We are exploring how climate changes and extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and wildfires, shaped ancient societies on Crete. This island played a key role in the early Eastern Mediterranean history, serving as home to Europe’s earliest civilization, the Minoans, who flourished for 1,700 years, followed by other major societies like the Classical Greeks, and Romans.
As today’s Mediterranean faces hotter temperatures, worsening droughts, and more frequent wildfires, Crete, with its rich cultural history and long record of climate change, offers a unique case study of how past communities adapted to comparable challenges. Despite its extensive archaeological record, Crete lacks detailed local, high-resolution climate data to reveal the environmental pressures faced by its ancient societies. Your project will address this critical gap using stalagmites from the east of Crete.
Stalagmites are high-resolution paleoclimate archives, which can provide climate data at the scale of a single human lifetime. They have been used to indicate climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor Wat, the capital of the Khmer empire (ca. 1430 CE), and the ancient Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia (ca. 4.2K BP). You will work with newly collected stalagmites measuring carbonate stable isotopes. If feasible then complimentary methods may include trace elements, Ca isotopes and biomarker approaches. The stalagmites will be calibrated to produce the most accurate climate records through records of cave monitoring data. We have already installed monitoring equipment to record drip-water rates, temperature, relative humidity and pCO2. We are collecting modern calcite samples for isotopic analyses. Precise U/Th dating will allow us to link these findings to archaeological records, offering a timeline of how ancient Cretans responded to environmental stress.
This research will provide critical insights into the relationship between climate and cultural resilience in one of history’s most influential regions. By revealing how the Minoans and their successors navigated extreme events, we aim to deepen our understanding of long-term human–environment interactions and inform strategies for addressing today’s climate challenges in the Mediterranean and beyond.
Fig 1: i) Environmental and societal events in Ancient Crete: direct hydroclimate records from Crete are required to compare with the island’s rich archaeological record. ii) Crete’s cultural timeline and water management examples: a) Artist’s reconstruction of Minoan Knossos which used aquaducts, terracotta pipes and cisterns; b) Minoan water cistern; c) Hellenistic water cistern; d) Roman aquaduct; f) Byzantine water cistern; g) Venetian aquaduct; h) Ottoman drinking fountain.
This project is not suitable for CASE funding
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Cave monitoring will use installed equipment to record isotopes, trace elements, temperature, humidity, and pCO₂. These time-series data will calibrate and improve records.
Stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C) in carbonates will be measured at BGS or Northumbria, with water isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ²H) at Northumbria.
Trace elements (Mg, Sr, Ba, others), Ca isotopes, and U-Th dating will be analyzed with UK and international collaborators. Trace elements reconstruct rainfall and dust transport; Ca isotopes may reveal dripwater flow rates; U-Th provides precise dating. Overlapping speleothem series will build a continuous, replicated hydroclimate record for Crete using Intra-Site Correlation Age Modelling.
Lipid biomarker analysis at Birmingham will target 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH-FAs), offering independent hydroclimate evidence. Though lower in resolution, 3-OH-FAs can separate temperature and hydrological signals, calibrated with altitudinal transects and in-situ temperature loggers.
DRs will be awarded CENTA Training Credits (CTCs) for participation in CENTA-provided and ‘free choice’ external training. One CTC can be earned per 3 hours training, and DRs must accrue 100 CTCs across the three and a half years of their PhD.
You will be trained in inorganic and organic geochemistry. You will also receive training in how to write and illustrate scientific papers, apply for grants and prizes, present work at conferences and scientific meetings, and network with peers and other scientists. There will be opportunities for undergraduate teaching and research supervision. These form the basis of an outstanding skill set, combining traditional and state- of-the-art techniques, that will facilitate a successful research career.
This project will be carried out in collaboration between University of Birmingham (Bendle, Greene – Crete network, palaeoclimate, isotopes, stalagmites), Northumbria University (Ersek – stalagmites, isotopes), The BGS (Leng – Science Director, Stable Isotope Facility, NEIF) the University of Patras (Iliopoulos – palaeoclimate, Greek collaborator). This represents excellent resources and expertise, with essential local support, collaboration and permissions (two Greek external supervisors who actively research on Crete ).
Year 1: Cretan fieldwork, training in sample processing of stalagmite sample material, collection and compilation of longer term monitoring data. Laboratory visits with collaborators. Publication of monitoring data paper.
Year 2: Cretan fieldwork, visits with collaborators. Present results at a domestic (GGRiP) or smaller international meeting (Gordon conference) and prepare manuscript. Further analysis of targeted samples from stalagmite archives based on developing chronologies. CENTA PhD project placement to generate an additional skill-set (transferable to industry) not directly related to the PhD. Write targeteted palaeoclimate paper based on highest priority science and recovered materials.
Year 3&4: Finish remaining analytical work, present results at an international conference (EGU). Write up results for synthesis paper and for final thesis.
Journal:
1 Carolin, S. A.; Walker, R. T.; Day, C. C.; Ersek, V.; Sloan, R. A.; Dee, M. W.; Talebian, M.; Henderson, G. M., Precise timing of abrupt increase in dust activity in the Middle East coincident with 4.2 ka social change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2019, 116 (1), 67-72.
2 Ghilardi, M., Psomiadis, D., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Colleu, M., Sotiropoulos, P., Longo, F., Rossi, A., Amato, V., Gasse, F., Sinibaldi, L., Renard, M., Bicket, A., Delanghe, D., Demory, F. and Fleury, J. (2018) First evidence of a lake at Ancient Phaistos (Messara Plain, South-Central Crete, Greece): Reconstructing paleoenvironments and differentiating the roles of human land-use and paleoclimate from Minoan to Roman times. Holocene 28, 1225-1244.
3 Jouffroy-Bapicot, I., Pedrotta, T., Debret, M., Field, S., Sulpizio, R., Zanchetta, G., Sabatier, P., Roberts, N., Tinner, W., Walsh, K. and Vanniere, B. (2021) Olive groves around the lake. A ten-thousand-year history of a Cretan landscape (Greece) reveals the dominant role of humans in making this Mediterranean ecosystem. Quaternary Science Reviews 267.
5 Katrantsiotis, C. et al. Eastern Mediterranean hydroclimate reconstruction over the last 3600 years based on sedimentary n-alkanes, their carbon and hydrogen isotope composition and XRF data from the Gialova Lagoon, SW Greece. Quaternary Science Reviews 194, 77-93, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.07.008 (2018).
6 Markinos, Y., Angelakis, A. N., Christy, J. & Koutsoyiannis, D. Climatic variability and the evolution of water technologies in Crete, Hellas. Water History 8, 137-157, doi:10.1007/s12685-016-0159-9 (2014).
7 Rohling, E. J., Marino, G., Grant, K. M., Mayewski, P. A. & Weninger, B. A model for archaeologically relevant Holocene climate impacts in the Aegean-Levantine region (easternmost Mediterranean). Quaternary Science Reviews 208, 38-53, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.009 (2019).
8 Moody, J. in Landscape and Land Use in Postglacial Greece (eds C. Frederick & P. Halstead) 52-61 (Sheffield Round Table, 2000).
Web page:
The Minoans | Ancient Worlds (Bettany Hughes). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VJqnTlbCS0&t=1535s (Accessed: Sept 2025).
For any enquiries related to this project please contact Dr James Bendle, University of Birmingham ([email protected]). We particularly encourage applications from backgrounds underrepresented in Earth Science subjects. https://jamesbendle.wordpress.com/
To apply to this project:
Applications must be submitted by 23:59 GMT on Wednesday 7th January 2026.