scholarly journals Landscape development at Lina myr fen, Eastern Gotland, 9000−2500 cal. yr BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1205-1219
Author(s):  
Nichola Ann Strandberg ◽  
Aleftin Barliaev ◽  
Helene Martinsson-Wallin ◽  
Jan Risberg ◽  
Martina Hättestrand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plantago Lanceolata ◽  
Water System ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Isostatic Uplift ◽  
Archeological Evidence ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Human Habitation ◽  
Shore Displacement

Using diatoms, pollen, and geochemistry, we explore human habitation around Lina myr, Gotland, in relation to shore displacement. Archeological evidence has shown that Lina myr was an important area for its prehistoric human inhabitants. We investigate if and when Lina myr was connected to the sea and could therefore have been part of an inland water system useful for transport. A chronology was based on 14C AMS dating of terrestrial macrofossils and bulk sediments with dates ranging between 9100 and 2360 cal. yr BP. The initiation of the Littorina transgression was dated to 8500 cal. yr BP. A twofold pattern for the maximum sub-phase of the Littorina Sea is suggested from 8100 to 7500 cal. yr BP and from 6500 to 6000 cal. yr BP. The onset of cultivation and grazing was indicated by the presence of Hordeum and Plantago lanceolata in the pollen record during the Late Neolithic, at about 4580 cal. yr BP. During this time sea level was relatively higher than today and the Lina myr basin was connected with the Littorina Sea, which it continued to be until isostatic uplift caused it to become isolated at about 3820 cal. yr BP. After about 3000 cal. yr BP, human-made landscape changes intensified, grasslands increased, and shrublands decreased.

Vegetation disturbance and human population in Colombia – a regional reconstruction

Antiquity ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (302) ◽  
pp. 828-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Marchant ◽  
Hermann Behling ◽  
Juan Carlos Berrio ◽  
Henry Hooghiemstra ◽  
Bas van Geel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Vegetation Disturbance ◽  
The People ◽  
Regional Reconstruction ◽  
Last Ice Age

Palaeoecologists using pollen to map vegetation since the last ice age have noted numerous changes – which they feel increasingly obliged to blame on humans. These changes, such as deforestation or the dominance of certain plants, may happen suddenly or take place over thousands of years. The authors study the pollen record in Colombia, identify plants diagnostic of cultivation or disturbed ground (“degraded vegetation”) and use them to map human activities by proxy. They show how the people move and the landscape changes between 5000 BP and the present day, from the coast inland, and from the lowlands up into the Andes.

scholarly journals Obsidian from the Site of Piano dei Cardoni, Ustica (Palermo, Italy): Preliminary Results on the First Occupation of the Island

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-290
Author(s):  
Claudia Speciale ◽  
Kyle P. Freund ◽  
Sandro de Vita ◽  
Nunzia Larosa ◽  
Vincenza Forgia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Southern Side ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
First Time ◽  
Xrf Analyses

Abstract New investigations on Ustica (Palermo, Sicily) originated from the need to improve our knowledge of the island’s archaeological and environmental heritage. Through field surveys, particular attention was paid to human occupation in the Neolithic phases and focused on the less investigated southern side of the island. The systematic survey of the area of Piano dei Cardoni in 2018 brought to light a new Middle/Late Neolithic site, already partially documented in the literature. The island was settled for the first time during these phases, as also testified from the area of Punta Spalmatore. The presence of Serra d’Alto, incised dark burnished, and Diana styles suggests that the site and the archaeological assemblage dates from the mid to late 5th millennium BC, as confirmed by AMS dating. In addition to pottery, obsidian artifacts were also recovered, and a preliminary study of these materials is presented here. Portable XRF analyses on a sample of 41 obsidian artifacts, representing a high percentage of the lithic assemblage compared to chert tools, show that the provenance of the raw material is Gabellotto Gorge (Lipari) and Balata dei Turchi (Pantelleria). These results provide new insight into broader regional debates about obsidian technology and its exchange during the Neolithic and open an important consideration for sites that are far from the raw material sources.

Polynesian colonization and landscape changes on Mo’orea, French Polynesia: The Lake Temae pollen record

The Holocene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 1963-1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle Stevenson ◽  
Alexis Benson ◽  
J. Stephen Athens ◽  
Jennifer Kahn ◽  
Patrick V Kirch
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Society Islands ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Environmental Transformation ◽  
Colonization Model ◽  
Ams Dating

An analysis of sediment cores from Lake Temae utilizing pollen, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and charcoal particle counts was undertaken to assess landscape transformation following Polynesian colonization of Mo’orea in the Society Islands. A significant influx of terrigenous sediment accompanied by increases in charcoal and the presence of the Polynesian cultigen Colocasia (taro) are indicative of human presence on the island by at least 1060–980 cal. yr BP. Polynesian arrival resulted in the rapid alteration of lowland vegetation illustrated in the pollen record by the removal of the coastal tree Pandanus and the promotion of more economically important trees such as Cocos. The most significant period of burning in the charcoal data overlaps with archaeological evidence for expansion into the island interior and the establishment and growth of more intense agricultural practices from 700 to 500 cal. yr BP. The pollen record also documents the apparent abandonment of the coastal plain near Lake Temae during this phase of inland expansion with the terrestrial landscape returning to an environment similar to that found before colonization. A final phase of environmental transformation commenced with European contact at the end of the 18th century and is marked most clearly in the Lake Temae sequence with the conversion of the system to a freshwater body accompanied by the expansion of the freshwater reed Typha and a level of burning not seen at any time over the previous 1000 years. Importantly, the new data from Lake Temae support the colonization model for central Eastern Polynesia of ca. 1000 cal. yr BP and refute the late settlement scenario for the Society Islands.

