Organic geochemical and palynological evidence for Holocene natural and anthropogenic environmental change at Lake Dojran (Macedonia/Greece)

The Holocene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1103-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Thienemann ◽  
Alessia Masi ◽  
Stephanie Kusch ◽  
Laura Sadori ◽  
Stephan John ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Lipid Biomarker ◽  
The Middle Ages

In this study, we present lipid biomarker and palynological data for a sediment core from Lake Dojran (Macedonia/Greece), which covers the entire Holocene period. We analyzed vascular plant-derived n-alkanes, combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fecal steroids, and bacterial and archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids in concert with microcharcoal and pollen assemblages to reconstruct climatic, environmental, and human impact in the Dojran catchment and the greater Dojran area. Overall, our results suggest a relationship between anthropogenic activity and environmental/climatic change since increased human impact corresponds to phases of higher humidity and high lake levels at Lake Dojran. During the early Holocene, the record reveals increasing temperatures and humidity and concurrent increasing vegetation cover and runoff/soil erosion, respectively. Following a thermal maximum during the middle early Holocene, temperatures decrease gradually until present. The middle-Holocene at Lake Dojran is characterized by relatively stable environmental conditions followed by greater climatic instability and strong anthropogenic overprint during the late-Holocene. The fecal stanol record reveals phases of increased human impact during the early Bronze Age, the late Bonze/early Iron Age, and the Middle Ages. A phase of low stanol and PAH concentrations from the late Iron Age until the early Middle Ages is either related to ecosystem changes and/or changes in settlement pattern since concurrent pollen data indicate intensified land use. Human impact re-intensified during the Middle Ages with some variability probably related to climatic variations of the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ and the ‘Little Ice Age’.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene forest resilience in the central Pyrenean highlands as deduced from pollen analysis of Lake Sant Maurici sediments

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Núria Cañellas-Boltà ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Central Pyrenees ◽  
The Middle Ages

Palynological analysis of the last ca. 4300 cal year BP using a sediment core taken from high mountain (ca. 1900 m elevation) Lake Sant Maurici sediments (southern-central Pyrenees) showed remarkable vegetation constancy during the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages. Records of the Iron Age and the Roman period were missing due to a major sedimentary gap. During the studied periods, the vegetation around the lake was largely dominated by pine ( Pinus) forests with birch ( Betula), oak ( Quercus) and hazel ( Corylus) trees, as is the case today. The composition of these forests and the abundance of their components remained quite stable, despite the occurrence of temperature and moisture shifts. The degree of human disturbance, notably that of pastoralism and cereal cultivation by scattered and temporary settlements, was very low and had little or no effect on the dominant forests. This situation contrasts with most high-elevation (subalpine and alpine) environments of the central Pyrenees that were massively anthropized during the Middle Ages. Further research should be aimed at finding sediments corresponding to the Iron Age and the Roman period to verify whether the vegetation constancy can be extended throughout the Late-Holocene. Past records of this type may allow the estimation of natural and anthropogenic thresholds for irreversible forest changes, which would be useful for conservation purposes.

CERAMICS OF THE PESTRYAKOVO LAKE SETTLEMENT (SOUTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA)

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
KIRYUSHIN K. ◽  
◽  
KIRYUSHIN Yu. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Animal Hair ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article is devoted to the publication of finds of fragments of ceramic dishes discovered at the settlement of Pestryakovo Lake (Zavyalovsky district of Altai Territory). A group of ceramics which belongs to the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages, is pointed out. Single fragments find analogies in the materials of the sites of the Early and Late Bronze Age. The ceramic collection of the Pestryakovo Lake settlement includes groups of ceramics that belong to the Neolithic or Eneolithic. These are fragments of vessels ornamented with prints of a “string”, pricks, imprints of a short comb stamp, a dingle-dingle stamping. Linear-pricked and receding-pricked ceramics are quite informative. On the outer and inner surfaces, as well as in the fractures, traces of burnt-out organic matter (animal hair) are recorded. Such ceramics are widely represented in the south of Western Siberia and are associated with various settlement and burial complexes from the Ob to the Irtysh and various cultural formations of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Keywords: settlement, ceramics, ornamentation technique, comparative typological analysis, neolithic, eneolithic

