Setting aside for a moment any debate regarding proxies such as tree rings and formanifera, from the standpoint of cultural / archeological indicators (as well as historical accounts of things such as life ways, clothing, food and drink and the like) what are the things that tend to confirm and refute a global MWP of substantial degree (that term is somewhat loaded, but by “substantial” I mean things that have impacts similar to things thought to accompany the theorized coming warm up). For example, in Europe, people wore substantially thinner and less layered clothing during the MWP timeframe, versus what they wore during the Rennaissance, Enlightenment, Neo-Classical and Industrial Revolution time frames. That indicates the shift from the warm peak to the cold valley. Cathedrals were thought to be attractants to worship because they gave respite from the heat (even though some of them were not completed in time to reap the most benefit, we must look at the times of their initial conception / early project planning.) Take as another indicator the cultivation of citrus. Etc. What, if any, similar observations and anecdotal evidence are there in the Americas, Africa, Australia and Asia? I have not studied this and welcome what folks have to say in these regards.
by Steve Sadlov

Somewhat off topic, did anyone catch the History Channel yesterday evening regarding the Roanoke Colony? They were doing tree ring studies of swamp cyprus, and were using ring widths as a proxy – for moisture.

In 1998 the maximum density represents about +1.1 degree in 1945, but represents +0.4 degree at 1939 in 2004. Likewise the maximum temperature in 1990 is about +2 degrees in 1998, but only about +0.5 degree in 2004.

There seems to be either a lot of renormalizing going on, or else the modest increase in number of sites (314 to 387) has radically transformed the data set.