scholarly journals Modelling the Neolithic dispersal in northern Eurasia

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 35-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Dolukhanov ◽  
Anvar Shrukov
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distribution ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
East European ◽  
The North ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Comprehensieve lists of radiocarbon dates from key Early Neolithic sites in Central Europe belonging to the Linear pottery Ceramic Culture (LBK) and early pottery-bearing cultures in the East European Plain were analysed with the use of the x2 test. The dates from the LBK sites form a statistically homogeneous set, with a probability distribution similar to a single-date Gaussian curve. This implies the rate of expansion of the LBK in Central Europe being in excess of 4 km/yr. Early potter-bearing sites on the East European Plain exhibit a much broader probability distribution of dates, with a spatio-temporal trend directed from the south-east to the north-west. The rate of spread of pottery-making is in the order of 1 km/yr, i.e., comparable to the average expansion rate of the Neolithic in Western and Central Europe.

Impact of climate and humans on the range dynamics of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) in Europe during MIS 2

2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Nadachowski ◽  
Grzegorz Lipecki ◽  
Mateusz Baca ◽  
Michał Żmihorski ◽  
Jarosław Wilczyński
Keyword(s):  
East European Plain ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Mammuthus Primigenius ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Maximum Expansion ◽  
East European ◽  
The North ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Woolly Mammoth

AbstractThe woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was widespread in almost all of Europe during the late Pleistocene. However, its distribution changed because of population fluctuations and range expansions and reductions. During Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2), these processes were highly dynamic. Our analyses of 318 radiocarbon dates from 162 localities, obtained directly from mammoth material, confirmed important changes in mammoth range between ~28.6 and ~14.1 ka. The Greenland stadial 3 interval (27.5–23.3 ka) was the time of maximum expansion of the mammoth in Europe during MIS 2. The continuous range was soon fragmented and reduced, resulting in the disappearance of Mammuthus during the last glacial maximum from ~21.4 to ~19.2 ka in all parts of the North European Plain. It is not clear whether mammoths survived in the East European Plain. The mammoth returned to Europe soon after ~19.0 ka, and for the next 3–4 millennia played an important role in the lifeways of Epigravettian societies in eastern Europe. Mammoths became extinct in most of Europe by ~14.0 ka, except for core areas such as the far northeast of Europe, where they survived until the beginning of the Holocene. No significant correlation was found between the distribution of the mammoth in Europe and human activity.

scholarly journals The Spread of the Neolithic in the South East European Plain: Radiocarbon Chronology, Subsistence, and Environment

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 783-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel M Dolukhanov ◽  
Anvar Shukurov ◽  
Kate Davison ◽  
Graeme Sarson ◽  
Natalia P Gerasimenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East European Plain ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
East European ◽  
The North ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Caspian Lowland ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology

Newly available radiocarbon dates show the early signs of pottery-making in the North Caspian area, the Middle-Lower Volga, and the Lower Don at 8–7 kyr cal BC. Stable settlements, as indicated by “coeval subsamples,” are recognized in the Middle-Lower Volga (Yelshanian) at 6.8 kyr cal BC and the Caspian Lowland at about 6 kyr cal BC. The ages of the Strumel-Gostyatin, Surskian, and Bug-Dniesterian sites are in the range of 6.6–4.5 kyr BC, overlapping with early farming entities (Starčevo-Körös-Criş and Linear Pottery), whose influence is perceptible in archaeological materials. Likewise, the 14C-dated pollen data show that the spread of early pottery-making coincided with increased precipitation throughout the forest-steppe area.

scholarly journals Eastern Europe’s “Transitional Industry”?: Deconstructing the Early Streletskian

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Dinnis ◽  
A. Bessudnov ◽  
N. Reynolds ◽  
T. Devièse ◽  
A. Dudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
East European ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Layer V ◽  
Precise Relationship ◽  
Early Upper

AbstractThe Streletskian is central to understanding the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic on the East European Plain. Early Streletskian assemblages are frequently seen as marking the Neanderthal-anatomically modern human (AMH) anthropological transition, as well as the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic archaeological transition. The age of key Streletskian assemblages, however, remains unclear, and there are outstanding questions over how they relate to Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic facies. The three oldest Streletskian layers—Kostenki 1 Layer V, Kostenki 6 and Kostenki 12 Layer III—were excavated by A. N. Rogachev in the mid-20th century. Here, we re-examine these layers in light of problems noted during Rogachev’s campaigns and later excavations. Layer V in the northern part of Kostenki 1 is the most likely assemblage to be unmixed. A new radiocarbon date of 35,100 ± 500 BP (OxA- X-2717-21) for this assemblage agrees with Rogachev’s stratigraphic interpretation and contradicts later claims of a younger age. More ancient radiocarbon dates for Kostenki 1 Layer V are from areas lacking diagnostic Streletskian points. The Kostenki 6 assemblage’s stratigraphic context is extremely poor, but new radiocarbon dates are consistent with Rogachev’s view that the archaeological material was deposited prior to the CI tephra (i.e. >34.3 ka BP). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that Kostenki 12 Layer III contains material of different ages. Despite some uncertainty over the precise relationship between the dated sample and diagnostic lithic material, Kostenki 1 Layer V (North) therefore currently provides the best age estimate for an early Streletskian context. This age is younger than fully Upper Palaeolithic assemblages elsewhere at Kostenki. Other “Streletskian” assemblages and Streletskian points from younger contexts at Kostenki are briefly reviewed, with possible explanations for their chronostratigraphic distribution considered. We caution that the cultural taxon Streletskian should not be applied to assemblages based simply on the presence of bifacially worked artefacts.

