On Thursday, the scientists reported that an analysis of rings on a stalagmite from a cave near Jerusalem, reveals a drier climate in the region at a time in history when the Roman and Byzantine empires were in decline.

The chemical composition of individual rings as small as one-hundredth of a millimeter across was analyzed by the University of Wisconsin geologists, which formed the stalagmite growing up from the floor of the Soreq Cave near Jerusalem between 200 BC and 1100 AD.

"The climate was drier in the eastern Mediterranean between 100 AD and 700 AD, with steep drops in rainfall around 100 AD and 400 AD.; a period of waning Roman and Byzantine power in the region," said Geologists John Valley and Ian Orland.

Valley further added, "Whether this is what weakened the Byzantines or not isn't known, but it is an interesting correlation."

At present, the team is all gearing up to apply the same geochemical technique to study older samples from the cave from the time of the last glacial retreat roughly 19 000 years ago with the aim to help understand how weather patterns respond to fast-warming temperatures.

The study, which was to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Quaternary Research, was helped by researchers from the Geological Survey of Israel and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.