Radiocarbon evidence over the apparent grand solar minimum around 400 BCE

Abstract Grand solar minima are periods spanning from decades to more than a century during which solar activity is unusually low. A cluster of such minima occurred during the last millennium, as evidenced by reductions in the numbers of sunspots observed and coeval increases in cosmogenic isotope production. Prior to the period of instrumental records, natural archives of such isotopes are the only resources available for detecting grand solar minima. Here, we examine the period 433–315 BCE, which saw a sustained increase in the production of the cosmogenic isotope, radiocarbon. Our new time series of radiocarbon data (Δ 14 C), obtained on cellulose extracted from known-age oak tree rings from Germany, reveal that the rise in production that occurred at this time was commensurate with patterns observed over recent grand solar minima. Our data also enhance, and to a degree challenge, the accuracy of the international atmospheric radiocarbon record over this period.