Socio-Ecological Contingencies with Climate Changes over the Prehistory in the Mediterranean Iberia

We conducted palynological, sedimentological, and chronological analyses of a coastal sediment sequence to investigate landscape evolution and agropastoral practices in the Nao Cap region (Spain, Western Mediterranean) since the Holocene. The results allowed for a reconstruction of vegetation, fire, and erosion dynamics in the area, implicating the role of fire in vegetation turnover at 5300 (mesophilous forests replaced by sclerophyllous scrubs) and at 3200 calibrated before present (cal. BP) (more xerophytics). Cereal cultivation was apparent from the beginning of the record, during the Mid-Neolithic period. From 5300 to 3800 cal. BP, long-lasting soil erosion was associated with the presence of cereals, indicating intense land-use during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods. The decline of the agriculture signal and vegetal recolonization is likely explained by land abandonment during the Final Bronze Age. Anthropogenic markers reappeared during the Iberian period when more settlements were present. A contingency of human and environmental agencies was found at 5900, 4200, and 2800 cal. BP, coinciding with abrupt climate events, that have manifested locally in reduced spring discharge, an absence of agropastoral evidence, and a marked decline in settlement densities. This case study, covering five millennia and three climate events, highlights how past climate changes have affected human activities, and also shows that people repeatedly reoccupied the coast once the perturbation was gone. The littoral zone remained attractive for prehistoric communities despite the costs of living in an area exposed to climatic hazards, such as droughts.

Download Full-text

A Review of the Earliest Evidence of Agriculture in Lithuania and the Earliest Direct AMS Date on Cereal

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1017/eaa.2017.36 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 264-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mindaugas Grikpėdis ◽

Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Indirect Evidence ◽

Cultivated Plants ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Pollen Data ◽

Baltic Region ◽

Stratigraphic Sequence ◽

Crop Cultivation ◽

The Bronze Age

Current knowledge of the beginnings of crop cultivation in Lithuania is based mainly on Cerealia-type pollen data supplemented by other indirect evidence such as agricultural tools. We argue that these records, predating carbonized remains of cultivated plants, are not substantial enough indicators of the early stages of agriculture in Lithuania. Here, we demonstrate that the macroremains of cultural plants that were previously reported from two Neolithic settlements in Lithuania were either mistakenly identified as domestic crops or incorrectly ascribed to the Neolithic period due to movement through the stratigraphic sequence and the absence of direct dating of cereal grains. Furthermore, we present a charred Hordeum vulgare grain from the Bronze Age settlement of Kvietiniai in western Lithuania. It was AMS-dated to 1392–1123 cal bc, and at present represents the earliest definite evidence for a crop in the eastern Baltic region. We conclude that, presently, there are no grounds to suggest that crop cultivation took place in Lithuania during the Neolithic.

Download Full-text

Millennial-Scale Response of a Western Mediterranean River to Late Quaternary Climate Changes: A View from the Deep Sea

The Journal of Geology ◽

10.1086/677844 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 122 (6) ◽

pp. 687-703 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Lucile Bonneau ◽

Stéphan J. Jorry ◽

Samuel Toucanne ◽

Ricardo Silva Jacinto ◽

Laurent Emmanuel

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Mediterranean River ◽

Quaternary Climate ◽

Scale Response ◽

Quaternary Climate Changes ◽

Millennial Scale

Download Full-text

The Krasnoyask and Kansk forest steppe and its place in the cultural dialogue of Neolithic Period and Bronze Age in Western and Eastern Siberia

Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Istoriya ◽

10.17223/19988613/42/16 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 94-97

Author(s):

Nikolai Р. Makarov ◽

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Forest Steppe ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Eastern Siberia ◽

Cultural Dialogue

Download Full-text

Centennial to millennial-scale variability of Holocene climate and environmental dynamics in the western Mediterranean (Lake Sidi Ali, Middle Atlas, Morocco)

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8650 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Johannes Schmidt ◽

Cathleen Kertscher ◽

Markus Reichert ◽

Helen Ballasus ◽

Birgit Schneider ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Future Climate ◽

