Ancient Records Help Test Climate Change

September 16, 2007 By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer Ancient Records Help Test Climate Change (AP)

A page in one of 13 diaries by Brother Josef, inscribed from 1671 to 1704 is shown Aug. 15, 2007 in the Monastery in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Frozen communion wine, soft rains that caressed the earth and winds that wrought an all-consuming yellow fog are described meticulously by the 17th century Swiss monk in accounts once consigned to dark ecclesiastical archives. (AP Photo/Bradley S. Klapper)

(AP) -- A librarian at this 10th century monastery leads a visitor beneath the vaulted ceilings of the archive past the skulls of two former abbots. He pushes aside medieval ledgers of indulgences and absolutions, pulls out one of 13 bound diaries inscribed from 1671 to 1704 and starts to read about the weather.

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