Reply to Clist et al.: Human activity is the most probable trigger of the late Holocene rainforest crisis in Western Central Africa

The Bantu Expansion stands for the concurrent dispersal of Bantu languages and Bantu-speaking people from an ancestral homeland situated in the Grassfields region in the borderland between current-day Nigeria and Cameroon. During their initial migration across most of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa, which took place between approximately 5,000 and 1,500 years ago, Bantu speech communities not only introduced new languages in the areas where they immigrated but also new lifestyles, in which initially technological innovations such as pottery making and the use of large stone tools played an important role as did subsequently also farming and metallurgy. Wherever early Bantu speakers started to develop a sedentary way of life, they left an archaeologically visible culture. Once settled, Bantu-speaking newcomers strongly interacted with autochthonous hunter-gatherers, as is still visible in the gene pool and/or the languages of certain present-day Bantu speech communities. The driving forces behind what is the principal linguistic, cultural, and demographic process in Late Holocene Africa are still a matter of debate, but it is increasingly accepted that the climate-induced destruction of the rainforest in West Central Africa around 2,500 years ago gave a boost to the Bantu Expansion.

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Late Holocene climatic impact on vegetation and human activity in central Japan, recorded in sediment at Arao-Minami archaeological site, northwestern Nobi Plain

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2019.04.019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 519 ◽

pp. 144-155 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sayuri Naito ◽

Nagayoshi Katsuta ◽

Shin-ichi Kawakami ◽

Yoshimitsu Koido ◽

Hiroshi Shimono

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Climatic Impact ◽

Central Japan

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HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PREHISPANIC LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO

Ancient Mesoamerica ◽

10.1017/s0956536115000243 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 375-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Emily McClung de Tapia

Keyword(s):

Lake Sediments ◽

Human Impact ◽

Human Activity ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Landscape Evolution ◽

Future Research ◽

Human Adaptation ◽

The Past ◽

Basin Of Mexico ◽

Ecosystem Evolution

AbstractPaleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological data generated over the past three decades for parts of the Basin of Mexico are little known among archaeologists working in the region. This paper summarizes and evaluates what is currently known about the prehistoric environment, landscape development, and human impact in the region. Archaeological evidence indicates that human activity became important in ecosystem evolution in the basin during the Middle-Late Holocene. Most traditional paleoenvironmental studies based on lake sediments, however, generalize results corresponding to this period simply asevidence for human impact. Essentially the same vegetation communities extant in the basin today appear to have been present during most of the Holocene, albeit with broader distributions and variability in secondary taxa. Recognizing potential contributions of archaeology to understanding human adaptation to climatic and ecosystemic change, past and present, should stimulate future research on paleoenvironment in the region.

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Late Holocene forest contraction and fragmentation in central Africa

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2017.97 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 89 (1) ◽

pp. 43-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Jean Maley ◽

Charles Doumenge ◽

Pierre Giresse ◽

Gil Mahé ◽

Nathalie Philippon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Fragmentation ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Forest Disturbance ◽

Central Africa ◽

Thunderstorm Activity ◽

Rapid Expansion ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Climatic Data ◽

Solar Influence

AbstractDuring the warmer Holocene Period, two major climatic crises affected the Central African rainforests. The first crisis, around 4000 cal yr BP, caused the contraction of the forest in favor of savanna expansion at its northern and southern periphery. The second crisis, around 2500 cal yr BP, resulted in major perturbation at the forest core, leading to forest disturbance and fragmentation with a rapid expansion of pioneer-type vegetation, and a marked erosional phase. The major driver of these two climatic crises appears to be rapid sea-surface temperature variations in the equatorial eastern Atlantic, which modified the regional atmospheric circulation. The change between ca. 2500 to 2000 cal yr BP led to a large increase in thunderstorm activity, which explains the phase of forest fragmentation. Ultimately, climatic data obtained recently show that the present-day major rise in thunderstorms and lightning activity in Central Africa could result from some kind of solar influence, and hence the phase of forest fragmentation between ca. 2500 to 2000 cal yr BP may provide a model for the present-day global warming-related environmental changes in this region.

