Constraining Holocene hydrological changes in the Carpathian–Balkan region using speleothem δ&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O and pollen-based temperature reconstructions

Abstract. Here we present a speleothem isotope record (POM2) from Ascunsă Cave (Romania) that provides new data on past climate changes in the Carpathian–Balkan region from 8.2 ka until the present. This paper describes an approach to constrain the effect of temperature changes on calcite δ18O values in stalagmite POM2 over the course of the middle Holocene (6–4 ka), and across the 8.2 and 3.2 ka rapid climate change events. Independent pollen temperature reconstructions are used to this purpose. The approach combines the temperature-dependent isotope fractionation of rain water during condensation and fractionation resulting from calcite precipitation at the given cave temperature. The only prior assumptions are that pollen-derived average annual temperature reflects average cave temperature, and that pollen-derived coldest and warmest month temperatures reflect the range of condensation temperatures of rain above the cave site. This approach constrains a range of values between which speleothem δ18O changes should be found if controlled only by surface temperature variations at the cave site. Deviations of the change in δ18Ocspel values from the calculated temperature-constrained range of change are interpreted towards large-scale variability of climate–hydrology. Following this approach, we show that an additional ∼0.6‰ enrichment of δ18Oc in the POM2 stalagmite was caused by changing hydrological patterns in SW Romania across the middle Holocene, most likely comprising local evaporation from the soil and an increase in Mediterranean moisture δ18O. Further, by extending the calculations to other speleothem records from around the entire Mediterranean basin, it appears that all eastern Mediterranean speleothems recorded a similar isotopic enrichment due to changing hydrology, whereas all changes recorded in speleothems from the western Mediterranean are fully explained by temperature variation alone. This highlights a different hydrological evolution between the two sides of the Mediterranean. Our results also demonstrate that during the 8.2 ka event, POM2 stable isotope data essentially fit the temperature-constrained isotopic variability. In the case of the 3.2 ka event, an additional climate-related hydrological factor is more evident. This implies a different rainfall pattern in the Southern Carpathian region during this event at the end of the Bronze Age.

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Constraining Holocene hydrological changes in the Carpathian-Balkan region using speleothem δ<sup>18</sup>O and pollen-based temperature reconstructions

Climate of the Past Discussions ◽

10.5194/cpd-10-381-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 381-427 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

V. Drăguşin ◽

M. Staubwasser ◽

D. L. Hoffmann ◽

V. Ersek ◽

B. P. Onac ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Effect Of Temperature ◽

Temperature Dependent ◽

Middle Holocene ◽

Average Annual Temperature ◽

Temperature Reconstructions ◽

Hydrologic Change ◽

Balkan Region

Abstract. Here we present a new speleothem isotope record (POM2) from Ascunsă Cave (Romania) that provides new data on past climate changes in the Carpathian-Balkan region from 8.2 ka until present. This paper describes an approach towards constraining the effect of temperature changes on calcite δ18O values in stalagmite POM2 over the course of the Middle Holocene (6–4 ka), and across the 8.2 and 3.2 ka rapid climate change events. Independent pollen temperature reconstructions are used to constrain the temperature-dependent component of total isotopic change in speleothem calcite. This includes the temperature-dependent composition of rain water attained during vapour condensation and during calcite precipitation at the given cave temperature. The only prior assumptions are that pollen-derived average annual temperature reflects average cave temperature, and that pollen-derived coldest and warmest month temperatures reflect the range of condensation temperatures of rain at the cave site. This approach constrains a range of values between which speleothem isotopic changes should be found if controlled only by surface temperature variations at the cave site. Deviations of measured δ18Oc values from the calculated range are interpreted towards large-scale hydrologic change independent of local temperature. Following this approach, we show that an additional 0.6‰ enrichment of δ18Oc in the POM2 stalagmite was caused by changing hydrological patterns in SW Romania during the Middle Holocene. Further, by extending the calculations to other speleothem records from around the entire Mediterranean Basin, it appears that all Eastern Mediterranean speleothems recorded a similar isotopic enrichment due to changing hydrology, whereas all changes recorded in speleothems from the Western Mediterranean are fully explained by temperature variation alone. This highlights a different hydrological evolution between the two sides of the Mediterranean. Our results also demonstrate that during the 8.2 ka event, POM2 stable isotope data fit the temperature-constrained isotopic variability, with only little hydrologic change at most. In the case of the 3.2 ka event, the hydrological factor is more evident. This implies a potentially different rainfall pattern in the Southern Carpathian region during this event at the end of the Bronze Age. This study brings new evidence for disturbances in Eastern Mediterranean hydrology during the Holocene, bearing importance for the understanding of climate pressure on agricultural activities in this area.

