ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the main climate changes of the Common Era, the last c. 2000 years, and how these manifest in the regions of the silk roads, drawing on relatively local, high-resolution reconstructions of temperature and hydroclimate. Temperature changes generally follow global patterns, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. The hydroclimate changes occurring alongside these temperature shifts have a more complex pattern, with different locations experiencing wetter or drier conditions at the same time. The chapter briefly outlines some of the potential caveats to interpreting the palaeoclimate story, whilst noting some of the potential impacts of climate, and how its changes, would have impacted the inhabitants and travellers along the Silk Road.
