Hmm, some boffins with a model based in part on stuff like soil nitrogen levels claim that there was a mysterious gradual decline in population in Ireland right

Hmm, some boffins with a model based in part on stuff like soil nitrogen levels claim that there was a mysterious gradual decline in population in Ireland right before the Vikings came ... versus contemporary chroniclers who claim there was a non-mysterious decline in population right after the Vikings came to Ireland. Which one should we believe? Kind of reminds me of the "historians"[1] who claimed the German invasions of Rome were peaceful multicultural changes rather than the sacks of the place recorded both in the archaeological record, and by contemporary chroniclers. [1] c.f. "The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization" by Ward Perkins.