scholarly journals Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9469
Author(s):  
Valentino Romano ◽  
Giulio Catalano ◽  
Giuseppe Bazan ◽  
Francesco Calì ◽  
Luca Sineo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Population History ◽  
Mediterranean Islands ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Europe ◽  
Future Management

The Mediterranean islands and their population history are of considerable importance to the interpretation of the population history of Europe as a whole. In this context, Sicily, because of its geographic position, represents a bridge between Africa, the Near East, and Europe that led to the stratification of settlements and admixture events. The genetic analysis of extant and ancient human samples has tried to reconstruct the population dynamics associated with the cultural and demographic changes that took place during the prehistory and history of Sicily. In turn, genetic, demographic and cultural changes need to be understood in the context of the environmental changes that took place over the Holocene. Based on this framework, this paper aims to discuss the cultural and demographic dimension of the island by reviewing archaeogenetic studies, and lastly, we discuss the ecological constraints related to human peopling in times of change in landscapes that occurred on the island in various periods. Finally, possible directions for future archaeogenetic studies of Sicily are discussed. Despite its long human history, Sicily is still one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The lessons we learn from the past use of landscape provide models for sustainable future management of the Mediterranean’s landscapes.

scholarly journals Environmental dynamics, population history and the terraced agro-landscapes of mountainous Dagestan

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
Natalia Ryabogina ◽  
◽  
Idris Idrisov ◽  
Eleonora Nasonova ◽  
Alexandr Borisov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Population History ◽  
Coupled Analysis ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The North ◽  
The Western Caucasus ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Middle Ages

The mountainous Dagestan region of the North-Eastern Caucasus has a unique historical development based in independent cereal domestication and terraced agriculture. However, there is little to no data on the nature and timing of environmental changes throughout the settlement history of this region. In contrast to the much-studied neighboring Caucasus regions, Dagestan remains mostly unexplored from the standpoint of paleoecology. In 2017, we investigated a detailed radiocarbon-dated 185 cm peat sequence from the Shotota swamp located in the mountainous zone of the Dagestan. Sediments of the swamp span most of the Holocene (about 9000 years) from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, and let us, for the first time, study Holocene vegetation history of the Eastern Caucasus. The results of the study showed significant discrepancies in the timing and sequence of the expansion of tree species in the Holocene in comparison with Transcaucasia and the Western Caucasus. According to data from the second swamp, Arkida, we found that the vegetation of the adjacent flat parts of Dagestan was dry and treeless for the last four thousand years. With the data obtained on the environmental dynamics of vegetation, we conducted a coupled analysis of climate dynamics in Dagestan. One of the phenomena of the ancient development of mountainous Dagestan is the largescale terracing of slopes, which from the Middle Ages completely transformed the territory into agro-landscapes.

scholarly journals Extensive introgression and mosaic genomes of Mediterranean endemic lizards

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhao Yang ◽  
Nathalie Feiner ◽  
Catarina Pinho ◽  
Geoffrey M. While ◽  
Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Mediterranean Islands ◽  
The Past ◽  
Island Endemics ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Mediterranean Island ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is a hotspot of biodiversity, fuelled by climatic oscillation and geological change over the past 20 million years. Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis are among the most abundant, diverse, and conspicuous Mediterranean fauna. Here, we unravel the remarkably entangled evolutionary history of wall lizards by sequencing genomes of 34 major lineages covering 26 species. We demonstrate an early (>11 MYA) separation into two clades centred on the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, and two clades of Mediterranean island endemics. Diversification within these clades was pronounced between 6.5–4.0 MYA, a period spanning the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried up before rapidly refilling. However, genetic exchange between lineages has been a pervasive feature throughout the entire history of wall lizards. This has resulted in a highly reticulated pattern of evolution across the group, characterised by mosaic genomes with major contributions from two or more parental taxa. These hybrid lineages gave rise to several of the extant species that are endemic to Mediterranean islands. The mosaic genomes of island endemics may have promoted their extraordinary adaptability and striking diversity in body size, shape and colouration, which have puzzled biologists for centuries.

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 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.

scholarly journals Population Dynamics in Pre-Modern China

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongwei Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Chinese Population ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Population History ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Population Changes ◽  
The Past

China constituted one of the earliest civilizations in the world. During most of the past two millennia, China was also one of the most advanced economies and the home of around a quarter of the world’s population. By the start of the first millennium, the Chinese population was already about sixty million. In the next two thousand years, China’s population growth and economic development significantly influenced the world’s population changes and history. Partly for these reasons, in the study of population and social history, China’s historical population growth, demographic regimes, marriage patterns, and household formation systems are frequently used as examples in the discussion of population changes, microsocial structure, and their relationships with natural resources and economic development in past times. Population changes were one of the key components of Chinese history. The size and density of the population, the rise and fall of fertility and mortality, and the increase and decrease of population movements were not only related to demographic factors such as age structure. They were also strongly affected by political and economic conditions, social institutions and cultural traditions, and natural and social environments. Therefore, studies of demographic history, those conducted recently in particular, often shed new light on economic, political, social, and environmental changes in the past. This bibliography, through reviewing major works published in Chinese and English, provides an introduction to China’s main historical population data sources, major research questions, and debates in the study of Chinese population history. It also introduces recent advances in Chinese historical demography and important research findings made by these developments.