A multiproxy record of sedimentation, pedogenesis, and environmental history in the north of West Siberia during the late Pleistocene based on the Belaya Gora section

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Vladimir Sheinkman ◽  
Sergey Sedov ◽  
Lyudmila S. Shumilovskikh ◽  
Elena Bezrukova ◽  
Dmitriy Dobrynin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
West Siberia ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Partial Recovery ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
The North ◽  
Mis 5

Abstract Recent revision of the Pleistocene glaciation boundaries in northern Eurasia has encouraged the search for nonglacial geological records of the environmental history of northern West Siberia. We studied an alluvial paleosol-sedimentary sequence of the high terrace of the Vakh River (middle Ob basin) to extract the indicators of environmental change since Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Two levels of the buried paleosols are attributed to MIS 5 and MIS 3, as evidenced by U/Th and radiocarbon dates. Palynological and pedogenetic characteristics of the lower pedocomplex recorded the climate fluctuations during MIS 5, from the Picea-Larix taiga environment during MIS 5e to the establishment of the tundra-steppe environment due to the cooling of MIS 5d or MIS 5b and partial recovery of boreal forests with Picea and Pinus in MIS 5c or MIS 5a. The upper paleosol level shows signs of cryogenic hydromorphic pedogenesis corresponding to the tundra landscape, with permafrost during MIS 3. Boulders incorporated in a laminated alluvial deposit between the paleosols are dropstones brought from the Enisei valley by ice rafting during the cold MIS 4. An abundance of eolian morphostructures on quartz grains from the sediments that overly the upper paleosol suggests a cold, dry, and windy environment during the MIS 2 cryochron.

scholarly journals Carbonate sedimentation and effects of eutrophication observed at the Kališta subaquatic springs in Lake Ohrid (Macedonia)

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4715-4747 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Matter ◽  
F. S. Anselmetti ◽  
B. Jordanoska ◽  
B. Wagner ◽  
M. Wessels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Traps ◽  
Authigenic Carbonate ◽  
Sidescan Sonar ◽  
Carbonate Content ◽  
Carbonate Precipitation ◽  
Lake Ohrid ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Spring Area

Abstract. To date, little is known about the role of spring waters with respect to authigenic carbonate precipitation in the shallow lacustrine setting. Lake Ohrid, located in Southeastern Europe, is a large lake fed to over 50% by karstic springs of which half enter subaquatically and influence significantly its ecology and species distribution. In order to evaluate how sedimentological processes are influenced by such shallow-water springs, the Kališta subaquatic spring area in the north west of Lake Ohrid was investigated by a sidescan sonar survey and with sediment traps and three transects of gravity short cores. Results indicate that sedimentation in the spring area is dominated by authigenic carbonate precipitation. High sedimentation rates and evidences for bio-induced precipitation processes were observed in the water column and in the sediments. Two distinct stratigraphic units characterize the shallow subsurface, both composed of carbonate silts with high carbonate contents of up to 96%, but differing in color, carbonate content and diatom content. A chronological correlation of the cores by radiocarbon dates and 137Cs activities places the transition between the two stratigraphic units after ~1955 AD. At that time, coastal sedimentation changed drastically to significantly darker sediments with higher contents of organic matter and more abundant diatoms. This change coincides with the recent human impact of littoral eutrophication.

scholarly journals The earliest evidence for dwelling construction in the Upper Palaeolithic of Eastern Europe: a 30,000-year-old surface structure from Mira layer I

Vita Antiqua ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
V.N. Stepanchuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Surface Structure ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
East European ◽  
Surface Dwelling ◽  
Layer I

The purpose of this article is to present data on the surface structure identified in the upper layer of the Mira site in the Dnieper valley. The occupation of layer I, based on a set of consistent data, constitutes the remains of a seasonal winter camp of Pleistocene horse hunters. Ten available radiocarbon dates place the calibrated age of layer I between 31,000 to 28,000 cal BP. The rapid albeit gentle overlapping of the settlement remains with alluvial sediments ensured that the original settlement and dwelling patterns and their elements survived well. Thanks to this, it is possible to reconstruct some significant aspects of the construction process, as well as details of the arrangement of the dwelling’s interior space. A 30,000-year-old, permanent skeleton cylindrical yaranga type surface construction from Mira layer I is currently representing the oldest dwelling known in the Upper Palaeolithic of Ukraine and a broader context of the steppe zone of the East European plain. Keywords: Upper Palaeolithic, surface dwelling, Eastern Europe

scholarly journals Chronology of the Last Deglaciation in the Southeastern Baltic Region on the Basis of Recent OSL Dates

