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The palaeoecological potential of pollen records in caves: The case of Mediterranean Spain
Abstract
Important palynological sequences are reviewed from caves with archaeological interest in Mediterranean Spain. Upper Pleistocene sites include Abric Romanı́ and Abric de l’Arbreda in NE Spain, and in SE Spain Cueva de la Carihuela, Cova Beneito, Cueva de Perneras, Cueva del Algarrobo and the Holocene Cova de l’Or and Cova de les Cendres. Carihuela has the longest sequence, starting in the last interglacial and covering most of the last glaciation. A pre-Würm phase was followed by two glacial maxima separated by an interpleniglacial phase, and in the Lateglacial the Younger Dryas seems present. Whereas at Carihuela harsh pleniglacial conditions caused Mediterranean associations to disappear, in the milder surroundings of Beneito and Perneras these were able to survive. At Romanı́, pollen shows acute palaeoclimatic sensitivity, pointing to upland refuges nearby. Holocene pollen from Cova de l’Or and Cendres underlines the importance of pine in natural woodlands of mature meso and thermomediterranean taxa. Some between-site comparisons and contrasts with modern bioclimatology are interpreted in the context of the palaeoclimate history. Despite taphonomical and methodological problems of cave palynology, its future in arid regions such as SE Spain is promising.
... Due to the variable pollen content and the high values of Asteroideae and Cichorieae, raw data are presented in tables (Table 3 for Terre rosse and Tables 4, 5, 6 for Terre brune) instead of percentage diagrams. The bad preservation and resulting over-representation of Asteraceae (Cichorieae and Asteroideae), the low diversity and the very low pollen concentration are expected in cave records (Carrión et al., 1999;Navarro Camacho et al., 2000;Lebreton et al., 2010;Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018), and we are aware of the fact that different taphonomic biases occurred at GR, favouring the selective preservation of pollen grains in some levels. Nonetheless, the different pollen assemblages from Terre rosse and Terre brune samples seem to confirm that our pollen spectra represent source vegetation at both local and regional scales. ...
... oxidation) can lead to differential preservation with possible over-representation of pollen grains more resistant to oxidation (e.g. Asteraceae; see also Carrión et al., 1999). Moreover, sedimentation is generally discontinuous, with events of erosion and redeposition (Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018;Spinapolice et al., 2021) and pollen can be transported either by water through the soil or by wind into the cave itself (Cremaschi et al., 2014), making uncertain the time lapse between pollen production and sedimentation. ...
... deposits are not common (e.g. Renault-Miskovsky, 1972;Gale et al., 1993;Carrión et al., 1999;Mancini et al., 2002;Kaniewski et al., 2004Kaniewski et al., , 2005aKaniewski et al., , 2005bKaniewski et al., , 2005cKaratsori et al., 2005;Polk et al., 2007;de Porras et al., 2011;Peretto et al., 2020), as in the case of Apulia. As a matter of fact, pollen data from GR provides new insights into the palaeoenvironmental setting of the deposits, with implications on their chronological attribution, and into the possible plant use by humans. ...
This study aims to understand the relationship between the palaeoenvironmental evolution of the southern margin of the Salpi lagoon (Tavoliere coastal plain, Apulia, Italy) and the development of settlements on its shores during the last part of the Holocene (Late Northgrippian to Late Meghalayan) to complement recent archaeological investigations at the site of pre-Roman Salpia Vetus, Roman Salapia and Medieval Salpi. Micropalaeontological, palynological, and sedimentological analyses were conducted on a total of ten drilled cores, revealing local and regional events. Facies and micropalaeontological analyses show that the lagoon was partially connected to the sea between 6.2 ka BP and 3.1 ka BP. Between 3.1 ka BP and 2.4 ka BP, the area was characterised by marshes and swamps with restricted brackish lagoon conditions and permanent freshwater input. After 2.4 ka BP, the continuous freshwater influx from the major rivers of the coastal plain determined the progradation of the floodplain and the closure of the lagoon, with the formation of the two coastal lakes of Lago Salso (north) and Lago Salpi (south). Pollen data show the expansion of halophytic herbs under local brackish conditions during the Early Meghalayan and the continuous spread of dryland herbs consistent with the closure of the basin. The alluvial plain progradation during the Late Meghalayan allowed the intensive exploitation of the area and the development of a highly anthropogenic landscape. The development of the settlements of pre-Roman Salpia Vetus, Roman Salapia, and Medieval Salpi was mainly determined by the insalubrious condition of the surrounding marshes, due to the reduction in water depth and oscillations in salinity.