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Middle to Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Change and the Early Bantu Expansion in the Rain Forests of Western Central Africa

Current Anthropology ◽

10.1086/681436 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 354-384 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Koen Bostoen ◽

Bernard Clist ◽

Charles Doumenge ◽

Rebecca Grollemund ◽

Jean-Marie Hombert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

Central Africa ◽

Rain Forests

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On Intensive Late Holocene Iron Mining and Production in the Northern Congo Basin and the Environmental Consequences Associated with Metallurgy in Central Africa

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0132632 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. e0132632 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Karen D. Lupo ◽

Dave N. Schmitt ◽

Christopher A. Kiahtipes ◽

Jean-Paul Ndanga ◽

D. Craig Young ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

Central Africa ◽

Congo Basin ◽

Environmental Consequences ◽

Iron Mining

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Palynological evidence of human activity on the gulf of Gdansk coast during the late holocene

Brazilian Journal of Oceanography ◽

10.1590/s1679-87592010000500002 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 58 (spe1) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Grazyna Miotk-Szpiganowicz ◽

Joanna Zachowicz ◽

Szymon Uscinowicz

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Human Activity ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Vistula Lagoon ◽

Gulf Of Gdańsk ◽

Gulf Of Gdansk ◽

Vistula Delta ◽

Hunting And Fishing ◽

Puck Bay

The Gulf of Gdansk is located in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. The shores of the Gulf are dominated by the sandy barriers which have developed in front of the Vistula Lagoon and the Vistula Delta Plain to the south-east and south and in front of the Puck Lagoon in the north-west such as the Hel Peninsula. Cliffs occur on the western coast of the Gulf. Neolithic settlements around the coast of the Gulf of Gdansk are mainly located at the foot of the upland slope and on the Vistula Spit and the Vistula Delta and are closely related to the rise and displacement of the shoreline during the Late Holocene. Pollen analyses of the sediment cores from the Vistula Delta, the Vistula Lagoon and the coast of the Puck Lagoon allow four anthropogenic phases to be distinguished in the area of the Gulf of Gdansk. It has been shown that the first indicators of an early husbandry economy in the vicinity of the Gulf of Gdansk appeared in the Atlantic Period. Pollen grains of plants related to this kind of human activity those of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), motherwort (Artemisia), sorrel (Rumex) are present and the first pollen grains of the plantain (Plantago lanceolata) also appear. The second anthropogenic phase of Neolithic settlement is one of the best investigated cultures. This is the Rzucewo Culture. Pollen analyses indicate increasing human activity at the beginning of the Subboreal Period. The preserved traces of fauna show that the seal hunting and fishing economy was preferred. Radiocarbon dating of archaeological artifacts indicates the beginning of the settlement at ca. 2 400 B.C. (ca. 4 400 years B.P.) (Król 1997). The altitude of peat and marine mollusks shells and their radiocarbon age shows that during the Early Subboreal Period the water level rose from ca. 2.8 m to 1.1 m below the present-day sea level. The date of the beginning of the seal hunters settlement correlates well with the period when the shores of the Puck Lagoon approached their recent position. The development of the Neolithic settlement on the Puck Bay coast as well as those on the Vistula Delta, where the main activity was related to amber processing, seal hunting and fishing, clearly shows a close relationship to the sea-level rise. The occurrence of the third and fourth settlement phases was related to the high sea-level stands in the Subboreal and Subatlantic Periods (post-Littorina, Late Holocene regressions) but their character was still strongly related to the coastal environments. The settlement was connected with the dry habitats whose areas increased after the development of the barriers. In the area of the Vistula Delta, settlement conditions depended mainly on the stages of the delta's development. On the shores of Puck Bay, however, the intensity of settlement was closely related to the water level changes.

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Late Holocene vegetation changes in relation with climate fluctuations and human activity in Languedoc (southern France)

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-11-1769-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 1769-1784 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

J. Azuara ◽

N. Combourieu-Nebout ◽

V. Lebreton ◽

F. Mazier ◽

S. D. Müller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Human Activity ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Forest Recovery ◽

Classical Antiquity ◽

Southern France ◽

Climate Fluctuations

Abstract. Holocene climate fluctuations and human activity since the Neolithic have shaped present-day Mediterranean environments. Separating anthropogenic effects from climatic impacts to better understand Mediterranean paleoenvironmental changes over the last millennia remains a challenging issue. High-resolution pollen analyses were undertaken on two cores from the Palavasian lagoon system (Hérault, southern France). These records allow reconstruction of vegetation dynamics over the last 4500 years. Results are compared with climatic, historical and archeological archives. A long-term aridification trend is highlighted during the late Holocene, and three superimposed arid events are recorded at 4600–4300, 2800–2400 and 1300–1100 cal BP. These periods of high-frequency climate variability coincide in time with the rapid climatic events observed in the Atlantic Ocean (Bond et al., 2001). From the Bronze Age (4000 cal BP) to the end of the Iron Age (around 2000 cal BP), the spread of sclerophyllous taxa and loss of forest cover result from anthropogenic impact. Classical Antiquity is characterized by a major reforestation event related to the concentration of rural activity and populations in coastal plains leading to forest recovery in the mountains. A major regional deforestation occurred at the beginning of the High Middle Ages. Around 1000 cal BP, forest cover is minimal while the cover of olive, chestnut and walnut expands in relation to increasing human influence. The present-day vegetation dominated by Mediterranean shrubland and pines has been in existence since the beginning of the 20th century.

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