HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-31DOI: 10.1177/09596836231151835
Fabian Rey, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, S. Szidat, E. Gobet, O. Heiri, W. Tinner
{"title":"Radiocarbon sampling efforts for high-precision lake sediment chronologies","authors":"Fabian Rey, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, S. Szidat, E. Gobet, O. Heiri, W. Tinner","doi":"10.1177/09596836231151835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836231151835","url":null,"abstract":"High-resolution chronologies with the best time control are key for comparing palaeoenvironmental studies with independent high-precision historical, archaeological or climatic data. Precise chronologies are also essential for inter-site comparisons of palaeo records at decadal to centennial time scales. We present an updated sediment chronology from Burgäschisee, a small and well-studied lake in the Swiss lowlands. The new age-depth relationship was generated using a large number of new radiocarbon samples of terrestrial plant remains extracted from the Burgäschisee sediments and Bayesian age-depth modelling. The results reveal 2σ uncertainties of only ±19 years for the entire record covering the Early Bronze Age (3800 cal. BP) to the Early Middle Ages (1150 cal. BP). The differences between four age-depth modelling techniques (Bayesian and non-Bayesian) are minor (around 25 years) and remain stable with lower radiocarbon date availability. The maximum age offset between the preliminary previously published and the refined chronology from Burgäschisee is 225 years. Our results demonstrate the importance of a rigorous subsampling strategy that includes a careful selection of the best terrestrial plant material and avoiding radiocarbon calibration plateaus whenever possible. The new chronology from Burgäschisee now allows a more accurate site-to-site comparison with archaeological, historical and other palaeoecological evidence from the region.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"581 - 591"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46488461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-20DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145395
L. Forti, Stefano Costanzo, C. Compostella, Giancarlo Garna, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, A. Zerboni
{"title":"The geoarchaeological investigation on the defunctionalisation of an Assyrian canals system reveals Late-Holocene land use transitions in Northern Mesopotamia","authors":"L. Forti, Stefano Costanzo, C. Compostella, Giancarlo Garna, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, A. Zerboni","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145395","url":null,"abstract":"During the Assyrian rule over Northern Mesopotamia (present-day northern Iraq), complex systems of canals were built to increase the surface of cultivable land and improve the movement of people and goods across the irrigated waterscape of the hinterland of Nineveh and other major urban centres, with the aim of granting socio-economic prosperity to the empire. Nevertheless, supra-regional political instability eventually led to the rapid downfall of the Assyrian state during the late seventh century BCE, causing the swift abandonment of the canal systems. In this study, we examine the post-abandonment formation processes of the natural and anthropogenic infillings of three portions of King Sennacherib’s Khinis canal system (705–681 BCE, northwestern Kurdistan Region of Iraq) through means of archaeological, sedimentological and micromorphological analyses. We identify water lain sediments, desiccation features, colluvial gravel intake and pastoral occupation layers, anchoring the deposit to radiometric dating and contextualising it against the known regional climatic history. The interpretation of pedostratigraphic evidence highlights subsequent phases of use, abandonment, and repurposing of the canals, reflecting shifts in land-use from agriculture to pastoralism and dynamic adaptation and resilience of the local ancient communities in response to Late-Holocene climate changes and geopolitical events.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"416 - 431"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47741214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145383
Emma A. Elliott Smith, T. Braje, K. Gobalet, Breana Campbell, S. Newsome, T. Rick
