Back in the 1990s, archaeologists discovered a mass grave in the London area that included thousands of skeletons from the Middle Ages. At that time, scientists assumed that this mass grave united the victims of the "black death" - an epidemic of the bubonic plague, which took the lives of at least 60 million people in the 14th century.
But recent research results are increasingly pushing scientists to the conclusion that it was not a plague at all, but a colossal volcanic eruption that happened a century earlier, thousands of kilometers away, that caused the death of the British.
This is evidenced by radiocarbon dating of bones and geological results from around the world. The volcanic eruption in the middle of the 13th century, which is the largest in the last 10 thousand years, still remains one of the biggest mysteries in volcanology, which changed the climate of the entire planet.
The consequences of the largest volcanic eruption
The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica that date back to this time contain enormous amounts of sulfur. Volcanic emissions into the upper atmosphere and their further spread throughout the world led to the fact that part of the sunlight began to be reflected and did not reach the earth's surface. This led to a sharp cooling on the planet.
According to scientists, it was this eruption that caused the "Little Ice Age", which lasted until the 19th century - the period of a sharp cooling of the Earth. The history of this time is full and wide with references to rainy summers and harsh winters, which caused crop failures, mass famine and other disasters.
The Mexican volcano El Chichon, the Quilotoa volcano in the Andes of Ecuador, or the Rinjani volcano in Lombok, Indonesia? Surprisingly, researchers still cannot say with certainty exactly where the eruption took place, dating back to 1258. Current evidence suggests that the eruption most likely occurred in Indonesia.
The geochemical analysis of the rocks of the mysterious volcano carried out by the scientists is fully consistent with the chemical analysis of sulfur at the pole. The rocks collected in the volcano's caldera are well preserved after the great eruption. Computer simulations suggest that due to the eruption, the pumice stone flew into the air to a height of more than 40 kilometers, scattering the remains of the rock for tens of kilometers around.
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One of the monks, who lived in the XIII century, left such lines about that period: “The north wind prevailed for several months … Countless poor people died, their bodies swelled from want … The pestilence was especially great in London, where he took about 15 thousand human lives”.
The effect of sulfur on the human body
It is known that inhalation of hydrogen sulfide causes convulsions, a person loses consciousness and stops breathing. If he remains alive, he may become disabled - with paralysis, mental disorders, lung function and gastrointestinal tract.
Experts believe that the excess intake of sulfur in the body has increased significantly in recent years - sulfates are added to food to extend their shelf life. Most of them are found in smoked products, ready-made salads, beer, colored wines and vinegar.