News Climate

Historical writings reveal how people weathered the Little Ice Age

500-year-old records document floods, famine and death in 16th century Transylvania

A composite of parts of pages from three old texts on a black background.

Researchers used texts like these to discern what it was like to live through the Little Ice Age in Transylvania, a region in Romania.

Gaceu et al., 2024

By Alex Viveros

“Dear diary, it was freezing outside today…” If someone today wrote that in their journal, it might seem like an innocuous enough line, perhaps never to be carefully considered again.