CLIMATE INFLUENCE THEORY

With the data that are available from dendrochronology and from palynology, it is possible to evaluate the climatological reconstructions of these ancient times.  These data have not been available to the historians and archaeologists who have presented their theories as the best logical explanation with the data that was available.  With the databases available at Höhenheim, the climate of the entire region of central and western Germania can be reconstructed through these proxy indicators.

Drawing from on the multiple chronologies from the area of Germania, it is possible to increase the sample depth of the chronology to over 100 samples per year.  This helps to reduce the possibility of mis-dating (as with Becker’s Rainer-Buch error) and misinterpretation of the changes in the increment rates from non-climatic changes.  With the added tool of paleoclimatology it is possible to not only examine another factor in the turbulence of the third century, but show a significant factor of a major climate change.  This does not reduce or refute the significance of the other factors mentioned in this chapter, but illustrates the many facets of the movements of the Germanic tribes.