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Late second–early first millennium BC abrupt climate changes in coastal Syria and their possible significance for the history of the Eastern Mediterranean

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2010.07.010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 74 (2) ◽

pp. 207-215 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

D. Kaniewski ◽

E. Paulissen ◽

E. Van Campo ◽

H. Weiss ◽

T. Otto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Environmental History ◽

Iron Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Capital City ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Alluvial Deposits ◽

Iron Age I

AbstractThe alluvial deposits near Gibala-Tell Tweini provide a unique record of environmental history and food availability estimates covering the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The refined pollen-derived climatic proxy suggests that drier climatic conditions occurred in the Mediterranean belt of Syria from the late 13th/early 12th centuries BC to the 9th century BC. This period corresponds with the time frame of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the subsequent Dark Age. The abrupt climate change at the end of the Late Bronze Age caused region-wide crop failures, leading towards socio-economic crises and unsustainability, forcing regional habitat-tracking. Archaeological data show that the first conflagration of Gibala occurred simultaneously with the destruction of the capital city Ugarit currently dated between 1194 and 1175 BC. Gibala redeveloped shortly after this destruction, with large-scale urbanization visible in two main architectural phases during the Early Iron Age I. The later Iron Age I city was destroyed during a second conflagration, which is radiocarbon-dated at circa 2950 cal yr BP. The data from Gibala-Tell Tweini provide evidence in support of the drought hypothesis as a triggering factor behind the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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The migrations of the Sea Peoples circa 1200 BC according to written sources, narrative tradition and archaeology

Orientalistica ◽

10.31696/2618-7043-2020-3-5-1233-1248 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (5) ◽

pp. 1233-1248

Author(s):

A. V. Safronov

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Archaeological Data ◽

Ancient Egyptian ◽

Narrative Tradition ◽

North Eastern ◽

Sea Peoples ◽

The Rich ◽

Written Sources

The article deals with the Sea Peoples’ migrations at the beginning of 12th century BC. It is based on ancient Egyptian written sources, archaeological data and Greek narrative tradition. The author tries to reconstruct the general stages of Late Bronze Age ethnical movements in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13th – beginning the 12th centuries BC. The author shows that the Sea peoples’ movement was not homogeneous. Moreover, not all the Sea Peoples can be considered as migrants. The tribes of Shekelesh and Weshesh were the typical sea raiders who plundered the rich centres of the Eastern Mediterranean. The possible reason for the Peleset, Theker and Turša migration seems to be the war which devastated their homeland in north-eastern Anatolia between 1208/1203 и 1195 BC. The appearance of the Denyen in Sea Peoples’ movement must be connected with the destructions of Mycenaean centres in Southern Greece circa 1200 BC. Their inhabitants left their homeland and migrated to the different regions of the Aegean, Anatolia, Eastern and Western Mediterranean. The Sea Peoples’ migrations were only the first stage of global ethnic movements in Eurasia at the end of the Bronze Age which totally changed the ethnopolitical map of Southern Europe, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean.

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Precipitation climatology over Mediterranean Basin from ten years of TRMM measurements

Advances in Geosciences ◽

10.5194/adgeo-17-87-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

pp. 87-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

A. V. Mehta ◽

S. Yang

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Rainy Season ◽

Mediterranean Region ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Sea Temperature ◽

Maximum Rainfall ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract. Climatological features of mesoscale rain activities over the Mediterranean region between 5° W–40° E and 28° N–48° N are examined using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 and 2A25 rain products. The 3B42 rainrates at 3-hourly, 0.25°×0.25° spatial resolution for the last 10 years (January 1998 to July 2007) are used to form and analyze the 5-day mean and monthly mean climatology of rainfall. Results show considerable regional and seasonal differences of rainfall over the Mediterranean Region. The maximum rainfall (3–5 mm day−1) occurs over the mountain regions of Europe, while the minimum rainfall is observed over North Africa (~0.5 mm day−1). The main rainy season over the Mediterranean Sea extends from October to March, with maximum rainfall occurring during November–December. Over the Mediterranean Sea, an average rainrate of ~1–2 mm day−1 is observed, but during the rainy season there is 20% larger rainfall over the western Mediterranean Sea than that over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. During the rainy season, mesoscale rain systems generally propagate from west to east and from north to south over the Mediterranean region, likely to be associated with Mediterranean cyclonic disturbances resulting from interactions among large-scale circulation, orography, and land-sea temperature contrast.