scholarly journals Multi-isotope analysis reveals that feasts in the Stonehenge environs and across Wessex drew people and animals from throughout Britain

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. eaau6078 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Madgwick ◽  
A. L. Lamb ◽  
H. Sloane ◽  
A. J. Nederbragt ◽  
U. Albarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The Third ◽  
Great Investment ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bce ◽  
Archeological Evidence ◽  
Isotope System

The great henge complexes of southern Britain are iconic monuments of the third millennium BCE, representing great feats of engineering and labor mobilization that hosted feasting events on a previously unparalleled scale. The scale of movement and the catchments that the complexes served, however, have thus far eluded understanding. Presenting the largest five-isotope system archeological dataset (87Sr/86Sr, δ34S, δ18O, δ13C, and δ15N) yet fully published, we analyze 131 pigs, the prime feasting animals, from four Late Neolithic (approximately 2800 to 2400 BCE) complexes to explore the networks that the feasts served. Because archeological evidence excludes continental contact, sources are considered only in the context of the British Isles. This analysis reveals wide-ranging origins across Britain, with few pigs raised locally. This finding demonstrates great investment of effort in transporting pigs raised elsewhere over vast distances to supply feasts and evidences the very first phase of pan-British connectivity.

scholarly journals Saltmarsh archives of vegetation and land use change from Big River Marsh, SW Newfoundland, Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Selby ◽  
Helen M. Roe ◽  
Alexander J. Wright ◽  
Orson van de Plassche ◽  
Sally R. Derrett
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Plantago Lanceolata ◽  
Pollen Dispersal ◽  
Coastal Sediments ◽  
Coastal Vegetation ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Plant Macrofossil

AbstractPollen and plant macrofossils are often well-preserved in coastal sediments, providing a palaeoenvironmental record of sea-level and landscape change. In this study, we examine the pollen and plant macrofossil assemblages of a well-dated saltmarsh sediment core from southwest Newfoundland, Canada, to establish recent coastal vegetation and land use change, to increase the knowledge of anthropogenic activities in the area and develop pollen chronozones for reconstructing marsh accumulation rates and to examine the representation of plant macrofossil remains in the wetland pollen profile. Grouping the pollen record into upland and wetland assemblages allows local events related to hydrological change to be separated from landscape-scale changes. The wetland pollen and plant macrofossil records indicate a general acceleration in sea-level rise ca. ad 1700. The sedge pollen and plant macrofossil records attest to multiple phases of rhizome encroachment during inferred periods of marine regression. Two chronozones are identified from the upland pollen profile; the first associated with the settlement of St. George’s Bay ca. ad 1800, signalled by increases in Plantago lanceolata and Ambrosia pollen; the second with the permanent settlement of the Port au Port peninsula ca. ad 1850, indicated by increased P. lanceolata and Rumex pollen. Comparison of the plant macrofossil and wetland pollen profiles highlights the underrepresentation of grass pollen preserved in the saltmarsh sediments and a need for further analysis of the zonation, pollen dispersal and macrofossil representation of sedge species in saltmarshes.

scholarly journals Human management and landscape changes at Palaikastro (Eastern Crete) from the Late Neolithic to the Early Minoan period

2018 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Cañellas-Boltà ◽  
S. Riera-Mora ◽  
H.A. Orengo ◽  
A. Livarda ◽  
C. Knappett
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Management

New evidence for early human habitation in the Nyingchi Region, Southeast Tibetan Plateau

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362097025
Author(s):  
Yanren Wang ◽  
Yu Gao ◽  
Jishuai Yang ◽  
Yunyao Tan ◽  
Wangdue Shargan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hordeum Vulgare ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Early Communication ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Human Habitation ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Early Human ◽  
East West

The lack of archaeological work has long impeded our understanding of prehistoric and historical human inhabitation and East-West interactions on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study, we conducted a series of systematic archaeological investigations in the Nyingchi region, on the southeastern TP. We examined archaeological stratigraphies from 10 sites and collected charred seeds and charcoals for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating. The 26 radiocarbon dates show that the earliest inhabitation in the Nyingchi region can be traced back to as early as the fifth millennium BP. In addition, results of summed probability distribution (SPD) of radiocarbon dates suggest that intensive human activities occurred between c. 2700 and 2000 cal. yr BP. Together with the pottery net sinkers found in previous investigation, the newly identified archaeobotanical assemblages, including crops such as barley ( Hordeum vulgare), naked barley ( Hordeum vulgare var. nudum), wheat ( Triticum aestivum) and pea ( Pisum sativum), also confirm that cultivation and fishing were important subsistence strategies for people living in the prehistoric Nyingchi. The discoveries of domesticated crops from Southwest Asia also suggest that the southeastern TP, represented by the Nyingchi region, was part of the early communication network between the East and the West, predating historical Highland Silk Road.

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