Holocene Climate ◽

The Holocene ◽

The North ◽

Middle Atlas ◽

Environmental Responses

<p>The Western Mediterranean region including the North African desert margin is considered one of the most sensitive areas to future climate changes. In order to refine long-term scenarios for hydrological and environmental responses to future climate changes in this region, it is important to improve our knowledge about past environmental responses to climatic variability at centennial to millennial timescales. During the last two decades, the recovery and compilation of Holocene records from the subtropical North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea have improved our knowledge about millennial-scale variability of the Western Mediterranean palaeoclimate. The variabilities appear to affect regional precipitation patterns and environmental systems in the Western Mediterranean, but the timescales, magnitudes and forcing mechanisms remain poorly known. To compare the changes in Holocene climate variability and geomorphological processes across temporal scales, we analysed a 19.63-m long sediment record from Lake Sidi Ali (33&#176;03&#8217; N, 5&#176;00&#8217; W, 2080 m a.s.l.) in the sub-humid Middle Atlas that spans the last 12,000 years (23 pollen-based radiocarbon dates accompanied with <sup>210</sup>Pb results). We use calibrated XRF core scanning records with an annual to sub-decadal resolution to disentangle the complex interplay between climate changes and environmental dynamics during the Holocene. Data exploration techniques and time series analysis (Redfit, Wavelet) revealed long-term changes in lake behaviour. Three main proxy groups were identified (temperature proxies: 2ky, 1ky and 0.7ky cycles; sediment dynamic proxies: 3.5ky, 1.5ky cycles; hydrological proxies: 1.5ky, 1.2ky, 0.17ky cycles). For example, redox sensitive elements Fe and Mn show 1ky cycles and higher values in the Early Holocene and 1.5ky cycles and lower values in the Mid- to Late Holocene. All groups show specific periodicities throughout the Holocene, demonstrating their particular climatic and geomorphological dependencies. Furthermore, we discuss these periodicities relating to global and hemispheric drivers, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), El-Ni&#241;o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Innertropical Convergence Zone variability (ITCZ) and North Atlantic cold relapses (Bond events).</p>

Download Full-text

The first religious buildings: ‘sacred huts’

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198722076.003.0009 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte R. Potts

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Hot Springs ◽

Central Italy ◽

Fourth Century ◽

Religious Activity ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Religious Buildings ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

The Bronze Age

The votive assemblages that form the primary archaeological evidence for non-funerary cult in the Neolithic, Bronze, and early Iron Ages in central Italy indicate that there is a long tradition of religious activity in Latium and Etruria in which buildings played no discernible role. Data on votive deposits in western central Italy is admittedly uneven: although many early votive assemblages from Latium have been widely studied and published, there are few Etruscan comparanda; of the more than two hundred Etruscan votive assemblages currently known from all periods, relatively few date prior to the fourth century BC, while those in museum collections are often no longer entire and suffer from a lack of detailed provenance as well as an absence of excavations in the vicinity of the original find. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize broad patterns in the form and location of cult sites prior to the Iron Age, and thus to sketch the broader context of prehistoric rituals that pre-dated the construction of the first religious buildings. In the Neolithic period (c.6000–3500 BC), funerary and non-funerary rituals appear to have been observed in underground spaces such as caves, crevices, and rock shelters, and there are also signs that cults developed around ‘abnormal water’ like stalagmites, stalactites, hot springs, and pools of still water. These characteristics remain visible in the evidence from the middle Bronze Age (c.1700–1300 BC). Finds from this period at the Sventatoio cave in Latium include vases containing traces of wheat, barley seed cakes, and parts of young animals including pigs, sheep, and oxen, as well as burned remains of at least three children. The openair veneration of underground phenomena is also implied by the discovery of ceramic fragments from all phases of the Bronze Age around a sulphurous spring near the Colonelle Lake at Tivoli. Other evidence of cult activities at prominent points in the landscape, such as mountain tops and rivers, suggests that rituals began to lose an underground orientation during the middle Bronze Age. By the late Bronze Age (c.1300–900 BC) natural caves no longer seem to have served ritual or funerary functions.