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Orbital changes, variation in solar activity and increased anthropogenic activities: controls on the Holocene flood frequency in the Lake Ledro area, Northern Italy

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-9-1193-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 1193-1209 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

B. Vannière ◽

M. Magny ◽

S. Joannin ◽

A. Simonneau ◽

S. B. Wirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Northern Italy ◽

Flood Frequency ◽

Ice Age ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Short Intervals ◽

Middle Holocene ◽

Early And Middle Holocene

Abstract. Two lacustrine sediment cores from Lake Ledro in northern Italy were studied to produce chronologies of flood events for the past 10 000 yr. For this purpose, we have developed an automatic method that objectively identifies the sedimentary imprint of river floods in the downstream lake basin. The method was based on colour data extracted from processed core photographs, and the count data were analysed to capture the flood signal. Flood frequency and reconstructed sedimentary dynamics were compared with lake-level changes and pollen inferred vegetation dynamics. The results suggest a record marked by low flood frequency during the early and middle Holocene (10 000–4500 cal BP). Only modest increases during short intervals are recorded at ca. 8000, 7500, and 7100 cal BP. After 4500–4000 cal BP, the record shows a shift toward increased flood frequency. With the exception of two short intervals around 2900–2500 and 1800–1400 cal BP, which show a slightly reduced number of floods, the trend of increasing flood frequency prevailed until the 20th century, reaching a maximum between the 16th and the 19th centuries. Brief-flood frequency increases recorded during the early and middle Holocene can be attributed to cold climatic oscillations. On a centennial time scale, major changes in flood frequency, such as those observed after ca. 4500/4000 and 500 cal BP, can be attributed to large-scale climatic changes such as the Neo-glacial and Little Ice Age, which are under orbital and possibly solar control. However, in the Bronze Age and during the Middle Ages and modern times, forest clearing and land use probably partially control the flood activity.

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Human mobility at Tell Atchana (Alalakh) during the 2nd millennium BC: integration of isotopic and genomic evidence

10.1101/2020.10.23.351882 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tara Ingman ◽

Stefanie Eisenmann ◽

Eirini Skourtanioti ◽

Murat Akar ◽

Jana Ilgner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Ancient Dna ◽

Large Scale ◽

Near East ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Human Mobility ◽

Isotope Data ◽

Individual Mobility ◽

Non Local ◽

Trade And Exchange

AbstractThe Middle and Late Bronze Age Near East, a period roughly spanning the second millennium BC (ca. 2000-1200 BC), is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of stable isotopes and ancient DNA of individuals excavated at Tell Atchana (Alalakh), situated in the northern Levant, we explore the role of mobility at the capital of a regional kingdom. We generated strontium isotope data for 53 individuals, oxygen isotope data for 77 individuals, and added ancient DNA data from 9 new individuals to a recently published dataset of 28 individuals. A dataset like this, from a single site in the Near East, is thus far unparalleled in terms of both its breadth and depth, providing the opportunity to simultaneously obtain an in-depth view of individual mobility and also broader demographic insights into the resident population. The DNA data reveals a very homogeneous gene pool, with only one outlier. This picture of an overwhelmingly local ancestry is consistent with the evidence of local upbringing in most of the individuals indicated by the isotopic data, where only five were found to be ‘non-local’. High levels of contact, trade, and exchange of ideas and goods in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, therefore, seem not to have translated into high levels of individual mobility detectable at Tell Atchana.

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The Classical World

The Donkey in Human History ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198749233.003.0011 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Indigenous Populations ◽

Julius Caesar ◽

Magna Graecia ◽

Classical World ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

City State

Donkeys are the quintessential Mediterranean animal. This chapter explores the first two millennia and more of that association. It starts with the Bronze Age societies of the Aegean, but principally emphasizes the donkey’s contribution to the Classical world of the Greeks and Romans, a topic richly informed by literary, as well as archaeological, evidence. Summarizing that contribution, Mark Griffith noted that ‘Without them there would have been no food for the table or fuel for the fire; nor would the workshops, markets, and retail stores have been able to conduct their business’, while the Roman writer and politician Cicero simply observed that it would be unduly tedious to enumerate their services. Around 4,000 years ago urban, state-organized societies centred on large, multiroom ‘palaces’ were already active on the island of Crete. By the mid-second millennium bc similar societies had emerged on the Greek mainland in the form of the Mycenaean kingdoms. Bronze Age societies further west, however, were organized at a less complex level and did not use writing. The same holds true of Greece itself once Mycenaean civilization collapsed: only after 800 BC did the material culture and city-state political systems characteristic of the Classical period emerge. Without discussing the latter’s archaeology or history in detail, it is worth remembering that the Classical Greek world was far more extensive than the modern country, a result of early settlement of the west coast of Turkey, followed by large-scale migration into southern Italy and Sicily (‘Magna Graecia’ or ‘Greater Greece’) and smaller scale colonization elsewhere along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Greeks—and the Phoenician merchants who preceded them—were attracted into the western Mediterranean by opportunities for trade as much as settlement. Of the region’s indigenous populations Italy’s Etruscans were among the first to engage with them, undergoing a rapid process of urbanization and increasing political and economic complexity from about 800 BC. On the Etruscans’ southern periphery emerged Rome. Through luck, strategy, and a geographically central location, by the third century BC it dominated the Italian Peninsula. Moreover, following wars with Carthage, an originally Phoenician city in Tunisia, and with the Macedonian kings who succeeded Alexander the Great, its sway extended across the whole of the Mediterranean by the time Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.