scholarly journals A unique Pyrenean varved record provides a detailed reconstruction of Mediterranean vegetation and land-use dynamics over the last three millennia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia ◽  
Juan Pablo Corella ◽  
Mari C. Trapote ◽  
Encarni Montoya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Additional Advantage ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Pyrenean Lake Montcortès sediments hold the longest continuous and absolutely varve-dated record of the Mediterranean region, encompassing the last three millennia, from the Late Bronze Age to the present. The reconstruction of vegetation and landscape dynamics during this time period has advanced gradually, following the progress of absolute dating by varve counting, and has been progressively published and updated in a number of papers dealing with specific time intervals at different temporal resolutions. This paper synthesizes all these studies in a single composite paleoecological sequence constrained by a single age-depth varve model. The final resolution of this reconstruction is bidecadal, on average, but some periods have been resolved at quasidecadal (Middle Ages) and subdecadal (Modern Age to present) resolutions. The study is focused on the timing of anthropization and the further development of vegetation under climatic and anthropogenic drivers until the shaping of present landscapes. An additional advantage of Montcortès is that the local history of the Pallars region, where the lake is located, is well documented and can be easily correlated with the paleoecological record. Contrary to former interpretations of general landscape anthropization of the Pyrenees during the Middle Ages, the Montcortès catchment was irreversibly transformed by anthropic activities at the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 750-650 BCE). From this point, the catchment underwent successive transformations due to varied human uses (fire, grazing, cereal cultivation, weed/ruderal plant expansions, hemp cultivation/retting), which have been related to the different cultural phases and sociopolitical changes documented in the local historical records. The regional forests, dominated by Pinus and Quercus, experienced four main clearance events (RD) during the Iron Age (RD1; ca. 300 BCE), the Roman Period (RD2; ca. 300 CE), the Middle Ages (RD3; ca. 1000 CE) and the Modern Age (RD4; ca. 1800 CE). The detailed trends of the last two deforestation events and their causes could be studied at a decadal resolution, which significantly improved interpretation quality in ecological terms. The potential effects of climatic changes and the eventual interactions with human activities on catchment vegetation and regional forests throughout the record have also been discussed. The Montcortès record has been compared with other records at local (Pyrenees), regional (Iberian Peninsula) and biome (Mediterranean) scales. Locally and regionally, anthropization times and further ecological trends showed significant heterogeneity according to elevation, biogeographical patterns and cultural trends. The most significant coincidence is an intensification of human pressure, as noted in forest clearing and extensive land use, during several phases of the Middle Ages. At the Mediterranean level, the Montcortès record emerges as a unique sequence for the western sector of this biome that should be complemented with similar archives from the central and eastern Mediterranean. The most promising candidates for such sequences are discussed on the basis of available Mediterranean varved records.

scholarly journals Holocene vegetation history and human impact in the eastern Italian Alps: a multi-proxy study on the Coltrondo peat bog, Comelico Superiore, Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Segnana ◽  
Klaus Oeggl ◽  
Luisa Poto ◽  
Jacopo Gabrieli ◽  
Daniela Festi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Impact ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Lead Isotopes ◽  
Major And Trace Elements ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Vegetation Development ◽  
Peat Core ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract The present study aims to reconstruct vegetation development, climate changes and human impact using an ombrotrophic peat core from the Coltrondo bog in the eastern Italian Alps. Evidence from pollen, micro-charcoal, major and trace elements, and lead isotopes from this 7,900 years old peat deposit has been combined, and several climatic oscillations and phases of human impact detected. In particular, human presence was recorded in this area of the Alps from about 650 cal bc, with periods of increased activity at the end of the Middle Ages and also at the end of the 19th century, as evidenced by both human-related pollen and the increase in micro-charcoal particles. The enrichment factor of lead (EFPb) increased since the Roman period and the Middle Ages, suggesting mainly mining activities, whereas the advent of industrialization in the 20th century is marked by the highest EFPb values in the whole core. The EFPb data are strongly supported by the 206Pb/207Pb values and these are in general agreement with the historical information available. Therefore, the multi-proxy approach used here has allowed detection of climatic events and human impact patterns in the Comelico area starting from the Iron Age, giving new insights into the palaeoecology as well as the course of the interaction among humans, climate and ecosystems in this part of the eastern Italian Alps.

