Abstract. A high quantity of well-dated, high-resolution, continuous geoarchives is
needed to connect palaeoenvironmental reconstructions with
socio-environmental and cultural transformations in a geographically
heterogeneous region such as southern Greece. However, detailed and
continuous palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental archives from the NE
Peloponnese are still sparse. Here, we present two new palaeolake archives
of Pheneos and Kaisari covering the last 10 500 and 6500 years,
respectively. For the last 5000 years, we compare them with sediment
records from adjacent Lake Stymphalia and the Asea valley by applying the
same set of sedimentological, geochemical, and statistical analyses to all
four lacustrine archives. Continuous geochemical X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning records
provide evidence for hydrological variations and environmental changes since
the Early Helladic period (5050 BP), the beginning of the Bronze Age in
Greece. We hereby focus on different spatial scales to estimate the validity
range of the proxy signals. Ten elements were selected (Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti,
Mn, Fe, Rb, Sr, Zr) for a principal component analysis. The clr(Ca∕Ti) was
chosen as the most meaningful proxy, reflecting varying input of
carbonaceous vs. clastic input, which may be linked to changes in the
hydrological conditions. Our results show phases when permanent lake water
bodies existed (ca. 5000–3600 cal BP) as well as phases with periodic
desiccation of the lakes during younger times. While Pheneos and Kaisari
show a drying trend during the transition phase from the Late Helladic
period to the Proto-Geometric period (ca. 3200–2800 cal BP), Stymphalia
and Asea show a rather short dry peak around 3200 cal BP followed by a
wetter phase. Although all our geoarchives show evidence for drier phases, their timing
and duration display considerable site-to-site differences which may be
explained by site-specific responses in individual ecosystems. Age
uncertainties, however, may likewise explain some deviations, as the dating
is based on bulk sediment samples including potential unknown reservoir
effects. The high regional geographical diversity within the Peloponnese combined
with the dating challenges in the limestone-rich area and the variation in
our data testify that any hypothetical mono-causal connection between
palaeoenvironmental changes in a single geoarchive and contemporaneous
societal transformations across the Peloponnese would be an
oversimplification.
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