{"title":"Archaeological and stable isotope data reveal patterns of fishing across the food web on California’s Channel Islands","authors":"Emma A. Elliott Smith, T. Braje, K. Gobalet, Breana Campbell, S. Newsome, T. Rick","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145383","url":null,"abstract":"How do human communities integrate within food webs? Studies characterizing the historical flow of energy among people and local environments can yield important insights into managing sustainable ecosystems. Here, we combine zooarchaeological, bulk tissue, and compound-specific stable isotope data from late Holocene Santa Rosa Island to investigate the ecological role of people within a southern California nearshore marine ecosystem. We show people foraged in diverse marine habitats, including kelp forests and pelagic waters, and consumed a wide range of species. However, zooarchaeological results reveal >50% of recovered fish remains came from presumed kelp forest carnivores of mid-trophic level (3.0–4.0) such as surfperches and rockfishes. Local fishing strategies thus did not involve the preferential removal of large-bodied, high trophic level species – a pattern known as “fishing down the food web” which has been documented in modern commercial fisheries and results in the collapse of marine ecosystems. Essential amino acid δ13C analysis revealed that the historical fish community relied on basal resources from kelps and phytoplankton. This coupling of benthic and pelagic energy sources suggests late Holocene coastal food webs in the region were in a relatively stable configuration immediately prior to first European arrival. This stability likely contributed to sustaining densely populated Chumash settlements, intensive fisheries, and high local faunal diversity. Our findings provide important pre-industrial data for marine ecosystems and document some of the mechanisms behind the intensive, yet sustainable long-term fisheries of the Island Chumash.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"446 - 458"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45056666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-11DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145442
Alvaro Castilla‐Beltrán, A. Monteath, B. Jensen, L. Nascimento, José María Fernández-Palacios, Nichola A. Strandberg, M. Edwards, Sandra Nogué
{"title":"Taming Fogo Island: Late-Holocene volcanism, natural fires and land use as recorded in a scoria-cone sediment sequence in Cabo Verde","authors":"Alvaro Castilla‐Beltrán, A. Monteath, B. Jensen, L. Nascimento, José María Fernández-Palacios, Nichola A. Strandberg, M. Edwards, Sandra Nogué","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145442","url":null,"abstract":"Cabo Verde remained uninhabited until 1460 CE, when European sailors founded a settlement in Santiago, and soon after in Fogo island. The degree to which different island ecosystems in Cabo Verde have been transformed by humans remains uncertain because of a scarcity of historical information and archaeological evidence. Disentangling these processes from natural ones is complicated in islands with a history of volcanic impacts and other natural hazards. In this paper, we apply microfossil (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and phytoliths) and sedimentological analyses (granulometry, X-ray diffraction, loss on ignition and tephrostratigraphy) to a 2-m sediment sequence deposited in a scoria cone from 4100 cal year BP (calibrated years before 1950 CE) to the present. The organic-rich basal sediments indicate that between 4100 and 2600 cal year BP the pre-settlement landscape of Fogo was an open grassland, where fire was infrequent and/or small-scale. An increase in volcanic glass deposition after 2600 cal year BP, peaking ca. 1200 cal year BP, suggests that there was a progressive activation of Fogo’s volcanic activity, contemporaneous with increased fire frequency and erosion pulses, but with little impact on local grassland vegetation. While dating uncertainty is high, the first evidence of intensive local land use by early settlers was in the form of cultivation of Zea mays, abundant spores of coprophilous fungi (i.e. Sporormiella), and peaks in charcoal concentrations between 800 and 400 cal year BP. This was followed by large increases in pollen from pigeon pea (Cajanus), a diverse array of exotic trees (Cupressus, Grevillea), and invasive shrubs (Lantana). The introduction of these taxa is part of recent human effort to ‘tame’ this steep, dry and hazardous island by reducing erosion and providing firewood. An important outcome of these efforts, however, is a loss of fragile native biodiversity.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"371 - 381"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45579331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145368
J. L. Peña‐Monné, M. M. Sampietro‐Vattuone, Jesús V. Picazo-Millán, L. A. Longares-Aladrén, F. Pérez-Lambán, C. Sancho-Marcén, Javier Fanlo
{"title":"Morphosedimentary and geoarchaeological records during the last 1400 years in the Ebro depression (NE Spain) and their paleoenvironmental interpretation","authors":"J. L. Peña‐Monné, M. M. Sampietro‐Vattuone, Jesús V. Picazo-Millán, L. A. Longares-Aladrén, F. Pérez-Lambán, C. Sancho-Marcén, Javier Fanlo","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145368","url":null,"abstract":"Most studies on the geomorphological evolution of the Holocene from the Ebro depression (NE Spain) are focused on the period up to the Roman Epoch (218 BC–476 AD) while some references to medieval (476 AD–15th century) deposits are also occasionally dated. This paper focuses on the establishment of aggradation units on the valley bottoms and slopes of the Ebro depression after 1400 BP, their origin, comparison with other areas, and relationship with global paleoenvironmental changes. These units