Luminescence dating of eolian and fluvial archives in the middle and lower Danube catchment and the paleoenvironmental implications

Abstract

The presented doctoral dissertation uses luminescence dating techniques to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions in the middle and lower Danube catchments, especially during the period of anatomically modern humans’ emergence in Europe. The thesis is embedded in the CRC806 “Our Way to Europe” project. To increase one’s understanding of the environmental and climatic conditions during the last 150 ka, four loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) and one fluvial section were investigated (Fig. 1). The research area is located at the junction of Atlantic, Mediterranean and continental climatic regimes, which makes it sensitive to climatic changes. Moreover, the geographical position between Asia, Near East and Central Europe and the vast river network connecting these regions make the area a favorable pathway for anatomically modern human migration. The sediments of the five investigated sites cover various time frames from the penultimate interglacial to the Holocene. The methodological approach focused on optically stimulated luminescence dating, but for some of the sections the geochronological methods were combined with physical, biological and geochemical proxy data to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions. In the middle Danube basin three sites were investigated. The Ságvár LPS is located in the central basin and its sediments accumulated during the last glacial maximum (LGM) from approximately 25–17 ka (Bösken et al., 2018). The sequence can be correlated to two Gravettian occupation layers. Paleoenvironmental conditions changed rapidly and Gravettian occupation took place during a typically cold LGM phase. This shows that environmental conditions were not uniform during MIS 2 and that paleoenvironmental changes can be observed even on short (millennial) timescales within rather pure loess formation. The Bodrogkeresztúr LPS is located in the foothills of the Carpathians in the northern edge of the basin. Its sediments accumulated between 33.5 ± 2.5 and 28.0 ± 2.1 ka, and the site is characterized by a well-developed MIS 3 paleosol indicating humid paleoclimatic conditions (Bösken et al., 2019). Also during loess deposition, relatively mild paleoclimatic conditions prevailed. Measurements of the anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility revealed that the loess likely originated from the Tisza floodplain from a northeastern wind direction. The findings highlight the unique microclimatic con-