Penguin occupation in the Vestfold Hills

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Huang ◽  
Liguang Sun ◽  
Yuhong Wang ◽  
Renbin Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Core ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Before Present ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vestfold Hills ◽  
Free Area ◽  
Ornithogenic Sediment

AbstractDuring CHINARE-22 (December 2005–March 2006), we investigated six penguin colonies in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, and collected several penguin ornithogenic sediment cores, samples of fresh guano and modern penguin bone and feather. We selected seven penguin bones and feathers and six sediments from the longest sediment core and performed AMS14C dating. The results indicate that penguins occupied the Vestfold Hills as early as 8500 calibrated years before present (cal. yrbp), following local deglaciation and the formation of the ice free area. This is the first report on the Holocene history of penguins in the Vestfold Hills. As in other areas of Antarctica, penguins occupied this area as soon as local ice retreated and the ice free area formed, and they are very sensitive to climatic and environmental changes. This work provides the foundation for understanding the history of penguins occupation in Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica.

Small peatland with a big story: 600-year paleoecological and historical data from a kettle-hole peatland in Western Russia

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Mroczkowska ◽  
Piotr Kittel ◽  
Katarzyna Marcisz ◽  
Ekaterina Dolbunova ◽  
Emilie Gauthier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Impact ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Testate Amoebae ◽  
The Past ◽  
Kettle Hole ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Physical And Chemical

Peatlands are important records of past environmental changes. Based on a multiproxy analysis, the main factors influencing the evolution of a peatland can be divided into autogenic and allogenic. Among the important allogenic factors, apart from climate change, are deforestation and drainage, which are directly associated with human impact. Numerous consequences arise from these processes, the most important of which are physical and chemical denudation in the catchment and the related hydrological disturbances in the catchment and peatland. The present study determined how human activities and the past climatic variability mutually influenced the development of a small peatland ecosystem. The main goals of the study were: (1) to trace the local changes of the peatland history over the past 600 years, (2) to investigate their relationship with changes in regional hydroclimate patterns, and (3) to estimate the sensitivity of a small peatland to natural and human impact. Our reconstructions were based on a multiproxy analysis, including the analysis of pollen, macrofossils, Chironomidae, Cladocera, and testate amoebae. Our results showed that, depending on the changes in water level, the history of peatland can be divided into three phases as follows: 1/the phase of stable natural conditions, 2/phase of weak changes, and 3/phase of significant changes in the catchment. Additionally, to better understand the importance of the size of catchment and the size of the depositional basin in the evolution of the studied peatland ecosystem, we compared data from two peatlands – large and small – located close to each other. The results of our study indicated that “size matters,” and that larger peatlands are much more resilient and resistant to rapid changes occurring in the direct catchment due to human activities, whereas small peatlands are more sensitive and perfect as archives of environmental changes.

scholarly journals A dynamic 6,000-year genetic history of Eurasia’s Eastern Steppe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Choongwon Jeong ◽  
Ke Wang ◽  
Shevan Wilkin ◽  
William Timothy Treal Taylor ◽  
Bryan K. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Population History ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Genetic History ◽  
Nomadic Pastoralists ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of

SummaryThe Eastern Eurasian Steppe was home to historic empires of nomadic pastoralists, including the Xiongnu and the Mongols. However, little is known about the region’s population history. Here we reveal its dynamic genetic history by analyzing new genome-wide data for 214 ancient individuals spanning 6,000 years. We identify a pastoralist expansion into Mongolia ca. 3000 BCE, and by the Late Bronze Age, Mongolian populations were biogeographically structured into three distinct groups, all practicing dairy pastoralism regardless of ancestry. The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions. By comparison, the Mongols exhibit much higher Eastern Eurasian ancestry, resembling present-day Mongolic-speaking populations. Our results illuminate the complex interplay between genetic, sociopolitical, and cultural changes on the Eastern Steppe.

scholarly journals The colonization history of British water vole ( Arvicola amphibius (Linnaeus, 1758)): origins and development of the Celtic fringe

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1829) ◽  
pp. 20160130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Brace ◽  
Mark Ruddy ◽  
Rebecca Miller ◽  
Danielle C. Schreve ◽  
John R. Stewart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Population History ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Water Vole ◽  
Conservation Priority ◽  
Colonization History ◽  
Arvicola Amphibius ◽  
History Of ◽  
Terminal Pleistocene ◽  
Future Management

The terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene, a period from 15 000 to 18 000 Before Present (BP), was critical in establishing the current Holarctic fauna, with temperate-climate species largely replacing cold-adapted ones at mid-latitudes. However, the timing and nature of this process remain unclear for many taxa, a point that impacts on current and future management strategies. Here, we use an ancient DNA dataset to test more directly postglacial histories of the water vole ( Arvicola amphibius , formerly A . terrestris ), a species that is both a conservation priority and a pest in different parts of its range. We specifically examine colonization of Britain, where a complex genetic structure can be observed today. Although we focus on population history at the limits of the species' range, the inclusion of additional European samples allows insights into European postglacial colonization events and provides a molecular perspective on water vole taxonomy.

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