were produced after the incision phase that marked the end of the large Holocene accumulation (unit H1) around 1400 BP (at the end of the Late Roman Epoch). Morphosedimentary records enable us to establish three aggradation units during the last 1400 years: unit H2 (ca. 1400–650 cal BP); unit H3 – with two H3A subunits (ca. 650–500 cal BP) and H3B (ca. 500–320 cal BP); and the H4 unit (after 320 cal BP). These units are organized following five types of aggradation/incision arrangements with differing complexities. There are also connections among these units and two slope stages in the region. Finally, the genetic relationships between these units and global paleoenvironmental changes are shown (LALIA, MCA, and LIA) and related to anthropic activity. This contribution is the first detailed and systematic approach to the study of morphosedimentary units and sedimentary arrangements during the Recent Holocene in the Mediterranean area.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"400 - 415"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43370796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145361
Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó, A. Tóth, Botond Buró, Ádám Braun, A. Csík, A. F. Filep, P. Kuneš, M. Braun
{"title":"Well-preserved Norway spruce needle phytoliths in sediments can be a new paleoenvironmental indicator","authors":"Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó, A. Tóth, Botond Buró, Ádám Braun, A. Csík, A. F. Filep, P. Kuneš, M. Braun","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145361","url":null,"abstract":"Analysis of phytoliths (plant silica bodies) still may have an unrevealed potential in paleoenvironmental reconstruction studies. This can provide novel findings in research on environmental change as phytoliths play an important role in the silicon biogeochemical cycle. In favorable environmental conditions, Picea abies [L.] H. Karst (Norway spruce) needles develop a phytolith layer consisting of more or less cubical or cuboid (blocky) phytoliths in their transfusion tissue that becomes continuous toward the apex of the needle. This can be studied in situ in fossil (subfossil) needles under a stereomicroscope. This study reports the blocky-type phytolith preservation in fossil spruce needles in sediment sections of the lake Černé jezero (Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic). The oldest needle containing phytoliths was 7.8 cal ka BP. Despite differences in the Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra of different age phytoliths, the studied subfossil phytoliths did not lose their globular ultrastructure in the needle tissue, proving the stability of this phytolith morphotype. As the tissue of the needle fossils can preserve phytoliths in situ, further micro-analytical measurements will make these needles promising tools for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The most favorable period for spruce phytolith formation for the studied region appears to be the period 6.0–4.5 cal ka BP, within the Holocene Climate Optimum period. In order to use these phytoliths as a terrestrial climate proxy, the next step is to refine their sensitivity to environmental changes.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"471 - 477"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42481762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145384
H. Allen, S. Karstens, J. Littleton
{"title":"Legacy archaeology: Aboriginal subsistence response to Holocene environmental changes using faunal evidence from archaeological sites on the Lower Murray, South Australia","authors":"H. Allen, S. Karstens, J. Littleton","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145384","url":null,"abstract":"Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs) and Tungawa (Fromm’s Landing) 2 and 6 are located in the Gorge Section of the Lower Murray River. They were excavated more than 60 years ago. Unusually, they preserved fauna over the 6000 or 7000 years of occupation. Assessing this record, it is concluded that Aboriginal agents were responsible for the middens in these rockshelters. Following this, Ngaut Ngaut and the Tungawa sites are compared in terms of their dating, stratigraphy and changes in the fauna through time. While the majority of species are present throughout at all three sites, there are shifts in the number of animals in concert with Holocene environmental changes. After 3000 BP, the trend is to increased attention being given to resources from the riparian and river zones and away from the dryland Murray Plains. An increase in shellfish and the presence of crayfish gastroliths support this contention. Nearby Tartanga Island provides a record of Holocene sedimentary changes in the Murray River associated with altered sea level and flood regimes, particularly the deposition of the Monoman and Coonambidgal formations. The latter creating a landscape of highly productive swamps and backwaters. The information from these legacy excavations supports the conclusion that a shift in the locus of Aboriginal hunting and gathering activities accompanied mid- and late-Holocene environmental changes on the Lower Murray River.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"432 - 445"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47714141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2022-12-29DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145362
