scholarly journals Changes in limiting factors for forager population dynamics in Europe across the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Ordonez ◽  
Felix Riede
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Statistical Approach ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variation ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Adaptive Challenges ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract Population dynamics set the framework for human genetic and cultural evolution. For foragers, demographic and environmental changes correlate strongly, although the causal relations between different environmental variables and human responses through time and space likely varied. Building on the notion of limiting factors, namely that the scarcest resource regulates population size, we present a statistical approach to identify the dominant climatic constraints for hunter-gatherer population densities and then hindcast their changing dynamics in Europe for the period between 20kyBP to 8kyBP. Limiting factors shifted from temperature-related variables during the Pleistocene to a regional mosaic of limiting factors in the Holocene. This spatiotemporal variation suggests that hunter-gatherers needed to overcome very different adaptive challenges in different parts of Europe, and that these challenges vary over time. The signatures of these changing adaptations may be visible archaeologically. In addition, the spatial disaggregation of limiting factors from the Pleistocene to the Holocene coincides with and may partly explain the diversification of the cultural geography at this time.

scholarly journals Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erlend Kirkeng Jørgensen ◽  
Petro Pesonen ◽  
Miikka Tallavaara
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Human Ecodynamics

Abstract Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbon-dated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the “Moran effect,” positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers.

Coastal occupation and foraging during the last glacial maximum and early Holocene at Waterfall Bluff, eastern Pondoland, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 1-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich C. Fisher ◽  
Hayley C. Cawthra ◽  
Irene Esteban ◽  
Antonieta Jerardino ◽  
Frank H. Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Marine Fish ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractWaterfall Bluff is a rock shelter in eastern Pondoland, South Africa, adjacent to a narrow continental shelf that limited coastline movements across glacial/interglacial cycles. The archaeological deposits are characterized by well-preserved stratigraphy, faunal, and botanical remains alongside abundant stone artifacts and other materials. A comprehensive dating protocol consisting of 5 optically stimulated luminescence ages and 51 accelerator mass spectrometry 14C ages shows that the record of hunter-gatherer occupations at Waterfall Bluff persisted from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene, spanning the last glacial maximum and the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Here, we provide detailed descriptions about the sedimentary sequence, chronology, and characteristics of the archaeological deposits at Waterfall Bluff. Remains of marine mollusks and marine fish also show, for the first time, that coastal foraging was a component of some hunter-gatherer groups’ subsistence practices during glacial phases in the late Pleistocene. The presence of marine fish and shellfish further demonstrates that hunter-gatherers selectively targeted coastal resources from intertidal and estuarine habitats. Our results therefore underscore the idea that Pondoland's coastline remained a stable and predictable point on the landscape over the last glacial/interglacial transition being well positioned for hunter-gatherers to access resources from the nearby coastline, narrow continental shelf, and inland areas.

scholarly journals Vegetation and environmental changes in tropical South America from the last glacial to the Holocene documented by multiple cave sediment proxies

2019 ◽  
Vol 524 ◽  
pp. 115717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valdir F. Novello ◽  
Francisco W. Cruz ◽  
Michael M. McGlue ◽  
Corinne I. Wong ◽  
Brittany M. Ward ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Cave Sediment ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
Tropical South America

Sustainable harvest or resource depression? Using ancient DNA to study the population dynamics of guanaco in western Argentina during the Holocene

2021 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 105355
Author(s):  
Cinthia Carolina Abbona ◽  
Gustavo Neme ◽  
Jeff Johnson ◽  
Adolfo Gil ◽  
Ricardo Villalba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Ancient Dna ◽  
Sustainable Harvest ◽  
Resource Depression ◽  
The Holocene

Environmental evolution and anthropogenic forcing in the Garigliano coastal plain (Italy) during the Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110032
Author(s):  
Halinka Di Lorenzo ◽  
Pietro Aucelli ◽  
Giuseppe Corrado ◽  
Mario De Iorio ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

The Garigliano alluvial-coastal plain, at the Latium-Campania border (Italy), witnessed a long-lasting history of human-environment interactions, as demonstrated by the rich archaeological knowledge. With the aim of reconstructing the evolution of the landscape and its interaction with human activity during the last millennia, new pollen results from the coastal sector of the Garigliano Plain were compared with the available pollen data from other nearby sites. The use of pollen data from both the coastal and marine environment allowed integrating the local vegetation dynamics within a wider regional context spanning the last 8000 years. The new pollen data presented in this study derive from the analysis of a core, drilled in the coastal sector, which intercepted the lagoon-marshy environments that occurred in the plain as a response to the Holocene transgression and subsequent coastal progradation. Three radiocarbon ages indicate that the chronology of the analyzed core interval ranges from c. 7200 to c. 2000 cal yr BP. The whole data indicate that a dense forest cover characterized the landscape all along the Prehistoric period, when a few signs of human activity are recorded in the spectra, such as cereal crops, pasture activity and fires. The main environmental changes, forced by natural processes (coastal progradation) but probably enhanced by reclamation works, started from the Graeco-Roman period and led to the reduction of swampy areas that favoured the colonisation of the outer plain.