... The importance of small-scale reconstruction of vegetal landscapes around human settlements during the Pleistocene and the Holocene relies on the central role of plant resources in subsistence and social reproduction in humans (Perlin, 1989;Green, 2007;Petrovska, 2012;Henry et al., 2019). Taking into account that lakes, lagoons and wetlands providing long-term palynological sequences are scarce in Mediterranean Iberia (Carrión et al., 1999), archaeological sites provide valuable materials for palaeobotanical and palaeoecological research. However, the depositional and post-depositional dynamics involved in the formation processes in open-air sites cause, in many cases, poor conservation of archaeobotanical remains, especially in the case of pollen, affected by oxidation and other taphonomic agents (Carrión et al., 2009;Lebreton et al., 2010). ...
... The archaeobotanical record in cave and rock shelter sites provides materials from successive occupations in different periods of Prehistory, which can contribute to the reconstruction of landscapes and the vegetal resource exploitation strategies. Although the reliability of pollen analysis in cave records has been subjected to scepticism (Coûteaux, 1977;Turner and Hannon, 1988) due to taphonomic issues, many studies in recent decades have proved the relevance of these records, when taphonomically reliable, to reconstruct landscape and climate evolution in the sites' surroundings (Carrión et al., 1995(Carrión et al., , 1998(Carrión et al., , 1999(Carrión et al., , 2018Navarro et al., 2001;Fernández et al., 2007;Djamali et al., 2011;Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018;Ochando et al., 2020c). It is therefore essential to consider the different processes and taphonomic agents involved in the formation of pollen records in this type of context. ...
... It is therefore essential to consider the different processes and taphonomic agents involved in the formation of pollen records in this type of context. Among the taphonomic processes, the following must be particularly considered: possible discontinuities in sedimentary sequences and gaps in pollen records; mixing of deposits due to cave dynamics and the effects of precipitation and bioturbation; differential preservation or even destruction of certain palynomorphs by oxidising agents or bacterial activity; pollen transport by animals, leading to over-representation of some taxa (Coles et al., 1989;Carrión et al., 1999;Carrión et al., 2009); and, of course, one decisive factor to be considered is the role of human activities, leaving imprints in the pollen record through landscape transformation and, especially in archaeological sites, through the input of plants to the settlement (Dimbleby, 1985;Mercuri, 2008;Mercuri et al., 2019). In this situation, pollen taphonomy provides outstanding data to inform about in-site processes, since human activities and site formation processes may affect the pollen record. ...
The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential of cave and rock-shelter sites for palaeoecological and archaeobotanical research. Climate conditions in the Mediterranean region and the depositional and post-depositional dynamics involved in the formation processes of open-air sites cause, in many cases, poor conservation of archaeobotanical remains, especially in the case of pollen, affected by oxidation and other taphonomic agents. However, more stable temperature and humidity, as found in cave and rock-shelter sites, provide optimum conditions for the preservation of vegetal remains. This study presents integrated archaeobotanical data from several NE Iberian sites, with occupations from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. On the one hand, the diachronic study of the pollen record in archaeological stratigraphies reconstructs vegetation evolution and abrupt climate changes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene. On the other hand, archaeopalynology reveals the need to consider different taphonomic agents in the interpretation of pollen records in archaeological cave and rock-shelter sites, especially the anthropogenic input of plants to the archaeological contexts. The study of anthracological remains offers a picture of the surrounding wooded landscape, and provides data to characterise vegetal resource management and to verify which plants were brought to the cave. Finally, the carpological record shows the presence of edible wild fruits from bushes and trees in the Pleistocene and beginnings of the Holocene, and cultivated and synanthropic plants from the Middle Holocene onwards.
... Due to the variable pollen content and the high values of Asteroideae and Cichorieae, raw data are presented in tables (Table 3 for Terre rosse and Tables 4, 5, 6 for Terre brune) instead of percentage diagrams. The bad preservation and resulting over-representation of Asteraceae (Cichorieae and Asteroideae), the low diversity and the very low pollen concentration are expected in cave records (Carrión et al., 1999;Navarro Camacho et al., 2000;Lebreton et al., 2010;Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018), and we are aware of the fact that different taphonomic biases occurred at GR, favouring the selective preservation of pollen grains in some levels. Nonetheless, the different pollen assemblages from Terre rosse and Terre brune samples seem to confirm that our pollen spectra represent source vegetation at both local and regional scales. ...
... oxidation) can lead to differential preservation with possible over-representation of pollen grains more resistant to oxidation (e.g. Asteraceae; see also Carrión et al., 1999). Moreover, sedimentation is generally discontinuous, with events of erosion and redeposition (Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018;Spinapolice et al., 2021) and pollen can be transported either by water through the soil or by wind into the cave itself (Cremaschi et al., 2014), making uncertain the time lapse between pollen production and sedimentation. ...
