Holocene environmental change and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in northwest Europe: revisiting two models (original) (raw)
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Chapter 8. Dan Clough Moss Discussion 8.1 Human impact on the environment across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition 8.2 How the nature of human impact changed across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition 8.3 The influence of changing environmental conditions upon the nature of human impact 8.4 Summary Chapter 9. Bökeberg Discussion 9.1 Human impact on the environment across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition 9.2 How the nature of human impact changed across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition 9.3 The influence of changing environmental conditions upon the nature of human impact 9.4 Summary Chapter 10. Conclusions 10.1 Review of Methodology 10.2 Research Aims and Objectives 10.2.1 Objectives 10.3 Future research into the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition Chapter 11. Bibliography WORD COUNT: 47,281 List of figures Page 4. Site Selection 4.1-Typical typology of Mesolithic archaeological sites in the vicinity of March Hill. 4.2-Location of Mesolithic and Neolithic finds in the Lake Yddingesjön area, with Bökeberg III excavations highlighted. 5. Methods 5.1-Silicon concentration measurements at a range of count times from Dan Clough Moss, with corresponding percentage error. 5.2-Titanium concentration measurements at a range of count times from Dan Clough Moss, with corresponding percentage error. 5.3-Silicon concentration measurements at a range of count times from Bökeberg, with corresponding percentage error. 5.4-Titanium concentration measurements at a range of count times from Bökeberg, with corresponding percentage error. 5.5-Down-core variability in FP-XRF derived silicon and titanium concentrations at Dan Clough Moss, including max and min values for each sampling point. 5.6-Down-core variability in FP-XRF derived silicon and titanium concentrations at Bökeberg, including max and min values for each sampling point. 5.7-Plant fraction of sample Beta-336993 used for AMS radiocarbon dating at Dan Clough Moss. 6. March Hill Results 6.1-Location of preliminary boreholes around March Hill. 6.2-Results of preliminary pollen analyses on basal peat samples, expressed as %TLP (total land pollen). 6.3-Age-depth model for Dan Clough Moss. Position is depth of the centre of the sample in mm below the peat surface. Modelled date (BP) is the calibrated, modelled age range at each depth, dark blue representing 68.2% uncertainty (1σ), and lighter blue 95.2% (2σ). 6.4-Dan Clough Moss pollen diagram with frequencies calculated as percentages of the pollen sum (TLP excluding Alnus). 6.5-Dan Clough Moss spore, charcoal, selected NPP and XRF diagram. Spores calculated as percentages of the pollen sum (TLP excluding Alnus), charcoal expressed as influx per unit volume per year, NPPs calculated as percentages of the total NPP sum, and Silicon and Titanium expressed as influx per unit volume per year. 6.6-Dan Clough Moss selected NPP and peat humification diagram. NPPs calculated as percentages of the total NPP sum, and peat humification expressed as percentage light transmission. 7. Bökeberg Results 7.1-Location of Bökeberg borehole in relation to known Mesolithic and Neolithic archaeology, and present peat deposit extent. Adapted from Regnell et al. (1995). 7.2-Selection of macro-fossils used for AMS radiocarbon dating for Bökeberg. 7.3-Age-depth model for Bökeberg. Position is depth of the centre of the sample in mm below the peat surface. Modelled date (BP) is the calibrated, modelled age range at each depth, dark blue representing 68.2% uncertainty (1σ), and lighter blue 95.2% (2σ). 7.4-Bökeberg lower-resolution (10mm) pollen diagram, with frequencies expressed as percentages of the pollen sum (TLP excluding Alnus). The depths on this diagram covered by 7.8-Bökeberg Neolithic high resolution pollen diagram, with frequencies expressed as percentages of the pollen sum (TLP excluding Alnus). 7.9-Bökeberg Neolithic high resolution charcoal, NPP and XRF diagram. Charcoal is expressed as a concentration per unit volume, NPPs as a percentage of total NPPs, and silicon and titanium as a concentration per volume. 8. Dan Clough Moss Discussion 8.1-Summary human impact diagram for Dan Clough Moss. Proxies expressed as in Figs. 6.4 to 6.6. 8.2-Canonical Correspondence Analysis of major pollen types, with micro-charcoal, macrocharcoal and percentage light transmission as environmental variables. 8.3-Summary human impact and bog surface wetness diagram. Proxies expressed as in Figs. 6.4 to 6.6. 9. Bökeberg Discussion 9.1-Summary human impact diagram for Bökeberg. Proxies as expressed in Figs. 7.4 and 7.5. 9.2-Summary human impact, bog surface wetness and lake level fluctuation diagram. Proxies expressed as in Figs. 7.4 and 7.5. 6.3-Radiocarbon determinations for Dan Clough Moss. Calibrations were made using IntCal13 (Reimer et al. 2013) in OxCal 4.2 (Bronk Ramsey, 2009a). 6.4-Modelled sample resolution for Dan Clough Moss. 6.5-Key characteristics of three periods of woodland disturbance identified from the Dan Clough Moss palynological record. 7. Bökeberg Results 7.1-Stratigraphy of sediment core from Bökeberg. 7.2-Radiocarbon determinations for Bökeberg. Calibrations were made using IntCal13 (Reimer et al. 2013) in OxCal 4.2 (Bronk Ramsey, 2009). 7.3-Modelled low-resolution (10mm) sample resolution. 7.4-Modelled high-resolution (5mm) sample resolution. 7.5-Key characteristics of five episodes of disturbance identified from the lower-resolution analyses at Bökeberg.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2006