scholarly journals Pottery Complexes of the Ust’-Kova Geoarcheological Area in the Lower Angara Region (Based on Materials of 2008–2011)

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 69-81
Author(s):  
Nikolay I. Drozdov ◽  
Victor P. Leontev ◽  
Dmitry A. Gurulev ◽  
Kseniya V. Biryuleva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Hydroelectric Power Station ◽  
Hydroelectric Power ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
The Middle Ages

Purpose. As a result of preparations for the flooding of the Boguchan Hydroelectric Power Station reservoir bed, the Lower Angara region has witnessed increased activity as an archeological source base in recent years. It initiated the development of studies on the taxonomy of pottery traditions, both in the region and in adjacent territories, their chronology and interaction models. A number of informative archaeological sites at the estuary of the Kova River were excavated in large-scale horizontal exposures. Morphological analysis of the most informative part of the collection of surveys of 2008–2011, its comparative studies and the subsequent analysis of the spatial and stratigraphic context of the wares were the object of this paper. Results. A number of pottery groups were identified and their cultural-chronological attribution was proposed. Pottery of the Middle Ages predominate – Ust’-Kova type vessels, wares decorated with thin and smearing cordons, combed decorated pottery. The period of the Early Iron Age is represented by the Tsepan’ culture pottery, vessels with ‘wisp’ cordons and thin cordons decorated with finger pinches. Morphologically heterogeneous ‘pearl-ribbed’ pottery is attributed to the Bronze Age. Among the Neolithic ceramics, ‘net-impressed’ pottery (including the Aplin type), wares of Posol’sk and Ust’-Belaya types, as well as vessels close to Serovo pottery were presented. The complexes of the Early Iron Age – the Middle Ages have little information content due to the fact that the upper culture-bearing sediments are largely disturbed. There is a tendency toward a shift of site zones from the Angara coast in the Neolithic and Bronze Age to the right bank of the Kova River in subsequent periods. Conclusion. The collection includes wares dating from the Neolithic to the ‘Russian’ time. Conclusions about the information content of materials of cultural layers for further research are made. A subsequent collation of observations on settlement location trends will be able to reveal mobility patterns among carriers of various pottery traditions.

scholarly journals O Castro do Muro (Vandoma/Baltar, Paredes) - notas para uma biografia de ocupação da Idade do Bronze à Idade Média

2020 ◽  
pp. 1015-1030
Author(s):  
Maria Antónia D. Silva ◽  
Ana M. S. Bettencourt ◽  
António S. P. Silva ◽  
Natália Felix
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Metallic Materials ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
The Middle Ages

This work intends to update the knowledge related to the human occupation of “Castro do Muro” from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. This place has a significant tradition in archaeological literature due to the presence of an imposing walled circuit, whose width oscillates between 3.5 to 4 meters and a perimeter of 3.927 meters, within which was built an important settlement that emerged during the Late Bronze Age and extends to the Old Iron Age. There was also a Roman occupation, a probable rock castle and a medieval monastery, as attested by the ceramic, lithic and metallic materials collected in archaeological works and surface findings.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene forest resilience in the central Pyrenean highlands as deduced from pollen analysis of Lake Sant Maurici sediments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Núria Cañellas-Boltà ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Central Pyrenees ◽  
The Middle Ages