... deposits are not common (e.g. Renault-Miskovsky, 1972;Gale et al., 1993;Carrión et al., 1999;Mancini et al., 2002;Kaniewski et al., 2004Kaniewski et al., , 2005aKaniewski et al., , 2005bKaniewski et al., , 2005cKaratsori et al., 2005;Polk et al., 2007;de Porras et al., 2011;Peretto et al., 2020), as in the case of Apulia. As a matter of fact, pollen data from GR provides new insights into the palaeoenvironmental setting of the deposits, with implications on their chronological attribution, and into the possible plant use by humans. ...
Pollen analyses have been carried out on the infilling deposits of Grotta Romanelli (Apulia, Italy), a reference site for the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Italy. The analysis focused on Terre rosse, a fine unit till now ascribed to an interstadial phase following the Würm acme, and on the uppermost unit (Terre brune), recently dated to the latest Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Despite the diffuse barrenness and low pollen concentration of many levels, pollen data from Grotta Romanelli gives insights into the palaeoenvironmental setting of the deposits and their chronological attribution. The presence of Olea in all levels of Terre rosse strongly suggests their attribution to the Last Interglacial (Eemian), during which this plant was diffused in the Mediterranean area. The Terre brune deposition occurred when the environment was open, with rare trees and shrubs and prevailing steppe elements. This association reflects the climatic conditions of the Lateglacial, with evidence of both the warm interstadial Bølling/Allerød and the cold stadial Younger Dryas. Mediterranean, mesophilous and riparian arboreal elements are present, especially in the Early Holocene levels. Comparison with modern pollen material allowed some fossil grains, found in high amounts and in clusters, to be tentatively ascribed to the species Crithmum maritimum (Apiaceae), Muscari comosum and to Asparagus maritimus/Ornithogalum (Asparagaceae). The significant occurrence of such entomophilous plants reveals differential transportation inside the cave and, since most of them are edible and/or have medicinal properties, suggests an intentional introduction and possible use during time, by both Neanderthals and modern humans.
... Furthermore, the behaviour of the animals that produced the coprolites can be diverse (Scott, 1987;Scott and Brink, 1992;Scott et al., 2003), so that coprolites collected at the same depths might be reflecting a mosaic of different environments occupied by different animals rather than a temporal record of different vegetation stages (Carrión et al., 2008(Carrión et al., , 2018. As pointed out by Carrión et al. (1999b), the archaeological pollen records, which are often discontinuous and/or altered by humans, should not be used to assess vegetational and climatic fluctuations with the same confidence as when they are interpreted from continuous and pristine lacustrine or marshy pollen records. In this sense, taxonomic differences between sediment samples and coprolites must be taken with some caution. ...
... From a palaeoecological perspective, the Pešturina site appears as a unique palaeofloristic record in the Balkans, in relation to the Neanderthal palaeoenvironment, highlighted by a permanent open forested habitat, with high plant diversity, typical of the glacial refugia in the southern European regions. Similar situations were found in the Iberian Peninsula (Carrión et al., 1999b(Carrión et al., , 2003a(Carrión et al., , 2008(Carrión et al., , 2018González-Sampériz et al., 2010;Manzano et al., 2017;Ochando et al., 2019Ochando et al., , 2020bOchando et al., , 2020cOchando et al., , 2020dOchando et al., , 2022aVerdú et al., 2020;Amorós et al., 2021), in the Italian Peninsula (Follieri et al., 1998;Magri, 1999;Magri and Sadori, 1999;Giardini, 2007;Pini et al., 2010), and the Lesvos Island (Margari et al., 2009). Finlayson et al. (2011) found a conspicuous association between Homo and ecologically rich, semiopen woodlands in ecotonal and mosaic landscapes. ...
The Central Balkans are a key biogeographical region in Southern Europe, influenced by a central European-Mediterranean climate, which acted as a refugium for flora and fauna, and favored the dispersion of Neander-thals and migration of modern human populations during Late Glacial Period. This study presents pollen analyses of sediment and hyaena coprolites from Pešturina Cave in Serbia to reconstruct the vegetation landscapes faced by Balkan Neanderthals and early Anatomically Modern Humans between MIS 5e-3. Between MIS 5e-5c (archaeological layers 4c and 4b) and MIS 5b-5a (layer 4a), semi-forested environments prevailed, characterized by Pinus, deciduous Quercus, Tilia and other angiosperm woody taxa, accompanied by heliophytes such as Artemisia and Poaceae. During MIS 4-3 (layers 3-2), the vegetation was dominated by Artemisia-Poaceae steppes with Quercus patches, conifers and legumes. Overall across the sequence, pollen assemblages are highly diverse and include a number of deciduous trees and sclerophylls. In addition, the occurrence of several herbaceous taxa reinforces the view that the Balkans were outstanding for endemicity. Neanderthals and early Upper Palaeolithic hominins lived in a highly diverse refugium, offering multiple opportunities for survival during the warm in-terstadials and, more critically, the cold stadials of the Pleistocene.
