Society, climate and history: a case study and its methodological challenges

Sociedade, clima e história: um estudo de caso e seus desafios metodológicos

Abstract:

Identifying and explaining the relationships be­tween society and environment presents many challenges to the historian. This article sets out some of these using a case study from late Roman Arabia in the century preceding the rise of Islam. The first half of the 6^th century CE in Arabia was particularly marked by the demise of Himyar, the dominant power in the region until 525 CE. Hydroclimate records from and around Southern Arabia, including a new high-resolution stalagmite record from Northern Oman, throw new light on the background to these developments. They clearly indicate an unprecedented drought, with the most severe aridity persisting between ~500 and 530 CE. Did such droughts contribute to undermining Himyarite resilience - and thus to the appearance of the environmental context in which Islam later emerged? The article discusses the challenges in integrating and interpreting the historical and palaeoclimate data.

Keywords:
History; Palaeosciences; Interpretation