The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean
In this paper we explore the impact of Rapid Climate Change (RCC) on prehistoric communities in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Early and Middle Holocene. Our focus is on the social implications of the four major climate cold anomalies that have recently been identified as key time-windows for...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
2009-12-01
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| Series: | Documenta Praehistorica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/2033 |
| _version_ | 1828060855668834304 |
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| author | Bernhard Weninger Lee Clare Eelco Rohling Ofer Bar-Yosef Utz Böhner Mihael Budja Manfred Bundschuh Angelica Feurdean Hans Georg Gebe Olaf Jöris Jörg Linstädter Paul Mayewski Tobias Mühlenbruch Agathe Reingruber Gary Rollefson Daniel Schyle Laurens Thissen Henrieta Todorova Christoph Zielhofer |
| author_facet | Bernhard Weninger Lee Clare Eelco Rohling Ofer Bar-Yosef Utz Böhner Mihael Budja Manfred Bundschuh Angelica Feurdean Hans Georg Gebe Olaf Jöris Jörg Linstädter Paul Mayewski Tobias Mühlenbruch Agathe Reingruber Gary Rollefson Daniel Schyle Laurens Thissen Henrieta Todorova Christoph Zielhofer |
| author_sort | Bernhard Weninger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper we explore the impact of Rapid Climate Change (RCC) on prehistoric communities in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Early and Middle Holocene. Our focus is on the social implications of the four major climate cold anomalies that have recently been identified as key time-windows for global RCC (Mayewski et al. 2004). These cooling anomalies are well-dated, with Greenland ice-core resolution, due to synchronicity between warm/cold foraminifera ratios in Mediterranean core LC21 as a proxy for surface water temperature, and Greenland GISP2 non sea-salt (nss) [K+] ions as a proxy for the intensification of the Siberian High and for polar air outbreaks in the northeast Mediterranean (Rohling et al. 2002). Building on these synchronisms, the GISP2 agemodel supplies the following precise time-intervals for archaeological RCC research: (i) 8.6–8.0 ka, (ii) 6.0–5.2 ka, (iii) 4.2–4.0 ka and (iv) 3.1–2.9 ka calBP. For each of these RCC time intervals, based on detailed 14C-based chronological studies, we investigate contemporaneous cultural developments. From our studies it follows that RCC-related climatic deterioration is a major factor underlying social change, although always at work within a wide spectrum of social, cultural, economic and religious factors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T22:03:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c30607a72f1240d2998489cf502e5fb5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1408-967X 1854-2492 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T22:03:30Z |
| publishDate | 2009-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Documenta Praehistorica |
| spelling | doaj.art-c30607a72f1240d2998489cf502e5fb52023-01-18T09:21:21ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Documenta Praehistorica1408-967X1854-24922009-12-013610.4312/dp.36.2The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern MediterraneanBernhard Weninger0Lee Clare1Eelco Rohling2Ofer Bar-Yosef3Utz Böhner4Mihael Budja5Manfred Bundschuh6Angelica Feurdean7Hans Georg Gebe8Olaf Jöris9Jörg Linstädter10Paul Mayewski11Tobias Mühlenbruch12Agathe Reingruber13Gary Rollefson14Daniel Schyle15Laurens Thissen16Henrieta Todorova17Christoph Zielhofer18Universität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, KölnUniversität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, KölnSchool of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, SouthamptonDepartment of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, Cambridge, USNiedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, HannoverUniversity of Ljubljana, Department of Archaeology, LjubljanaUniversität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, KölnUniversity of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, OxfordFreie Universität Berlin, Institut für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde, BerlinRömisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, Forschungsbereich Altsteinzeit, NeuwiedUniversität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, KölnClimate Change Institute, University of Maine, OronoUniversität Marburg, Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, MarburgDeutsches Archäologisches Institut, Eurasien-Abteilung, BerlinWhitman College, Anthropology, Walla WallaUniversität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, KölnThissen Archaeological Ceramics Bureau, AmsterdamBulgarian Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute and Museum, SofiaDresden University of Technology, Department of Geography, DresdenIn this paper we explore the impact of Rapid Climate Change (RCC) on prehistoric communities in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Early and Middle Holocene. Our focus is on the social implications of the four major climate cold anomalies that have recently been identified as key time-windows for global RCC (Mayewski et al. 2004). These cooling anomalies are well-dated, with Greenland ice-core resolution, due to synchronicity between warm/cold foraminifera ratios in Mediterranean core LC21 as a proxy for surface water temperature, and Greenland GISP2 non sea-salt (nss) [K+] ions as a proxy for the intensification of the Siberian High and for polar air outbreaks in the northeast Mediterranean (Rohling et al. 2002). Building on these synchronisms, the GISP2 agemodel supplies the following precise time-intervals for archaeological RCC research: (i) 8.6–8.0 ka, (ii) 6.0–5.2 ka, (iii) 4.2–4.0 ka and (iv) 3.1–2.9 ka calBP. For each of these RCC time intervals, based on detailed 14C-based chronological studies, we investigate contemporaneous cultural developments. From our studies it follows that RCC-related climatic deterioration is a major factor underlying social change, although always at work within a wide spectrum of social, cultural, economic and religious factors.https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/2033Rapid Climate ChangeHoloceneGISP2Dead Sea LevelLevantine Moist PeriodNeolithic |
| spellingShingle | Bernhard Weninger Lee Clare Eelco Rohling Ofer Bar-Yosef Utz Böhner Mihael Budja Manfred Bundschuh Angelica Feurdean Hans Georg Gebe Olaf Jöris Jörg Linstädter Paul Mayewski Tobias Mühlenbruch Agathe Reingruber Gary Rollefson Daniel Schyle Laurens Thissen Henrieta Todorova Christoph Zielhofer The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean Documenta Praehistorica Rapid Climate Change Holocene GISP2 Dead Sea Level Levantine Moist Period Neolithic |
| title | The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| title_full | The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| title_short | The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| title_sort | impact of rapid climate change on prehistoric societies during the holocene in the eastern mediterranean |
| topic | Rapid Climate Change Holocene GISP2 Dead Sea Level Levantine Moist Period Neolithic |
| url | https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/2033 |
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