New Ideas about Late Holocene Climate Variability in the Central Pacific.

The article reports that contrary to common belief, the Pacific region was exempt from the climate changes seen in other areas of the planet during the Medieval Warm Period (AD 900-1200) and the Little Ice Age (AD 1550-1900). During the Medieval Warm Period, coral records show that the tropical Pacific was cool and dry, while during the Little Ice Age, the area was warmer and subject to wet and stormy conditions. The article considers the implications of climate change variability for the prehistoric human populations of the region.