Overview
- The paper in Communications Earth & Environment argues a major eruption around 1345 cooled parts of Europe and set off multi‑year crop failures.
- Tree‑ring records and sulfur spikes in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores underpin the inferred eruption and the subsequent regional cooling.
- Historical sources describe shortages that led Venice and Genoa to secure Black Sea grain in 1347 after easing tensions with the Golden Horde.
- The authors propose rat fleas surviving on grain dust carried Yersinia pestis on these shipments, with early outbreaks recorded in ports and then inland hubs like Padua.
- The study is deemed plausible by outside experts, though the volcano’s source and direct evidence of pathogen transport on grain remain unresolved.