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Ecological specialization promotes diversity and diversification in the East Mediterranean genus Ricotia (Brassicaceae)

10.1101/2020.08.30.274670 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Barış Özüdoğru ◽

Çağaşan Karacaoğlu ◽

Galip Akaydın ◽

Sadık Erik ◽

Klaus Mummenhoff ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Niche Differentiation ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Ecological Niche Models ◽

Ecological Specialization ◽

Multispecies Coalescent ◽

Niche Differences ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Patterns And Processes

AbstractDespite its amazing biodiversity, the Eastern Mediterranean remains a highly understudied region especially when compared to the Western Mediterranean. Scarcity of such studies restrict our understanding of the processes shaping diversity across the entire Mediterranean. To this end we used a combination of molecular markers and presence/absence data from all species of the Eastern Mediterrranean genus Ricotia collected across its full geographic range to determine historical, ecological and evolutionary factors responsible for lineage-specific diversification in this genus. Network analysis based on nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast DNA revealed high genetic structure within all lineages and phylogenetic reconstructions based on the multispecies coalescent showed that within lineage diversification corresponded to the onset of the Mediterranean climate. Reconstruction of ancestral histories indicate the genus originated within Anatolia and slowly spread across the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant using the Taurus mountains. Ecological niche models based on climatic and environmental variables suggest local populations did not go through any major distributional shifts and have persisted in present day habitats since the LGM. Furthermore, niche differentiation tests revealed significant niche differences between closely related species and showed the main variables predicting species limits to be different for each species. Our results give crucial information on the patterns and processes shaping diversity in the Eastern Mediterranean and show the main factor promoting diversification to be local environmental dynamics and ecological specialization and not large scale latitudinal movements as often reported for southern Europe. By determining regional and global patterns of diversification in an eastern Mediterranean genus we further our understanding of the major trends influencing plant diversity in the Mediterranean basin as a whole.

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Human mobility at Tell Atchana (Alalakh), Hatay, Turkey during the 2nd millennium BC: Integration of isotopic and genomic evidence

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0241883 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (6) ◽

pp. e0241883

Author(s):

Tara Ingman ◽

Stefanie Eisenmann ◽

Eirini Skourtanioti ◽

Murat Akar ◽

Jana Ilgner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Ancient Dna ◽

Large Scale ◽

Near East ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Human Mobility ◽

Dental Enamel ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Non Local ◽

Trade And Exchange

The Middle and Late Bronze Age, a period roughly spanning the 2nd millennium BC (ca. 2000–1200 BC) in the Near East, is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of stable isotopes and ancient DNA of individuals excavated at Tell Atchana (Alalakh, located in Hatay, Turkey), we explored the role of mobility at the capital of a regional kingdom, named Mukish during the Late Bronze Age, which spanned the Amuq Valley and some areas beyond. We generated strontium and oxygen isotope data from dental enamel for 53 individuals and 77 individuals, respectively, and added ancient DNA data of 10 newly sequenced individuals to a dataset of 27 individuals published in 2020. Additionally, we improved the DNA coverage of one individual from this 2020 dataset. The DNA data revealed a very homogeneous gene pool. This picture of an overwhelmingly local ancestry was consistent with the evidence of local upbringing in most of the individuals indicated by the isotopic data, where only five were found to be non-local. High levels of contact, trade, and exchange of ideas and goods in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, therefore, seem not to have translated into high levels of individual mobility detectable at Tell Atchana.

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The Ulu Burun Writing-Board Set

Anatolian Studies ◽

10.2307/3642932 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 99-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Robert Payton

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Mediterranean Coast ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Nautical Archaeology ◽

Large Area ◽

14Th Century ◽

South West

In 1984 the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) began the excavation of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck, which lay close to Ulu Burun near Kaş, in south west Turkey. In subsequent seasons the Institute's excavation team, under the directorship of George F. Bass and Cemal Pulak, has systematically recorded and excavated a large area of the shipwreck, which has been provisionally dated to the 14th century B.C. Although the nationality of the ship is still unknown, it has been deduced that it was travelling from the eastern Mediterranean coast westward when it sank. The ship was carrying an exceptionally varied and rich cargo reflecting complex and sophisticated trading on a large scale. Amongst the items recovered in the 1986 season were fragments of a wooden writing-board set found in the sediment of one of the large pithoi (KW 252) carried onboard the ship. The importance and implications of such a find in the Late Bronze Age was recognized by Pulak who was able to loosely fit together the small fragments, enabling on site recordings to be made. Despite careful sieving and extensive searching, smaller fragments of the boards and one of the hinges were never recovered.

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