Palynological analysis of the last ca. 4300 cal yr BP using a sediment core taken from high mountain (ca. 1900 m elevation) Lake Sant Maurici sediments (southern-central Pyrenees) showed remarkable vegetation constancy during the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages. Records of the Iron Age and the Roman period were missing due to a major sedimentary gap. During the studied periods, the vegetation around the lake was largely dominated by pine (Pinus) forests with birch (Betula), oak (Quercus) and hazel (Corylus) trees, as is the case today. The composition of these forests and the abundance of their components remained quite stable, despite the occurrence of temperature and moisture shifts. The degree of human disturbance, notably that of pastoralism and cereal cultivation by scattered and temporary settlements, was very low and had little or no effect on the dominant forests. This situation contrasts with most high-elevation (subalpine and alpine) environments of the central Pyrenees that were massively anthropized during the Middle Ages. Further research should be aimed at finding sediments corresponding to the Iron Age and the Roman period to verify whether the vegetation constancy can be extended throughout the Late Holocene. Past records of this type may allow the estimation of natural and anthropogenic thresholds for irreversible forest changes, which would be useful for conservation purposes.

scholarly journals Zur jungholozänen Oberflächen- und Bodenentwicklung der Siegaue im Hennefer Mäanderbogen

1996 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Karl Heusch ◽  
Johannes Botschek ◽  
Armin Skowronek
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Late Middle Ages

Abstract. The flood loams in the Sieg valley near Hennef were investigated with geomorphological, sedimentological and pedological methods. They are free of carbonate. Four late Holocene floodplain terraces can be seperated and dated. On the Upper Floodplain Terrace an Auenparabraunerde-Auenbraunerde (Fluvi-Luvic Cambisol) of early Iron Age was found. The pedogenesis on the older Middle Floodplain Terrace lead to a Typische Auenbraunerde (Fluvi-Eutric Cambisol) of Latene Age. The younger part of this terrace is covered by a Braunauenboden (Eutric Fluvisol) of late Middle Ages/modern times. The Lower Floodplain Terrace is the youngest formation, at most 200 years old. It is characterized by an Auengley/Auenregosol (Fluvi-Eutric Gleysol). The Parabraunerde (Luvisol) on the Weichselian Low Terrace is supposed to be of Bronze Age. That anthropogenic flood loams bury traces of a presumably early Holocene soil on the Low Terrace.

Husby in Angeln – Ein königlicher Hof der späten Wikingerzeit?

2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-389
Author(s):  
Thorsten Lemm
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Royal Courts ◽  
Moyen Âge ◽  
Moyen Age ◽  
Viking Period ◽  
The Middle Ages