Download Full-text

Paleorecords of Domesticated and Wild Grapevine in Romania: a Review

The Botanical Review ◽

10.1007/s12229-020-09223-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 86 (3-4) ◽

pp. 211-233

Author(s):

Casandra Brașoveanu ◽

George Bodi ◽

Mihaela Danu

Keyword(s):

Vitis Vinifera ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Climate Oscillations ◽

Wild Grapevine ◽

La Tène ◽

La Tene ◽

Vitis Sylvestris ◽

Deliberate Effort

AbstractThis paper reviews the, so far available, paleorecords of Vitis sylvestris C.C. Gmel and Vitis vinifera L. from Romania. The study takes into consideration the presence of Vitis pollen from Holocene peat sediment sequences and archaeological context, but also the presence of macrorests from various archaeological sites that date from Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, and La Tène. Both paleobotanical arguments and archaeological discoveries support the theory that places the beggining of viticulture in Romania a few millenia ago, in Neolithic period. Also, written evidences (works of classical authors, epigraphical sources) confirm, indirectly, the presence of grapevine in La Tène period. Occurrences of Vitis vinifera and those of Vitis sylvestris manifest independently of the climate oscillations, being present both through colder and more humid episodes, as well as through drier and warmer events. Probably prehistoric communities have made a constant and deliberate effort, all along the Holocene, to maintain grapevine crops.

Download Full-text

Late Bronze Age Apsidal and Oval Buildings in Greece and adjacent areas

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400020979 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 84 ◽

pp. 269-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. Mazarakis-Ainian

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Rapid Review ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

In The Beginning ◽

Building Plans

Apsidal and elliptical buildings are characteristic of rural societies. In Greece their tradition goes back to the late Neolithic period. Apsidal houses become common in the EH and especially the MH periods, while oval buildings do not occur as often. It is generally acknowledged that curvilinear plans went out of fashion at the end of the MH period and that they reappeared in the beginning of the EIA. This statement is fundamentally correct for rectangular constructions prevail throughout the Mycenaean era. Yet an attentive survey of LBA sites in Greece proves that curvilinear buildings were still constructed in certain regions. A rapid review of these sites could be beneficial, for it might help in elucidating some of the reasons of the resurgence of these particular building plans shortly after the final collapse of the Mycenaean civilization.

Download Full-text

Salina: A Prehistoric Village in the Aeolian Islands

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00027009 ◽

1957 ◽

Vol 31 (121) ◽

pp. 9-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Madeleine Cavalier

Keyword(s):

Active Volcano ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

North Coast ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Aeolian Islands ◽

Modern Times ◽

The North ◽

Straits Of Messina

The Aeolian Islands are situated off the north coast of Sicily, not far from the entrance to the Straits of Messina. They can be reached by a daily service of steamboats from the port of Milazzo, 20 miles west of Messina. There is a daily train, called Freccia di Sul, that goes direct from Milan to Palermo, stopping at Milazzo; The northernmost of the islands is Stromboli with its famous active volcano. The chief town is Lipari on the island of that name; here on its acropolis excavations directed by Professor Bernabo Brea on behalf of the Soprintendenza alle Antichita della Sicilia Orientale have revealed a stratified succession of huts, ranging from the neolithic period down to Hellenistic, Roman and modern times. These excavations and others on other islands have shown that, small though they be, the islands once played an important part in the culture of the western Mediterranean.

Download Full-text

Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-15560-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anja Furtwängler ◽

A. B. Rohrlach ◽

Thiseas C. Lamnidis ◽

Luka Papac ◽

Gunnar U. Neumann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Population Genetic ◽

Structured Populations ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Neolithic Period ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Genetic Changes ◽

Complex Process ◽

Southern Central

Abstract Genetic studies of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletons from Europe have provided evidence for strong population genetic changes at the beginning and the end of the Neolithic period. To further understand the implications of these in Southern Central Europe, we analyze 96 ancient genomes from Switzerland, Southern Germany, and the Alsace region in France, covering the Middle/Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. Similar to previously described genetic changes in other parts of Europe from the early 3rd millennium BCE, we detect an arrival of ancestry related to Late Neolithic pastoralists from the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Switzerland as early as 2860–2460 calBCE. Our analyses suggest that this genetic turnover was a complex process lasting almost 1000 years and involved highly genetically structured populations in this region.

Download Full-text