scholarly journals Multi-profile fine-resolution palynology of Late Mesolithic to Bronze Age peat at Cat Stones, Rishworth Moor, Central Pennines, UK

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362097276
Author(s):  
Bruce M Albert ◽  
James B Innes ◽  
Jeff J Blackford
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Calluna Heath ◽  
Mesolithic Period ◽  
Fine Resolution ◽  
Late Mesolithic ◽  
Microscopic Charcoal

Palynological data from three radiocarbon dated peat profiles at Rishworth Moor in the Pennine hills of northern England provide a record of vegetation change and human impacts in the Late Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. All three cultures have archaeological sites present in the vicinity, with Late Mesolithic sites by far the most abundant, comprising mainly very late assemblages dominated by ‘rod’-shaped microliths. Pollen evidence of vegetation disturbance occurs during all three archaeological periods, and is attributed to the results of human activity. Microscopic charcoal and non-pollen palynomorph analyses support the pollen evidence. Sites at Cat Stones 2 and Cat Stones 3 record evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age date only. Cat Stones 1 extends into the Late Mesolithic period, and fine-resolution pollen analyses have been applied in this profile to the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition leading up to the mid-Holocene Elm ( Ulmus) Decline, which starts here at c. 4940 14C BP (5670 cal. BP), a typical date for it in the central Pennines. Bayesian age-depth modelling provides precise ages for the vegetation changes and their spatial correlation. The plateau was dominated by scrub and grassy Calluna heath from the Late Mesolithic onwards. Elevated microscopic charcoal levels and ruderal herb pollen record phases of fire disturbance below the Elm Decline, including a grain of Hordeum cereal-type. Whether this grain represents early cultivation requires further research. Bronze Age impacts are of greater intensity, but disturbances of all three cultural periods are low scale, agreeing with the results of previous research in the Pennines.

scholarly journals A Holocene pollen record of savanna establishment in coastal Amapá

2008 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro B. de Toledo ◽  
Mark B. Bush
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Sample Distribution ◽  
River Flooding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tremendous Impact

The main goal of this study was to investigate how climate and human activities may have influenced ecotonal areas of disjoint savannas within Brazilian Amazonia. The fossil pollen and charcoal records of Lake Márcio (Amapá) were used to provide a Holocene palaeoecological history of this region. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to enhance the patterns of sample distribution along the sediment core. A marked vegetation change from closed forests with swamp elements to open flooded savanna at c. 5000 yrs BP was evident from the pollen record. Charcoal analysis revealed a pattern of increased accumulation of particles coincident with the establishment of savannas, suggesting higher fire frequency and human impacts near the lake. A 550-year sedimentary hiatus suggests that the lake depended heavily on floodwaters from the Amazon River, and that it became suddenly isolated from it. When sedimentation restarted in the lake, the environment had changed. A combination of factors, such as reduced river flooding, palaeofires and human occupation may have had a tremendous impact on the environment. As there are no other major changes in vegetation, after 4700 yrs BP, it is plausible to assume that the modern mosaic vegetation formed at that time.

scholarly journals 7300 years of vegetation history and climate for NW Malta: a Holocene perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 4505-4567 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gambin ◽  
V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽  
F. Médail ◽  
N. Marriner ◽  
O. Peyron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Moderate Increase ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
North West ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in north-west Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972 to 1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase, corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.

A 10,300 14C yr Record of Climate and Vegetation Change from Haiti

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Higuera-Gundy ◽  
Mark Brenner ◽  
David A. Hodell ◽  
Jason H. Curtis ◽  
Barbara W. Leyden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Moist Forest ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
American Tropics

Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation dynamics in the American tropics are inferred largely from pollen in continental lake sediments. Maritime influences may have moderated climate and vegetation changes on Caribbean islands. Stable isotope (δ18O) study of a 7.6-m core from Lake Miragoane, Haiti, provided a high-resolution record of changing evaporation/precipitation (E/P) since ∼10,300 14C yr B.P. The Miragoane pollen record documents climate influences and human impacts on vegetation in Hispaniola. The δ18O and pollen data near the base of the core indicate cool, dry conditions before ∼10,000 14C yr B.P. Lake Miragoane filled with water in the early Holocene as E/P declined and the freshwater aquifer rose. Despite increasing early Holocene moisture, shrubby, xeric vegetation persisted. Forest expanded ∼7000 14C yr B.P. in response to greater effective moisture and warming. The middle Holocene (∼7000–3200 14C yr B.P.) was characterized by high lake levels and greatest relative abundance of pollen from moist forest taxa. Climatic drying that began ∼3200 14C yr B.P. may have driven some mesophilic animal species to extinction. The pollen record of the last millennium reflects pre-Columbian (Taino) and European deforestation. Long-term, Holocene vegetation trends in southern Haiti are comparable to trends from continental, lowland circum-Caribbean sites, suggesting a common response to regional climate change.

scholarly journals 7300 years of vegetation history and climate for NW Malta: a Holocene perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gambin ◽  
V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽  
F. Médail ◽  
N. Marriner ◽  
O. Peyron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Moderate Increase ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in Northwest Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972–1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts, and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.

scholarly journals The 4.2 ka BP event in the vegetation record of the central Mediterranean

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Di Rita ◽  
Donatella Magri
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Forest Decline ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
High Pressure Cell ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Abstract. In this paper, the variation in forest cover in the central Mediterranean region, reflected by percentage changes of the arboreal pollen record, has been examined in relation to the 4.2 ka BP event. A number of 36 well-dated and detailed pollen records from latitudes between 45° and 36° N were selected and their vegetation dynamics between 5 and 3 ka examined in relation to the physiographic and climatic features of the study area and to the influence of human activity on past vegetation, as suggested by anthropogenic pollen indicators. We have found that the sites located between 43° and 45° N do not show any significant vegetation change in correspondence with the 4.2 ka event. Several sites located in the Italian Peninsula between 39°–43° N show a marked opening of the forest, suggesting that a lowering of rainfall occurred during the 4.2 ka BP event, sufficiently strong to determine a forest decline. Between 36°–39° N, a forest decline is always visible around 4.2 ka BP, and in some cases it is dramatic. This indicates that this region was severely affected by a climate change towards arid conditions that lasted a few hundreds of years and was followed by a recovery of forest vegetation in the middle Bronze age. Human activity, especially intense in southern Italy, may have been favored by this natural opening of vegetation. In Sardinia and Corsica, no clear change in vegetation is observed at the same time. We suggest that during the 4.2 ka BP event southern Italy and Tunisia were under the prevalent influence of a north African climate system, characterized by a persistent high-pressure cell.

scholarly journals The 4.2 ka event in the vegetation record of the central Mediterranean

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Di Rita ◽  
Donatella Magri
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
High Pressure Cell ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Arboreal Pollen ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Abstract. In this paper, the variation in forest cover in the central Mediterranean region, reflected by percentage changes in the arboreal pollen record, has been examined in relation to the 4.2 ka event. A total of 36 well-dated and detailed pollen records from latitudes between 45 and 36∘ N were selected and their vegetation dynamics between 5 and 3 ka examined in relation to the physiographic and climatic features of the study area and to the influence of human activity on past vegetation, as suggested by anthropogenic pollen indicators. We have found that the sites located between 43 and 45∘ N do not show any significant vegetation change in correspondence with the 4.2 ka event. Several sites located on the Italian Peninsula between 39 and 43∘ N show a marked opening of the forest, suggesting a vegetation response to the climate instability of the 4.2 ka event. Between 36 and 39∘ N, a forest decline is always visible around 4.2 ka, and in some cases it is dramatic. This indicates that this region was severely affected by a climate change towards arid conditions that lasted a few hundred years and was followed by a recovery of forest vegetation in the Middle Bronze Age. Human activity, especially intense in southern Italy, may have been favored by this natural opening of vegetation. In Sardinia and Corsica, no clear change in vegetation is observed at the same time. We suggest that during the 4.2 ka event southern Italy and Tunisia were under the prevalent influence of a north African climate system characterized by a persistent high-pressure cell.