Zusammenfassung: Seit langem nehmen in Norwegen und Schweden Ortschaften und Höfe mit dem Namen Huseby o. ä. zentrale Punkte in der Frühgeschichtsforschung ein. Sie werden dort als seit jeher bedeutende Orte interpretiert, die in der späten Wikingerzeit oder am Übergang zum Mittelalter zu königlichen Höfen aufstiegen und in diesem Zuge mit der standardisierten Bezeichnung *húsabýr versehen wurden. Die dadurch ersetzten ursprünglichen Ortsnamen sind nur selten überliefert. Die Huseby-Orte Alt-Dänemarks fanden in der Forschung hingegen nur wenig Beachtung. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse der in den letzten Jahren durchgeführten Kontextanalysen und archäologischen Prospektionen erlauben es nun, das einst in dänischem Reichsgebiet gelegene Husby in Angeln in eine Reihe mit den bedeutenden Huseby-Orten Schwedens und Norwegens zu stellen. Archäologische Funde, allen voran die Entdeckung eines Siedlungslatzes mit zahlreichen Metallobjekten, die verkehrsgeografische Lage, Flurnamen in der Umgebung und eine romanische Kirche mit wahrscheinlich hölzernem Vorgängerbau zeichnen für Husby das Bild eines in der jüngeren Germanischen Eisenzeit, in der Wikingerzeit und im Mittelalter (über-)regional bedeutenden Ortes. Résumé: En Norvège et en Suède les localités ou habitats portant le nom d’H useby ont depuis longtemps occupé une place de choix en recherche protohistorique. Là, on les a toujours considérés comme des localités importantes, et ces endroits s’élevèrent au rang de cours royales au courant de l’époque viking tardive ou au début du Moyen Age ; de ce fait ils ont acquis la dénomination standard de*húsabýr. Les toponymes d’origine que ces nouvelles dénominations ont remplacés ne survivent que fort rarement. Cependant très peu d’enquêtes ont porté sur les toponymes Huseby que l’on rencontre dans l’ancien Danemark. Les résultats préliminaires d’études contextuelles et de prospections de terrain effectués au cours des dernières années nous permettent de ranger le site d’Husby en Anglie (Angeln), qui faisait anciennement partie du royaume danois, dans la série des sites importants portant le nom d’Huseby en Suède et en Norvège. Les données archéologiques, en particulier la découverte d’un habitat contenant de nombreux objets en métal, sa situation géographique, les noms des parcelles aux alentours et la présence d’une église romane avec probablement un précurseur en bois indiquent qu’Husby jouait un rôle (supra)régional significatif pendant l’âge du Fer germanique tardif, l’époque viking et le Moyen Age. Abstract: Settlements or farmsteads bearing the name Huseby or similar have occupied a central position in protohistoric research in Norway and Sweden for a long time. There they have always been interpreted as significant places, which rose to being royal courts in the Late Viking period or at the beginning of the Middle Ages and in the process were given the standard denomination of *húsabýr. The original place-names that these new denominations replaced rarely survive. Research has however paid little attention to the Huseby place-names of ancient Denmark. Preliminary results from contextual studies and archaeological surveys conducted over the last few years allow us to now align the site of Husby in Anglia, which once lay in the Danish realm, with the important Huseby sites of Sweden and Norway. Archaeological finds, especially the discovery of a settlement containing numerous metal objects, its geographical location, field names in its surroundings, and a Romanesque church with a probable timber precursor indicate that Husby was a significant (supra-) regional place in the later Germanic Iron Age, the Viking period and the Middle Ages.

scholarly journals Medieval Forest Dynamics in the Iberian Pyrenees: A Comparison Between Low- and High-mountain Areas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Forest Dynamics ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
The Middle Ages

This paper compares the Medieval (ca. 400–1500 CE) dynamics of forests from low-mountain (Montcortès; ca. 1000 m a.s.l.) and high-mountain (Sant Maurici; 1900 m a.s.l.) areas of the Iberian Pyrenees, both of which experienced similar climatic forcing but different anthropogenic pressures. The main aim is to identify forest changes over time and associate them with the corresponding climatic and anthropogenic drivers (or synergies among them) to test how different forests at different elevations respond to external forcings. This could be useful to evaluate the hypothesis of general Pyrenean deforestation during the Middle Ages leading to present-day landscapes and to improve the background for forest conservation. The study uses palynological analysis of lake sediments, historical documents and paleoecological reconstructions based on pollen-independent proxies. The two sites studied showed different forest trajectories. The Montcortès area was subjected to intense human pressure during regional deforestation up to a maximum of ca. 1000 CE. Further forest recovery took place until the end of the Middle Ages due to a change in forest management, including the abandonment of slash-and-burn practices. Climatic shifts indirectly influenced forest trends by regulating human migrations and the resulting shifts in the type and intensity of forest exploitation. The highland Sant Maurici forests exhibited a remarkably long-standing constancy and an exceptional resilience to climatic shifts, which were unable to affect forest extension and composition, and to local human pressure, from which they rapidly recovered. The Montcortès and Sant Maurici records did not follow the rule of an irreversible forest clearing during the Middle Ages leading to present-day landscapes. The present Montcortès landscape was shaped after a Medieval forest recovery, a new Modern-Age deforestation and a further forest recovery during the last centuries. The Sant Maurici forests remained apparently untouched since the Bronze Age and were never cleared during the Middle Ages. The relevance of these findings for forest conservation is briefly addressed, and the need for the development of more high-resolution studies on Pyrenean forest dynamics is highlighted.

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