New evidence of mid- to late- Holocene vegetation and climate change from a Neolithic settlement in western fringe of Central Ganga Plain: Implications for Neolithic to Historic phases

Here we present a continuous palaeoclimatic record of 5980 years (7230 cal BP–1250 cal BP) from Hetapatti, a Neolithic site situated on the western fringe of the Central Ganga Plain. The region was a center of reurbanisation following the decline of the Harappan civilisation and is considered a hub of economic, political and religious evolution since the sixth millennium BC. Hetapatti contains an uninterrupted sequence from Neolithic to Historic (Gupta) period. The study integrates two different approaches (phytoliths and carbon isotope analysis) to infer vegetational and climatic changes and to understand their relationship to the cultural sequence. Our results show a gradual transformation from a warm and humid climate into a warm and dry climate from the Neolithic to Historic (Gupta) period. We find an abrupt weakening of the ISM at ~2080 cal BP driving a warm and dry climate. The comparison of our data with other high resolution regional and global records led us to hypothesise a synchronicity in this warm and dry trend, coeval with the Roman warm period (RWP). The observed variation in vegetation and climate might have driven by the fluctuations in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). Additionally, the phytolith analysis provides evidence of cereal crops including rice, wheat, barley, millets, etc. suggesting a crop affinity with the earlier Indus crop package. It is interesting to note that the site displays an uninterrupted cultural sequence from Neolithic to Historic times, with artefacts of each phase exhibiting technological and stylistic developments from the preceding culture. From this we infer that the well adapted socio-ecological strategies and availability of perennial rivers may have helped the ancient civilisation to absorb the stress relating to a varying climate.

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Phytolith and Carbon Isotope Evidence for Late Quaternary Vegetation and Climate Change in the Southern Black Hills, South Dakota

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1006/qres.1996.1862 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 206-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 103

Author(s):

Glen G. Fredlund ◽

Larry L. Tieszen

Keyword(s):

South Dakota ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Fire Frequency ◽

Soil Development ◽

Black Hills ◽

Isotope Evidence ◽

Mixed Grasslands ◽

Vegetation And Climate

Analyses of phytoliths and carbon isotopes document change in late Quaternary grasslands in the Red Valley of the southern Black Hills. Late Pleistocene grassland composition was equivalent to the C3grass parklands of modern central Alberta. The rise of mixed grassland occurred rapidly between 11,000 and 9000 yr B.P. Early Holocene mixed grasslands included both short and tall C4grasses. A mid-Holocene erosional unconformity (ca. 8000 to 4500 yr B.P.) precludes phytolith or isotope analysis, but suggests lack of vegetation and landscape denudation caused by a drier climatic. Basin-wide stability and soil development followed the erosional episode (ca. 4500 to 3600 yr B.P.). Mesic-adapted C4panicoid grasses increased during this period of soil development. Low-magnitude fluctuation in the C4-dominated mixed grassland occurred throughout the late Holocene (3600 yr B.P. to present). Rise in δ13C values during the last 1000 yr without corresponding change in phytoliths may indicate a decrease in woodlands caused by increased fire frequency.

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LATE HOLOCENE HYDROCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION FROM LAKE CHICHOJ, GUATEMALA USING STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENTS

10.1130/abs/2017am-302467 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Mortensen ◽

◽

Nathan D. Stansell ◽

Byron A. Steinman ◽

Gilles Y. Brocard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Stable Isotope Analysis ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Isotope Analysis

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Paleogeographic conditions of human habitation on the Karelian coast of the White Sea in the Late-Holocene (Chupa Town, Karelia, Russia)

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/09596836211041733 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095968362110417

Author(s):

Shelekhova ТS ◽

Lobanova NV ◽

Lavrova NB ◽

Rodionov GN

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

White Sea ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Green Moss ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

The White Sea ◽

Diatom Flora ◽

Ancient People ◽

Human Habitation ◽

New Evidence

Bottom sediments from Lake Pervoe Starushechye, on the White Sea shore, near Korabelnaya Bay, Chupa Town, 500 m from an archaeological site, were analyzed. The aim of our studies was to determine the position of the sea shoreline, to correlate archaeological sites relative to it, to date ancient settlements, and to reconstruct the paleoclimatic conditions and habitats of ancient people. Spore and pollen, diatom, and radiocarbon (14C) analyses were done. New evidence for the time of retreat of the seashore, the isolation of Lake Pervoe Starushechye from it and the time of the possible invasion of the area by ancient people was obtained. People were shown to inhabit the area from 3970 ± 120 to 3250 ± 120 14С y.a., when the sea shoreline reached modern levels of 19–22 m. The lake was then a ~8 m deep White Sea bay, in which marine gyttja was deposited. These events are reflected in the stratigraphy of the sequence and supported by the results of diatom and spore and pollen analyses. About 3500 y.a., mean annual temperatures in North Karelia were 2°С and annual precipitation ~50 mm/year higher than modern values. Spruce and pine-spruce forests with aspen and alder patches grew on the shore. A favorable climate and exuberant vegetation attracted people. Therefore, it is at the Atlantic-Subboreal boundary that the archaeological sites located at the above altitudes could arise. The lake separated from the White Sea 3020 ± 90 14С y.a. Freshwater sapropel was deposited in the isolated lake, as indicated by the composition of diatom flora and spore and pollen spectra. The sea shoreline declined to 17–16 m. Light-coniferous pine lichen-green moss forests with light-loving oligotrophic grasses were spreading actively throughout the study area.