scholarly journals Synchronizing the Greenland ice core and radiocarbon timescales over the Holocene – Bayesian wiggle-matching of cosmogenic radionuclide records

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Adolphi ◽  
R. Muscheler
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Approach ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Counting Error ◽  
Climate Reconstructions ◽  
Uncertainty Measurement ◽  
Uncertainty Estimates ◽  
Paleoclimate Records ◽  
Cosmogenic Radionuclide

Abstract. Investigations of past climate dynamics rely on accurate and precise chronologies of the employed climate reconstructions. The radiocarbon dating calibration curve (IntCal13) and the Greenland ice core chronology (GICC05) represent two of the most widely used chronological frameworks in paleoclimatology of the past  ∼  50 000 years. However, comparisons of climate records anchored on these chronologies are hampered by the precision and accuracy of both timescales. Here we use common variations in the production rates of 14C and 10Be recorded in tree-rings and ice cores, respectively, to assess the differences between both timescales during the Holocene. Compared to earlier work, we employ a novel statistical approach which leads to strongly reduced and yet, more robust, uncertainty estimates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inferred timescale differences are robust independent of (i) the applied ice core 10Be records, (ii) assumptions of the mode of 10Be deposition, as well as (iii) carbon cycle effects on 14C, and (iv) in agreement with independent estimates of the timescale differences. Our results imply that the GICC05 counting error is likely underestimated during the most recent 2000 years leading to a dating bias that propagates throughout large parts of the Holocene. Nevertheless, our analysis indicates that the GICC05 counting error is generally a robust uncertainty measurement but care has to be taken when treating it as a nearly Gaussian error distribution. The proposed IntCal13-GICC05 transfer function facilitates the comparison of ice core and radiocarbon dated paleoclimate records at high chronological precision.

scholarly journals Holocene sea level and climate interactions on wet dune slack evolution in SW Portugal: A model for future scenarios?

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manel Leira ◽  
Maria C Freitas ◽  
Tania Ferreira ◽  
Anabela Cruces ◽  
Simon Connor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Dune Slack ◽  
Ecological Stability ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Climate Interactions

We examine the Holocene environmental changes in a wet dune slack of the Portuguese coast, Poço do Barbarroxa de Baixo. Lithology, organic matter, biological proxies and high-resolution chronology provide estimations of sediment accumulation rates and changes in environmental conditions in relation to sea-level change and climate variability during the Holocene. Results show that the wet dune slack was formed 7.5 cal. ka BP, contemporaneous with the last stages of the rapid sea-level rise. This depositional environment formed under frequent freshwater flooding and water ponding that allowed the development and post-mortem accumulation of abundant plant remains. The wetland evolved into mostly palustrine conditions over the next 2000 years, until a phase of stabilization in relative sea-level rise, when sedimentation rates slowed down to 0.04 mm yr−1, between 5.3 and 2.5 cal. ka BP. Later, about 0.8 cal. ka BP, high-energy events, likely due to enhanced storminess and more frequent onshore winds, caused the collapse of the foredune above the wetlands’ seaward margin. The delicate balance between hydrology (controlled by sea-level rise and climate change), sediment supply and storminess modulates the habitat’s resilience and ecological stability. This underpins the relevance of integrating past records in coastal wet dune slacks management in a scenario of constant adaptation processes.

scholarly journals Stepwise Weakening of Aeolian Activities During the Holocene in the Gannan Region, Eastern Tibetan Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengli Yang ◽  
Xiaojing Liu ◽  
Ting Cheng ◽  
Yuanlong Luo ◽  
Qiong Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Eastern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Aeolian Desertification ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Aeolian Sediments ◽  
Aeolian Activity ◽  
History Of

Aeolian sediments hold key information on aeolian history and past environmental changes. Aeolian desertification and extensive land degradation have seriously affected the eco-environment in the Gannan region on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Understanding the history of aeolian activities can deepen our understanding of the impacts of climatic changes on aeolian activities in the future. This study uses a detailed chronology and multiple proxy analyses of a typical aeolian section in Maqu to reconstruct aeolian activities in the region during the Holocene. Our results showed that aeolian activities have occurred in the eastern Tibetan Plateau since the early Holocene. Magnetic susceptibility, grain size records, and paleosols formation indicated a trend of stepwise weakening in aeolian activities from the early Holocene to the present. The weakening of aeolian activities was divided into three stages: ∼10.0–8.0 ka BP, ∼8.0–4.0 ka BP, and ∼4.0 ka BP to the present. Paleosols were primarily formed after ∼8.0 ka BP, and episodically interrupted aeolian activities processes in the Gannan region. Aeolian activity may increase in the Gannan region as the climate gradually warms. Climatic changes and local hydrological conditions have jointly affected the history of aeolian activities in this region.

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