The bearing of phyto-archaeological evidence on discussions of climatic change over recent millennia

1990 ◽  
Vol 330 (1615) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Pinus Halepensis ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Buxus Sempervirens ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
The Last Glacial

Phyto-archaeological data based on macro-remains studies, especially prehistoric charcoal, provide evidence concerning the changes in western Mediterranean vegetation during the last millennia. Comparisons are based on present vegetation levels as defined by Ozenda. From the last glacial period to the present time, differences between warm and cool vegetation were of about 8 °C in the south of France but less extreme in more southern regions. The late Pleistocene and early Holocene (Late Palaeolithic and part of Mesolithic) were a period of transition with pines and junipers. Then, the late Mesolithic and the early Neolithic are typically periods of good forestation. During the Neolithic period deciduous and holm oaks had a role of varying importance in all the present Mediterranean levels (thermomeso- and supramediterranean). Man’s influence on the vegetation became significant in the middle Neolithic (south of France) or earlier (south of Spain) and may be characterized by plants such as Buxus sempervirens, Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis and heaths. The Chalcolithic, the Roman period and the Middle Ages are also periods during which Man’s influence was important.

scholarly journals Quantifying molecular oxygen isotope variations during a Heinrich stadial

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1527-1551 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Reutenauer ◽  
A. Landais ◽  
T. Blunier ◽  
C. Bréant ◽  
M. Kageyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Fractionation ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Atmospheric Oxygen ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Fractionation Factor ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. δ18O of atmospheric oxygen (δ18Oatm) undergoes millennial-scale variations during the last glacial period, and systematically increases during Heinrich stadials (HSs). Changes in δ18Oatm combine variations in biospheric and water cycle processes. The identification of the main driver of the millennial variability in δ18Oatm is thus not straightforward. Here, we quantify the response of δ18Oatm to such millennial events using a freshwater hosing simulation performed under glacial boundary conditions. Our global approach takes into account the latest estimates of isotope fractionation factor for respiratory and photosynthetic processes and make use of atmospheric water isotope and vegetation changes. Our modeling approach allows to reproduce the main observed features of a HS in terms of climatic conditions, vegetation distribution and δ18O of precipitation. We use it to decipher the relative importance of the different processes behind the observed changes in δ18Oatm. The results highlight the dominant role of hydrology on δ18Oatm and confirm that δ18Oatm can be seen as a global integrator of hydrological changes over vegetated areas.

Impacts of Heinrich events upon Human existence potential in Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoud Rostami ◽  
Konstantin Klein ◽  
Christian Wegener ◽  
Yaping Shao ◽  
Gerd-Christian Weniger
Keyword(s):  
Aridity Index ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Least Cost Path ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Heinrich Events ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>Heinrich events are recognized as the dominant periods of extreme cold terrestrial climate conditions during the last glacial period. The role of climate forcing alone upon Human Existence Potential (HEP) during extreme events, e.g. Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger events, is not yet sufficiently resolved. By reproducing climate variables during the two extreme cold and warm cycles by means of an Earth System Model, employing an improved HEP model, and utilizing archaeological excavation sites, we report the spatial distribution of HEP over Europe during both cold stadials and warm interstadials corresponding to the two Upper Palaeolithic technocomplexes: Late Gravettian and Aurignacian. By introducing some other diagnostics like Environmental Human Catchment, which is defined as an area delimited by low HEP, cooling-aridity index, and Least Cost Path among colonized people, we shed light into population dynamics in this epoch. Consecutive extreme cold and warm cycles, corresponding to contraction-expansion of HEP, supports the hypothesis of repetitive depopulation–repopulation cycles of habitats. Regarding the controversial issue of late survival location of Neanderthals, we illustrate that western coastlines had such a suitable and stable HEP scores for all human taxa including Neanderthals to survive during Heinrich events.</p>

Regulating Religious Noise: The Council of Vienne, the Mosque Call and Muslim Pilgrimage in the Late Medieval Mediterranean World

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Remie Constable
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Call To Prayer

AbstractThis paper examines the issue of religious noise in the later middle ages, in those areas of the western Mediterranean, especially in the Crown of Aragón, where Muslims and Christians lived in close proximity. In particular, it considers the role of the Council of Vienne (1311) in shifting and reflecting contemporary Christian attitudes toward public and audible Muslim religious observance, including the call to prayer (adhān) and local pilgrimage (ziyāra). This article will place the Vienne rulings in a wider context, first discussing the regulation of religious noise until the end of the thirteenth century, then examining data from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As will become evident, although the Council of Vienne did mark a turning point in the Christian effort to control the religious acoustic environment, its legislation was neither as original nor as effective as is often believed. Nevertheless, the Council marked a shift in contemporary thinking about religious noise, signaling increased awareness of noise as a problem and adding authority to prohibitions on public Muslim religious expression. Parallel concerns expressed by both Muslims and Christians about the religious noise and public rituals of minority communities (whether the mosque call, the ringing of bells, or local pilgrimage) demonstrate inter-religious tensions in the Mediterranean World at the turn of the fourteenth century.

scholarly journals Cliff-front aeolian and colluvial deposits, Mallorca, Western Mediterranean: a record of climatic and environmental change during the last glacial period

2001 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 217-232
Author(s):  
Lars B. Clemmensen ◽  
Thomas Lisborg ◽  
Richard G. Bromley ◽  
Joan J. Fornós
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Aeolian Deposits ◽  
Climatic And Environmental Change ◽  
Sea Cliff ◽  
The Last Glacial