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Flood Susceptibility Modeling in a Subtropical Humid Low-Relief Alluvial Plain Environment: Application of Novel Ensemble Machine Learning Approach

Frontiers in Earth Science ◽

10.3389/feart.2021.659296 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Manish Pandey ◽

Aman Arora ◽

Alireza Arabameri ◽

Romulus Costache ◽

Naveen Kumar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Regression Tree ◽

Classification And Regression Tree ◽

Ground Subsidence ◽

Ensemble Model ◽

Ganga Plain ◽

Humid Climate ◽

Area Index ◽

Flood Susceptibility ◽

Middle Ganga Plain

This study has developed a new ensemble model and tested another ensemble model for flood susceptibility mapping in the Middle Ganga Plain (MGP). The results of these two models have been quantitatively compared for performance analysis in zoning flood susceptible areas of low altitudinal range, humid subtropical fluvial floodplain environment of the Middle Ganga Plain (MGP). This part of the MGP, which is in the central Ganga River Basin (GRB), is experiencing worse floods in the changing climatic scenario causing an increased level of loss of life and property. The MGP experiencing monsoonal subtropical humid climate, active tectonics induced ground subsidence, increasing population, and shifting landuse/landcover trends and pattern, is the best natural laboratory to test all the susceptibility prediction genre of models to achieve the choice of best performing model with the constant number of input parameters for this type of topoclimatic environmental setting. This will help in achieving the goal of model universality, i.e., finding out the best performing susceptibility prediction model for this type of topoclimatic setting with the similar number and type of input variables. Based on the highly accurate flood inventory and using 12 flood predictors (FPs) (selected using field experience of the study area and literature survey), two machine learning (ML) ensemble models developed by bagging frequency ratio (FR) and evidential belief function (EBF) with classification and regression tree (CART), CART-FR and CART-EBF, were applied for flood susceptibility zonation mapping. Flood and non-flood points randomly generated using flood inventory have been apportioned in 70:30 ratio for training and validation of the ensembles. Based on the evaluation performance using threshold-independent evaluation statistic, area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve, 14 threshold-dependent evaluation metrices, and seed cell area index (SCAI) meant for assessing different aspects of ensembles, the study suggests that CART-EBF (AUCSR = 0.843; AUCPR = 0.819) was a better performant than CART-FR (AUCSR = 0.828; AUCPR = 0.802). The variability in performances of these novel-advanced ensembles and their comparison with results of other published models espouse the need of testing these as well as other genres of susceptibility models in other topoclimatic environments also. Results of this study are important for natural hazard managers and can be used to compute the damages through risk analysis.

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A Good Place to Live: Plants and People at the Santa Elina Rock Shelter (Central Brazil) from Late Pleistocene to the Holocene

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/laq.2020.3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 273-291

Author(s):

Rita Scheel-Ybert ◽

Caroline Bachelet

Keyword(s):

Late Pleistocene ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Vegetation Changes ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Rock Shelter ◽

Good Place ◽

Central Brazil ◽

Cultural Preference ◽

Vegetation And Climate ◽

Over Time

The Santa Elina rock shelter (Central Brazil) was recurrently occupied from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. We compare sets of previously published anthracological analyses with new data to reconstruct the landscape, vegetation, and climate over the several thousand years of occupation, providing information on firewood management from about 27,000 to about 1500 cal BP. Laboratory analyses followed standard anthracological procedures. We identified 34 botanical families and 84 genera in a sample of almost 5,000 charcoal pieces. The Leguminosae family dominates the assemblage, followed by Anacardiaceae, Bignoniaceae, Rubiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Sapotaceae. The area surrounding the shelter was forested throughout the studied period. The local landscape was formed, as it is today, by a mosaic of vegetation types that include forest formations and open cerrado. Some regional vegetation changes may have occurred over time. Our data corroborate the practice of opportunistic firewood gathering in all periods of site occupation, despite a possible cultural preference for some taxa. The very long occupation of Santa Elina may be due not only to its attractiveness as a rock shelter but also to the continuously forested vegetation around it. It was a good place to live.

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Dynamics of Forest Vegetation and Climate in the Southern Taiga of Western Siberia in the Late Holocene According to Spore–Pollen Analysis and Ams Dating of the Peat Bog

Russian Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1134/s1067413619050035 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (5) ◽

pp. 445-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

T. G. Antipina ◽

Yu. I. Preis ◽

V. N. Zenin

Keyword(s):

Pollen Analysis ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Western Siberia ◽

Southern Taiga ◽

Forest Vegetation ◽

Peat Bog ◽

Ams Dating ◽

Vegetation And Climate

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Oral Health and Diet in Populations of Central Argentina during the Late Holocene: Bioarchaeological and Isotopic Evidence

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/laq.2019.69 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 818-835

Author(s):

Mariana Fabra ◽

Claudina V. González

Keyword(s):

Oral Health ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Tooth Wear ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Human Populations ◽

Plant Resources ◽

Temporal Differentiation ◽

Dental Diseases

We studied the temporal and spatial variation of diet and oral health of human populations that inhabited the central region of Argentina during the Late Holocene (4000–300 BP) by evaluating isotopic data (δ13Ccol, δ15N), physiological stress indicators (tooth wear), and infectious dental diseases (caries). The sample of 49 individuals was recovered from archaeological sites located in the province of Córdoba, dated by AMS on collagen to a range of 4058 ± 89 years BP to 370 ± 15 14C years BP. After calculating the prevalence of caries and the average dental wear, we compared these values based on regional origin (central highlands and eastern lowlands), temporal assignation (early Late Holocene, late Late Holocene), and sex (female and male). We found clear regional and temporal differentiation, which we interpret as resulting from differential use of plant resources among the regions and a slight deterioration in oral health in the Late Holocene. Stable isotope analysis indicates food consumption of C3 and C4 resources, although the observed temporal variations in the isotopic values may indicate an introduction of C4 resources in the later Late Holocene, mainly in the mountainous region.

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