It has widely been accepted that climate (in the form of the Late Little Ice Age or LLIA and the Justinianic Plague were the primary culprits of empirical change, causing a massive dwindling of the population, driving Rome to its knees in the 6th century AD. But a new study has refuted this claim and argues that, in fact, there was likely a spike in population size around the second half of the 6th century AD, and thus the plague and climate change had limited impact. Adapting to Survive: How Byzantium Survived the Arab Invasions Virtually Visit a Byzantine Church Built for a Mysterious Martyr Primary Movers of Change: Not Climate and Disease This new study, published in the journal Klio by researchers Haggai Olshanetsky, from the University of Warsaw, and Lev Cosijns, from the University of Oxford carefully analyses available archaeological evidence, data from settlements, shipwrecks, and trade patterns in the Mediterranean. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyHistoryImportant EventsRead Later