POV: The sun shines like the moon · 536 AD, worst year
The sun shines like the moon · 536 AD, worst year
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- 536 AD
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- Volcano Week
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536 AD, often called the worst year to be alive: for over a year the sun shone like the moon, summers failed, and Greenland's ice still holds the volcanic clue.
Time & Space · Ep. 11
Visuals are AI reconstructions; research & narration by Eli. Sources in the pinned comment.
Next: 11,600 years ago, you're carving a pillar.
Sources and further reading are listed in the full story: 536 AD: Why Scientists Call It the Worst Year to Be Alive
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536 AD: Why Scientists Call It the Worst Year to Be Alive
In 536 AD a mysterious dust veil dimmed the sun for 18 months, bringing cold, failed harvests and famine. Scientists have called it the worst year in human history to be alive.
Volcano Week
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More from this series
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— You hear a volcano 4,800 km away · Krakatoa 1883
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— Pompeii, 79 AD. You have 18 hours · Mount Vesuvius
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— June 1816: snow on Vermont's corn. A volcano on the other side of the planet did it.
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— You're shopping on the frozen Thames · Frost Fair 1684
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— You're carving a pillar 11,600 years ago · Göbekli Tepe
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— The Day the Ocean Disappeared — Lisbon, 1755
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