Update: The article and paper are from 2012.
A study suggests the Britain of 2,000 years ago experienced a lengthy period of hotter summers than today.
German researchers used data from tree rings – a key indicator of past climate – to claim the world has been on a ‘long-term cooling trend’ for two millennia until the global warming of the twentieth century.
This cooling was punctuated by a couple of warm spells.
These are the Medieval Warm Period, which is well known, but also a period during the toga-wearing Roman times when temperatures were apparently 1 deg C warmer than now.
They say the very warm period during the years 21 to 50AD has been underestimated by climate scientists.
Lead author Professor Dr Jan Esper of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz said: ‘We found that previous estimates of historical temperatures during the Roman era and the Middle Ages were too low.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1589
sunshine hours 
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
Any link to the study? The abstract? What date was it published? Thanks.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1589
Thank you!
Reblogged this on Sierra Foothill Commentary and commented:
If it was warmer in the past, what makes the current warming unusual? Past warming was not blamed on human CO2 emissions, why should they be blamed for the current warming? Interested in hearing your thoughts?