In the last decades, data on the economy and environment of the Neolithic period of lake dwellings (4300–2400 b.c.) in central Europe has increased considerably and also palaeoecological data on lake level fluctuations has been thoroughly elaborated. Lake shores were mainly settled during warm and rather dry climate periods which caused a fall in the lake levels. Nevertheless, there were strong and partly very short-term shifts in the economy during the lake-dwelling period. These can be recognised only because the settlement layers can be very precisely dated by dendrochronology. In this article we discuss in an interdisciplinary way the possible interrelations between climatic and economic changes. To explain the latter, we assume crop failures as the main reason, which caused intensified hunting and gathering. There are three different possibilities which might explain this: cold and wet summers, severe droughts during spring and summer, or local over-exploitation of soils in densely settled areas.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2006
In the last decades, data on the economy and environment of the Neolithic period of lake dwellings (4300–2400 b.c.) in central Europe has increased considerably and also palaeoecological data on lake level fluctuations has been thoroughly elaborated. Lake shores were mainly settled during warm and rather dry climate periods which caused a fall in the lake levels. Nevertheless, there were strong and partly very short-term shifts in the economy during the lake-dwelling period. These can be recognised only because the settlement layers can be very precisely dated by dendrochronology. In this article we discuss in an interdisciplinary way the possible interrelations between climatic and economic changes. To explain the latter, we assume crop failures as the main reason, which caused intensified hunting and gathering. There are three different possibilities which might explain this: cold and wet summers, severe droughts during spring and summer, or local over-exploitation of soils in densely settled areas.
The chronology of abrupt climate change and Late Upper Palaeolithic human adaptation in Europe
Journal of Quaternary Science, 2006
This paper addresses the possible connections between the onset of human expansion in Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum, and the timing of abrupt climate warming at the onset of the Lateglacial (Bölling/Allerød) Interstadial. There are opposing views as to whether or not human populations and activities were directly ‘forced’ by climate change, based on different comparisons between archaeological and environmental data. We review the geochronological assumptions and approaches on which data comparisons have been attempted in the past, and argue that the uncertainties presently associated with age models based on calibrated radiocarbon dates preclude robust testing of the competing models, particularly when comparing the data to non-radiocarbon-based timescales such as the Greenland ice core records. The paper concludes with some suggestions as to the steps that will be necessary if more robust tests of the models are to be developed in the future. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Environmental Research Letters, 2020
This paper deals with prehistoric communities at the end of the 3rd millennium BC in Northwest Europe in relation to the 4.2 ka BP climatic event. In particular, the question of the resilience of these communities to climatic change will be studied here by comparing various climatic records and analysing specific archaeological parameters for social and cultural change. These parameters include the duration and intensity of settlement occupation, the variability of subsistence activities (e.g. cereal cultivation, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, and gathering) and the connectedness of communities within exchange networks. Rather than answering the often-asked yes/no question with regard to human-environment relations, our research asks what effect resulted from the 4.2 ka BP climatic event, and, from the perspective of resilience, how did communities adopt to these changes in their practices and cultural choices during the later 3rd millennium BC. In short, we maintain that climate change took place at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, but the changes in humidity and temperature with their effects on vegetation were probably regionally varied across Northwest Europe. We also observe that the studied communities developed differently during the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. On the one hand, we identify new food storage and house building techniques in the Low Countries and Schleswig-Holstein and, on the other hand, substantiate population decrease on the Orkney Islands around 2300 BC. Finally, we note a development of the Bell Beaker phenomenon into an Early Bronze Age maritory of connected communities across the North Sea, in which these communities expressed their resilience to climate change.