Large, cliff-front accumulations of Late Pleistocene aeolian and colluvial deposits on southeast Mallorca provide a terrestrial record of climatic and environmental change in the Western Mediterranean during the last glacial period. The cliff-front deposits are lithified and form ramps sloping toward the southeast (i.e. seaward). Radiocarbon dating suggests that the deposits formed in Oxygen Isope Stage 3, when sea level was about 50 m lower than today, and the fossil sea-cliff situated 1.5 to 2 km from the palaeo-shore. The aeolian deposits are composed of marine carbonate sand that was transported inland episodically and accumulated in embayments along the fossil sea-cliff. The sand initially formed steadily growing and forward-moving dunes, then sloping sand ramps and finally relatively small ascending dunes. Aeolian accumulation was interrupted by erosion and colluvial ramp formation, and the cliff-front sediments can be divided into two sedimentary cycles each composed of basal colluvial deposits overlain by aeolian deposits. Colluvial deposition probably records relatively humid climatic intervals, whereas aeolian accumulation probably reflects relatively arid climatic intervals. It appears that climatic and environmental changes were rapid, and it is speculated that the dynamics of the cliff-front system on Mallorca were tied to North Atlantic millennial-scale climate oscillations.

Sub-millennial climate shifts in the western Mediterranean during the last glacial period recorded in a speleothem from Mallorca, Spain

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 713-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Hodge ◽  
David A. Richards ◽  
Peter L. Smart ◽  
Angel Ginés ◽  
David P. Mattey
Keyword(s):  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Climate Shifts ◽  
The Last Glacial

scholarly journals Quantifying molecular oxygen isotope variations during a Heinrich Stadial

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 2281-2339
Author(s):  
C. Reutenauer ◽  
A. Landais ◽  
T. Blunier ◽  
C. Bréant ◽  
M. Kageyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Cycle ◽  
Atmospheric Oxygen ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Water Isotopes ◽  
Fractionation Factor ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. δ18O of atmospheric oxygen (δ18Oatm) undergoes millennial scale variations during the last glacial period, and systematically increases during Heinrich Stadials (HS). Changes in δ18Oatm combine variations in biospheric and water cycle processes. The identification of the main driver of the millennial variability of δ18Oatm is thus not straightforward. Here, we quantify the response of δ18Oatm to such millennial events using a freshwater hosing simulation (HS_exp) performed under glacial boundary conditions. Our global approach takes into account the latest estimates of isotope fractionation factor for respiratory and photosynthetic processes and make use of atmospheric water isotopes and vegetations changes. Our modeling approach allows to reproduce the main observed features of a HS in terms of climatic conditions, vegetation distribution and δ18O of precipitation. We use it to decipher the relative importance of the different processes behind the observed changes in δ18Oatm. The results highlight the dominant role of hydrology on δ18Oatm and confirm that δ18Oatm can be seen as a global integrator of hydrological changes over vegetated areas.

Possible role of dust-induced regional warming in abrupt climate change during the last glacial period

Nature ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 384 (6608) ◽  
pp. 447-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Overpeck ◽  
David Rind ◽  
Andrew Lacis ◽  
Richard Healy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Regional Warming ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial

Defining issues

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Harding
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Many ◽  
Archaeological Cultures

The universality of human mortality is the commonest of truisms, but the prospect of mortality evidently has weighed differently on different societies over the course of human history, from the oppressive burden of the later Middle Ages to the more relaxed live-for-the-present-ism of the current generation. The disposal of the dead is at basis a hygienic necessity that is recognized in all but the most socially disrupted circumstances, but the manner of disposal may reveal attitudes of society towards death and the concept of afterlife, or the role of the dead in the continuing life of the community. Even in our contemporary secular society, relatives of the victims of murder or abduction or of death in foreign parts crave the recovery of bodies for due burial, without which they apparently cannot ‘achieve closure’, a condition of grace that might have been considered essential to the dead, but which evidently matters equally to the bereaved. The discipline of archaeology is methodologically disposed to distort the reality of the past in that it seeks to recognize ordered patterns where in reality diversity and apparent irrationality must have been inherent. The keystone of Childe’s approach, the identification of archaeological cultures, was dependent upon recurrence of diagnostic types in association, which would permit the comparison of one cultural assemblage with another in time or space. Even in processual and post-processual approaches the essence is to reduce the ever-burgeoning data-base to some semblance of order, without which it is impossible for interpretation to proceed, other than intuitively, empathically, or experientially, that is, based upon imaginative reconstruction rather than being inferred, however inadequately, from archaeological data. The consequence of this process of classification has been to emphasize certain outstanding classes of data, like long barrows, stone circles, or hillforts, as typical of their period or region, at the expense of a subtler analysis of the many possible variations of settlement or burial sites that are detectable, even from the surviving archaeological record. In recent years there has been a significant shift in archaeological approaches to burial data.

scholarly journals On the Role of Volcanism in Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lohmann ◽  
Anders Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Large Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. A significant influence of major volcanic eruptions on regime shifts and long-term climate variability has been suggested previously. But a statistical assessment of this has been hampered by inaccurate synchronization of large volcanic eruptions to changes in past climate. Here, this is achieved by combining a new record of bipolar volcanism from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores with records of abrupt climate change derived from the same ice cores. We show that at > 99 % confidence bipolar volcanic eruptions occurred more frequently than expected by chance just before the onset of Dansgaard-Oeschger events, the most prominent large-scale abrupt climate changes of the last glacial period. Out of 20 climate change events in the 12–60 ka period, 5 (7) occur within 20 (50) years after a bipolar eruption. Thus, such large eruptions may act as short-term triggers for large-scale abrupt climate change, and may explain part of the variability of Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles.

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