Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. The first centuries AD in the Mediterranean region have generally been associated with a warm, stable climate. High-resolution sedimentary archives sensitive to local environmental change are needed to switch from this general frame to the regional scale.
Similarly to cave speleothems, laminated carbonate deposits can grow in the channels of aqueducts which transported water from karstic springs during the Roman period. The comparison of the geochemical signals with the fine texture of the deposits evidenced the seasonal nature of the lamination observed.
This allowed us to document the evolution of environment as recorded through the deposit for the period 50— AD. The recent developments of geochemistry, dendrochronology, and palynology have allowed a better understanding of the European climate for Roman times, which is generally presented as a warm period marked by a strong irregularity after the third century AD 1 , 2.
In continental areas, the evolution of climate can be retrieved from freshwater carbonate deposits such as laminated tufa growing in caves or rivers 3. For the historical period, analogous deposits can develop inside anthropic structures used for water delivery, such as the aqueducts built around the Mediterranean during the Roman period 4. The interest of those deposits was acknowledged early, and several authors used them to estimate the evolution of paleo-flow rates 5 or distinguish successive phases of the building 6 , 7.
More recently, these deposits were studied for paleoenvironmental purposes as they couple a good sensitivity to external forcings and a reliable chronology owing to the archaeological context 8. This context allows, in turn, the discussion of the signals preserved in these deposits in terms of anthropological impacts and historical interactions between environment and societies.