Zhiping Zhang, Z. Shen, Shanjia Zhang, Jie Chen, Shengqian Chen, Dongxue Li, Shuai Zhang, XiangJun Liu, Duo Wu, Y. Sheng, Q. Tang, Fahu Chen, Jianbao Liu
{"title":"Lake level evidence for a mid-Holocene East Asian summer monsoon maximum and the impact of an abrupt late-Holocene drought event on prehistoric cultures in north-central China","authors":"Zhiping Zhang, Z. Shen, Shanjia Zhang, Jie Chen, Shengqian Chen, Dongxue Li, Shuai Zhang, XiangJun Liu, Duo Wu, Y. Sheng, Q. Tang, Fahu Chen, Jianbao Liu","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145362","url":null,"abstract":"Uncertainty regarding the timing of the highest Holocene water level of enclosed Dali Lake in northern China has led to controversy about whether the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) peaked in the early Holocene or the mid-Holocene. Therefore, a record combining a reliable chronology with unambiguous lake level indicators is essential to resolve the issue. In this study, we established a temporal sequence of well-preserved paleolake shorelines at different elevations around Dali Lake using quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Combining the new OSL-based chronological data with the previously published ages of beach ridges, we constructed an integrated lake level record for Dali Lake since the last deglaciation; the record is chronologically well-constrained and provides a clearer representation of lake level changes than previous studies. The main findings are as follows: (1) the level of Dali Lake rose gradually during 14.5–8.0 ka and reached a highest level during 8.0–6.0 ka that was ~61 m higher than today, before gradually declining after ~6.0 ka; (2) although the short-lived highstand of Dali Lake during the early Holocene was caused by both monsoon precipitation and snow/ice meltwater influx, the mid-Holocene lake level maximum was mainly the result of increased monsoon precipitation. These findings indicate that the EASM maximum in the region occurred during the mid-Holocene, which is supported by precipitation-proxy records from the EASM margin; (3) a major decline (~30 m) of the level of Dali Lake occurred at ~4.2 ka, reflecting a regional-scale drought event in northern China. Combined with near-contemporaneous frequent floods in the lower Yellow River, we propose that the pattern of “drought in northern China, flooding in central China” occurred during ~4.2–3.8 ka, triggering the migration of the prehistoric human population of the area to the central Plain of China. This population migration may have destabilized the existing social order and promoted the emergence of more complex societies, leading to the development of early civilization in north-central China.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"382 - 399"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43895359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HolocenePub Date : 2022-12-29DOI: 10.1177/09596836221145402
M. Rowe, Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, Shelby A Jones, E. Blinman, C. Welte, F. Duquesnoy, V. Charpentier, A. Al-Mashani, Ali Aḥmed al-Kathiri
{"title":"First dating of a rock painting in Ẓufār (Sultanate of Oman): Low energy plasma oxidation radiocarbon sampling","authors":"M. Rowe, Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, Shelby A Jones, E. Blinman, C. Welte, F. Duquesnoy, V. Charpentier, A. Al-Mashani, Ali Aḥmed al-Kathiri","doi":"10.1177/09596836221145402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221145402","url":null,"abstract":"We successfully measured four radiocarbon dates on two specimens of a black geometric rock painting with a fragment in jeopardy of naturally spalling off in the wall of a rock shelter in the Ẓufār region, in the south of the Sultanate of Oman. Extraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) for radiocarbon dating of the binder in the black pigment of the rock painting specimen was conducted in the plasma oxidation laboratory at the Office of Archeological Studies in Santa Fe, NM. The radiocarbon content was measured on the Swiss ETH-Zürich accelerator mass spectrometer MICADAS. The dates obtained agreed with one another within the statistical uncertainty and the average date of the four samples was 1500 ± 35 radiocarbon years BP. The calendric equivalents of the average date results in calendric calibration date ranges that span the mid-fifth through mid-seventh centuries (440–453 CE, 478–496 CE, and 534–646 CE). This research demonstrates that it is possible to date the black paintings of the Jebel al-Qara’ area of Oman; this is the first pictogram that was dated using radiocarbon dating in the region.","PeriodicalId":50402,"journal":{"name":"Holocene","volume":"33 1","pages":"478 - 483"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42518869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}