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (-1) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anto Raukas ◽  
Wojciech Stankowski ◽  
Vitālijs Zelčs ◽  
Petras Šinkunas
Keyword(s):  
Outer Zone ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
East European ◽  
The North ◽  
Dating Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
The Last Deglaciation

Chronology of the Last Deglaciation in the Southeastern Baltic Region on the Basis of Recent OSL DatesThe study of the deglaciation chronology in the south-eastern Baltic Region belonging to the outer zone of the last Pleistocene glaciation has a long history. The Finnish investigator H. Hausen (1913) who worked in the north-western portion of the East-European Plain at the beginning of the 20thcentury was the first to attempt a reconstruction of the course of glacial retreat during the last glaciation. At that time investigators had no physical dating methods and the time scale based on varvometric method, introduced by the Swedish geologist G. de Geer (1912) who divided the deglaciation history of Scandinavia into Daniglacial, Gotiglacial and Finiglacial, each of which had different palaeoglaciological conditions. During last decades different dating methods, including14C, ESR, luminescence methods and10Be techniques have been used, but they could not help essentially improve the existing stratigraphical charts and many problems of topical interest in the history of deglaciation have not been solved yet. During last years the first two authors have studied the suitability of OSL method for the geochronological purposes, paying the most attention to the waterlaid sediments. In the first step they have found the most promising genetical varieties of glaciofluvial sediments (glaciofluvial deltas and sandurs) and in this paper they widened the study area to all three Baltic states with close cooperation with Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues. The obtained results demonstrated, that not all mineral grains in the uppermost glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine sediments were fully bleached during the last deglaciation. Probably the older sediments also influenced to the luminescence results. It means, that stratigraphic conclusions based on single dates or their small sets are inadmissible and in each case luminiscence dating requires a verification using other methods.

Mapping Spatio-Temporal Variability in NAO Rainfall Signatures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry West ◽  
Nevil Quinn ◽  
Michael Horswell
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Temporal Variability ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Cold Spots ◽  
Spatio Temporal

<p>The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is often cited as the primary atmospheric-oceanic circulation or teleconnection influencing regional climate in Great Britain. As our ability to predict the NAO several months in advance improves, it is important that we also continue to develop our spatial and temporal understanding of the rainfall signatures which the circulation produces.</p><p>We present a novel application of spatial statistics to explore variability in monthly NAO rainfall signatures using a 5km gridded monthly Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) dataset. We first use the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic to map spatially significant hot and cold spots (clusters of high/wet and low/dry SPI values) in average monthly rainfall signatures under NAO Positive and Negative conditions over the period 1900-2015. We then look across the record and explore the temporal variability in these signatures, in other words how often a location is in a significant spatial hot/cold spot (high/low SPI) at a monthly scale under NAO Positive/Negative conditions.</p><p>The two phases of the NAO are typically more distinctive in the winter months, with stronger and more variable NAO Index values. The average monthly SPI analysis reveals a north-west/south-east ‘spatial divide’ in rainfall response. NAO Positive phases result in a southerly North Atlantic Jet Stream bringing warm and wet conditions from the tropics, increasing rainfall particularly in the north-western regions. However, under NAO Negative phases which result in a northerly Jet Stream, much drier conditions in the north-west prevail. Meanwhile in the south-eastern regions under both NAO phases a weaker and opposite wet/dry signal is observed. This north-west/south-east ‘spatial divide’ is marked by the location of spatially extensive hot/cold spots. The Getis-Ord Gi* result identifies that the spatial pattern we detect in average winter rainfall is statistically significant. Looking across the record, this NW/SE opposing response appears to have a relatively high degree of spatio-temporal consistency. This suggests that there is a high probability that NAO Positive and Negative phases will result in this NW/SE statistically significant spatial pattern.</p><p>Even though the phases of the NAO in the summer months are less distinctive they still produce rainfall responses which are evident in the monthly average SPI. However, the spatiality in wet/dry conditions is more homogenous across the country. In other words the ‘spatial divide’ observed in winter is diluted in summer. As a result, the occurrence of significant hot/cold spots is more variable in space and time.</p><p>Our analysis demonstrates a novel application of the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic which allows for spatially significant patterns in the monthly SPI data to be mapped for each NAO phase. In winter months particularly, this analysis reveals statistically significant opposing rainfall responses, which appear to have long-term spatio-temporal consistency. This is important because as winter NAO forecasting skill improves, the findings of our research enable a more spatially reliable estimate of the likely impacts of NAO-influenced rainfall distribution.</p>

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