his “running machine” as an alternative to horses, which might indicate that a scarcity of horse fodder in 1816 had increased the appeal of ideas that Drais—who had first presented a four-wheel version in 1813—had been promoting for some time.

The dearth and food scarcity induced by the climatic changes following the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia and the well-known “year without a summer” (1816) could have influenced technological innovation, or at least accelerated processes that were already going on. It is difficult, however, to make such a connection between the biophysical impact of the eruption and Drais’ invention with any certainty.

What we know for sure is that Drais’ invention was considered more of a curiosity—as its English name “dandy horse” suggests. The inventor died a ridiculed alcoholic in 1851, still in possession of one of his “running machines,” which had been popular only very briefly.

Martin Bauch

ANCIENT GRAIN MEASURES IN GRUYÈRES

Grain was—and still is—an important staple food in many parts of Europe. The cultivation of grain involves intensive labor, and the grain itself is exposed to the weather for several months. This means that unfavorable meteorological conditions can cause harvest failures and thus lead to subsistence crises. This was one reason why authorities from the late Middle Ages onwards tried to control almost all aspects of grain production, including trade, processing, and consumption.

These stone measures on the marketplace of Gruyères, Switzerland, are a symbol for the regulation by authorities. Until the 19th century, grain was measured in dry volume units: the biggest cavity in the picture measures a Coupe (51.8 litres), two other cavities are half Coupes or Mäss (26/26.35 litres) and the two smallest cavities are quarters (Viertel) of the Coupe.

Chantal Camenisch

"JACKS" – RABBIT ROUNDUPS IN THE 1930s

A destructive agricultural economy, soil erosion, dust storms and persistent drought resulted in the Dust Bowl and, combined with the decimation of coyotes and other predators, in a massive increase of jackrabbits during 1934-1935.

The last fields of crops were besieged by jackrabbits, so that farmers had to defend their already meagre harvests against them. Studies from 1935 examined the explosive population growth and concluded that the cause was, beside the killing of carnivores, an increased fertility of the rabbits in spite of the drought.

The crisis forced the government to act. It called for roundups of jackrabbits, during which they were driven together and killed inside specially erected fences. According to some reports, thousands of animals were beaten to death during these drives. From today's perspective these actions seem cruel, but for poverty-stricken families of the Dust Bowl they were a matter of survival.

“Hogue's work often suggests a 'cause-and-effect' relationship which illuminates the interconnections in nature, of which humanity is a part”, stated art historian Lea Rosson DeLong. In his painting american artist Alexandre Hogue unapologetically confronts the viewer with the interference of humans in nature.

Diana Lucia Feitsch