An Icelandic epic predicted the destruction of the pagan gods and then the volcano erupted

The Codex Regius, an Icelandic collection of poems about pagan gods, contains a version of V?lusppa. Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty)

A series of earth-shattering volcanic eruptions in medieval Iceland may have driven the people who lived there away from their pagan gods and into Christianity, a new study finds ,

The discovery was made possible by the precise dating of the volcanic eruption, which spewed lava for about two generations before Icelanders converted to their religion.

But why do volcanic eruptions turn people toward monotheism? Researchers say the answer has to do with "V?lusppa," a famous medieval poem that predicted a volcanic eruption that would help lead to the downfall of the pagan gods. [Cracking the Code: 10 of the Most Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts] New Volcanic Land

Historians have long known that Vikings and Celts settled Iceland around 874 AD, but they didn’t Too sure to date the Erdgar lava flood, the largest eruption to hit Iceland in the past few thousand years. Knowing this date is crucial because it can tell scientists whether the eruption - a massive event that released about 4.8 cubic miles (20 cubic kilometers) of lava into Greenland - affected settlements there, researchers said. /p>

The nearly 25-mile-long (40 kilometers) Erdgar Fissure was formed during a huge eruption of a volcano in southern Iceland. (Clive Oppenheimer)

To investigate, researchers examined ice core records. Their results show that the eruption occurred less than 100 years after people settled on the island. Researchers say the volcano began erupting lava in the spring of 939 AD and continued for at least a while until the fall of 940 AD.

"This makes the eruption entirely consistent with the experience of the first two or three generations of Icelandic settlers," said study leader Clive Oppenheimer, a professor of volcanology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, in a statement A group of people who immigrated to Iceland, some of whom had been brought there as children, likely witnessed the volcano erupting.

The discovery is consistent with medieval chronicles from Ireland, Germany and Italy, which record the spread of the Haze in 939. Additionally, tree-ring data show that in AD 940, the Northern Hemisphere experienced one of its coldest summers in the past 1,500 years, a cold wave consistent with the release of large amounts of volcanic sulfur into the atmosphere, the researchers said.

"Summer cooling was most pronounced in central Europe in 1940, with "average summer temperatures 2 degrees Celsius [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] lower in Scandinavia, the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, and Central Asia,'" Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland "Then came the problems of drought in winter, drought in summer, and famine," department professor and co-researcher Markus Stoffel said in a statement. Not now, but in the early 1940s we read about famine and huge mortality in parts of Germany, Iraq and China," said Tim Newfield, an environmental historian at Georgetown University in Washington.

However, no writing from this period survives from Iceland, the home of the volcano

Only two generations after the eruption of Eldgar, around AD 1000, the people of Iceland were officially converted Christianity. Researchers say it is likely related to "V?lusppa" [The 11 largest volcanic eruptions in history] The apocalyptic poem "V?lusp A" was written after the eruption. , circa 961 AD. Researchers say it describes how volcanic eruptions and meteorological events marked the end of the pagan god, who would be replaced by a bizarre god.

Partially explained "The sun began to darken and the land sank into the sea; bright stars scattered from the sky... flames flew high according to the translation, "heaven itself,"

Considering the eruption of Mount Eldgar dating back to before the composition of the poem, Icelanders who experienced this fiery scene might look back on the events and write the poem, "The purpose was to*** the Christianization of Iceland in the second half of the 10th century, The researchers wrote in a research report published online today (March 19) in the journal Climate Change:

This is an original article on life sciences.