Search results for "Holocene"
showing 10 items of 330 documents
Natural and human induced environmental changes preserved in a Holocene sediment sequence from the Etoliko Lagoon, Greece: New evidence from geochemi…
2013
Abstract A key feature of Greece is the large amount of historical and archaeological records. The sedimentary record of the Etoliko Lagoon, Aetolia, Western Greece, offers an ideal opportunity to study human–environment interaction and to disentangle natural and anthropogenic imprints in the sedimentary record. By applying an interdisciplinary approach of combining geoscientific methods (XRF, LOI, grain size analysis) with archaeological and historical records, the 8.8 m long sedimentary sequence ETO1C reveals the palaeoenvironmental history of the lagoon and its catchment since 11,670 cal BP. With a thorough chronology based on 14 C age-depth-modelling including varve counting, different …
Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: Evidence from the deep sea
2000
The Akkadian empire ruled Mesopotamia from the headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers to the Persian Gulf during the late third millennium B.C. Archeological evidence has shown that this highly developed civilization collapsed abruptly near 4170 ± 150 calendar yr B.P., perhaps related to a shift to more arid conditions. Detailed paleoclimate records to test this assertion from Mesopotamia are rare, but changes in regional aridity are preserved in adjacent ocean basins. We document Holocene changes in regional aridity using mineralogic and geochemical analyses of a marine sediment core from the Gulf of Oman, which is directly downwind of Mesopotamian dust source areas and archeological si…
Palaeoecological response to Greenlandian (Early Holocene) climatic changes: Insight from an abandoned-channel sequence of the Meuse River at Autreco…
2020
Abstract A Greenlandian (Early Holocene) palaeochannel of the Meuse River is described from Autrecourt-et-Pourron in the Ardennes region of northern France. During the Younger Dryas, fluvial deposits represent a high-energy, sinuous palaeochannel, but at the onset of the Holocene, progressive channel abandonment resulted in the establishment of a low-energy meandering river system. Well-dated studies using palynology, carpology, malacology and geomorphology reveal a Greenlandian succession of changes in fluvial dynamics and vegetation. Between 11,700 and 11,400 cal yr BP, warmer temperatures led to the development of a birch community (Betula sp.) within an open grassland, dominated by herb…
The palaeoecoloical potential of pollen records in caves: the case of Mediterranean Spain
1999
Abstract Important palynological sequences are reviewed from caves with archaeological interest in Mediterranean Spain. Upper Pleistocene sites include Abric Romani and Abric de l’Arbreda in NE Spain, and in SE Spain Cueva de la Carihuela, Cova Beneito, Cueva de Perneras, Cueva del Algarrobo and the Holocene Cova de l’Or and Cova de les Cendres. Carihuela has the longest sequence, starting in the last interglacial and covering most of the last glaciation. A pre-Wurm phase was followed by two glacial maxima separated by an interpleniglacial phase, and in the Lateglacial the Younger Dryas seems present. Whereas at Carihuela harsh pleniglacial conditions caused Mediterranean associations to di…
Prehistoric land use at an archaeological hot-spot (the rock art park of Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) inferred from charcoal, synanthropic pollen and non…
2013
Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal from a colluvial soil surrounded by prehistoric petroglyphs (Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) were studied in order to assess the nature of human activities and their impact on Holocene vegetation patterns. Several phases of anthropogenic impact were observed. (i) Between 7.6 and 6.5 ka cal BP, synanthropic taxa (Urtica dioica type, Plantago lanceolata type) and coprophilous fungi (e.g. Sporormiella-type) are indicative of early (pre-agricultural) creation of small patches of pasture using fire, possibly for incipient animal husbandry or as part of a deliberate strategy to improve game availability. Such activities only had a minor effect on the deciduou…
Palynology and lithostratigraphy of Late Elsterian to Early Saalian aquatic sediments in the Ziemupe–Jūrkalne area, western Latvia
2000
Abstract This study is based upon lithological and palynological investigation of test-drilling cores along the Baltic Sea coast. Three intertill units of basin sediments are underlain by a thin layer of Lētiža (Elsterian) till and overlain by glaciotectonically deformed Kurzeme (Saalian Complex) till. The Kurzeme till differs from the Lētiža till by higher contents of limestone clasts and rounded hornblende grains. The lowermost intertill unit consists of glaciolacustrine to glaciomarine laminated clay of the Sudrabi member, a late glacial deposit of the Lētiža glaciation. Treeless vegetation covered the adjoining land. Next is the marine to brackish Akme n rags formation, deposited during…
Late Quaternary vegetational history at Navarres, Eastern Spain. A two core approach
1996
summary Percentage and concentration pollen diagrams are presented for two cores (taken 5 m apart) at an upper Pleistocene and Holocene site at Navarres (Valencia, eastern Spain). Chronological information is provided by an internally consistent radiocarbon dating series that extends from c. 20700 to 3075 yr BP. The results highlight the dangers of relying on a single core in interpreting the patterns of variation of particular taxa. Significant palynological differences, seemingly locational, are described between the two cores. The upper Pleistocene records accords well with the widely recognized European sequence of (a) upper Pleniglacial, (b) Bolling-Allerod warm period, and (c) Younger…
Abrupt Alnus population decline at the end of the first millennium CE in Europe - The event ecology, possible causes and implications
2019
The study, based on the examination of 70 published and unpublished pollen profiles from Poland and supplementary data from the surrounding regions, shows that an abrupt, episodic Alnus population decline at the end of the first millennium CE was a much more widespread event than has been previously reported, spanning large areas of the temperate and boreal zones in Europe. The data from Poland suggest that the decline was roughly synchronous and most likely occurred between the 9th and 10th centuries, with strong indications for the 10th century. The pollen data indicate that human impacts were not a major factor in the event. Instead, we hypothesize that one or a series of abrupt climatic…
Planktonic foraminifera as proxies of the Holocene climatic variability (Tyrrhenian, Mediterranean Sea)
2017
Introduction. The focus of this study is the paleoclimatic reconstruction of the southern Tyrrhenian between ~9.2 and 2.9 ka, through the study of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes, and comparing data with other coeval intervals. Several authors have studied the climatic sensitivity of Holocene planktonic foraminifera in different parts of the Mediterranean. Planktonic foraminifera produce good records of Holocene climatic variability, especially as regards the suborbital events such as Bond events (Bond et al., 1997) and other cooling/warming oscillations. Therefore, the obtained eco-biostratigraphy has allowed us to analyze how climatic forcing influenced sea surfac…
Biogeography of the Pleistocene pleniglacial malacofaunas in Europe. Stratigraphic and climatic implications
1990
Abstract As determined by Lozek, malacological associations are significant of a particular vegetal environment. In Quaternary sequences, different types of associations are recognized which can be assimilated to the present types of malacofaunas. There are associations of grass group, of forest group and of the ecotone of these two biogeographical entities. On the European scale, in Pleistocene sequences, the interglacial faunas indicate similarly the same differences as today, being of stratigraphic interest. On the contrary, pleniglacial faunas, which are mainly preserved in the loess belt, seemed not interesting for stratigraphy since they indicate more generalized and more homogeneous …