scholarly journals 8,000 years of climate, vegetation, fire and land-use dynamics in the thermo-mediterranean vegetation belt of northern Sardinia (Italy)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiziana Pedrotta ◽  
Erika Gobet ◽  
Christoph Schwörer ◽  
Giorgia Beffa ◽  
Christoph Butz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Juglans Regia ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Lake Productivity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evergreen Oak ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractKnowledge about the vegetation history of Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, is scanty. Here, we present a new sedimentary record covering the past ~ 8,000 years from Lago di Baratz, north-west Sardinia. Vegetation and fire history are reconstructed by pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal analyses and environmental dynamics by high-resolution element geochemistry together with pigment analyses. During the period 8,100–7,500 cal bp, when seasonality was high and fire and erosion were frequent, Erica arborea and E. scoparia woodlands dominated the coastal landscape. Subsequently, between 7,500 and 5,500 cal bp, seasonality gradually declined and thermo-mediterranean woodlands with Pistacia and Quercus ilex partially replaced Erica communities under diminished incidence of fire. After 5,500 cal bp, evergreen oak forests expanded markedly, erosion declined and lake levels increased, likely in response to increasing (summer) moisture availability. Increased anthropogenic fire disturbance triggered shrubland expansions (e.g. Tamarix and Pistacia) around 5,000–4,500 cal bp. Subsequently around 4,000–3,500 cal bp evergreen oak-olive forests expanded massively when fire activity declined and lake productivity and anoxia reached Holocene maxima. Land-use activities during the past 4,000 years (since the Bronze Age) gradually disrupted coastal forests, but relict stands persisted under rather stable environmental conditions until ca. 200 cal bp, when agricultural activities intensified and Pinus and Eucalyptus were planted to stabilize the sand dunes. Pervasive prehistoric land-use activities since at least the Bronze Age Nuraghi period included the cultivation of Prunus, Olea europaea and Juglans regia after 3,500–3,300 cal bp, and Quercus suber after 2,500 cal bp. We conclude that restoring less flammable native Q. ilex and O. europaea forest communities would markedly reduce fire risk and erodibility compared to recent forest plantations with flammable non-native trees (e.g. Pinus, Eucalyptus) and xerophytic shrubland (e.g. Cistus, Erica).

scholarly journals Holocene vegetation record of upland northern Calabria, Italy: Environmental change and human impact

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Sevink ◽  
Corrie C Bakels ◽  
Peter AJ Attema ◽  
Mauro A Di Vito ◽  
Ilenia Arienzo
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Forest Decline ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Climatic Event ◽  
Mobile Pastoralism

Earlier studies on Holocene fills of upland lakes (Lago Forano and Fontana Manca) in northern Calabria, Italy, showed that these hold important palaeoecological archives, which however remained poorly dated. Their time frame is improved by new 14C dates on plant remains from new cores. Existing pollen data are reinterpreted, using this new time frame. Two early forest decline phases are distinguished. The earliest is linked to the 4.2 kyr BP climatic event, when climate became distinctly drier, other than at Lago Trifoglietti on the wetter Tyrrhenian side, where this event is less prominent. The second is attributed to human impacts and is linked to middle-Bronze Age mobile pastoralism. At Fontana Manca (c. 1000 m a.s.l.), it started around 1700 BC, in the higher uplands a few centuries later (Lago Forano, c. 1500 m a.s.l.). In the Fontana Manca fill, a thin tephra layer occurs, which appears to result from the AP2 event (Vesuvius, c. 1700 BC). A third, major degradation phase dates from the Roman period. Land use and its impacts, as inferred from the regional archaeological record for the Raganello catchment, are confronted with the impacts deduced from the palaeoarchives.

scholarly journals The excavation of pit circles at Romancamp Gate, Fochabers, Moray, 1990

1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Council ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Mesolithic Period

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.

Did prehistoric landscape management retard the post-glacial spread of woodland in Southwest Asia?

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (294) ◽  
pp. 1002-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
Mediterranean Environment ◽  
East Mediterranean ◽  
Late Season ◽  
Pollen Diagrams ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

Pre-Bronze Age human impacts on the East Mediterranean environment have been hard to detect in pollen diagrams and other off-site contexts. New evidence shows that despite a relatively rapid post-glacial wetting-up of the climate, the re-advance of oak woodland across Southwest Asia was slow. Among the factors likely to have contributed to the apparent disjunction between climate and vegetation is Neolithic landscape management, particularly through regular use of late-season ground fires to encourage grasses at the expense of trees and shrubs.

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