... However, palaeoclimate inference from sedimentary records in these depositional zones has been widely debated (Courty and Vallverdu, 2001;Woodward and Goldberg, 2001), arguing the necessity of independent methods when explaining intersite correlation. This has sparked controversy and is especially evident when performing climate reconstructions and establishing broad-scale vegetation biostratigraphies (Turner and Hannon, 1988;Carrión et al., 1999). ...
... Results are expressed as percentages, excluding hygrophytes, pteridophytes and NPPs from the pollen sum. In addition, Cichorioideae, Asteroideae, Cirsium/Carduus type and Centaurea type have been also excluded from the total pollen sum since they are commonly linked to post-depositional processes in archaeological settings and usually over-represented (Carrión et al., 1999). The Psimpoll 4.27 software (Bennett, 2009) was used to draw pollen diagrams. ...
... Different kinds of those remains can lead to alternative interpretations of it (cf., Rodríguez et al., 2011). At some sites interpretations may seem to be at variance with cotemporaneous palaeclimatological knowledge, leading to their consideration as signalling environmental refuges, put forward on the basis of palaeopalynology and palaeoenvironmental findings for particular cases in Mediterranean Spain, particularly during the Late Pleistocene (Carrión et al., 1999(Carrión et al., , 2003(Carrión et al., , 2008Finlayson and Carrión, 2007). During Late Pleistocene MIS-4, MIS-3 and MIS-2 there was 'a diversity of landscapes including mountain grasslands and lowland steppes, Pinus woods at mid-altitudes, and the occurrence of a number of woody plants in the present-day meso and thermomediterranean belts along coastal shelves and intramontane valleys' (Carrión et al., 2009), and pollens of evergreen and deciduous Quercus, and other deciduous trees, put in appearance at a handful of southeastern Spanish Palaeolithic sites and peat-bogs, which 'suggest the proximity of refugia of evergreen and deciduous Quercus' (Carrión et al., 2009). ...
... Climatic cooling is implied by presence in layer 2 of marmot (Brugal, 1992) and lemming (Marquet, 1993). Statistical analyses both of tree and rodent taxa suggest an environmental evolution from drier open parkland to damper mesophyllous woodland as layer 3 gave way to layer 2, though presence of squirrel in layer 3 and walnut in layers 3 and 2 (unless it is intrusive, as Vernet wondered) could hint at a mosaic landscape with various biotopes around and below the site, including vegetational refuges (such an interpretation has been proposed for walnut from Late Pleistocene sediments at the Carihüela cave in eastern Andalusia: Carrión et al., 1999). The time spanned by the 1.5 m sedimentary fill at Canalettes could have been within 0.09-0.75 ...
... However, in Western Europe only a few of them extend to the Pleistocene, or they are generally not located in the vicinity of hominin and/or archeological sites. This means, therefore, that in the case of Neanderthals, the reconstruction of their habitats must be based on the palynological reconstruction of the sediments deposited in archeological caves and rockshelters, in spite of the methodological limitations broadly analyzed (Bottema, 1975;Carrión, 2002;Coles and Gilbertson, 1994;Carrión et al., 1999Carrión et al., , 2009Davis, 1990;Hunt, 2015, 2017;Hunt and Fiacconi, 2018;Navarro et al., 2000Navarro et al., , 2001Sánchez-Goñi, 1993;Sánchez-Goñi et al., 2005). Regardless of the difficulties described by these authors, relevant habitat data for human evolution studies have been provided by archeological palynology (Bonnefille, 2010;Burjachs and Julià, 1994;Burjachs et al., 2003;Carrión et al., 2003bCarrión et al., , 2008Carrión et al., , 2011Carrión et al., , 2018Carrión et al., , 2019aCarrión et al., , 2019bCarrión et al., , 2019cGonzález-Sampériz et al., 2010;Lechterbeck and Jensen, 2020;Ochando et al., 2019;Scott et al., 2003Scott et al., , 2019Val-Peón et al., 2019), and they represent a background which should not be undervalued. ...
... The pine pollen signal found in this record suggests the occurrence of coastal platforms with Pinus pinea, confirmed by the presence of macroremains in Nerja (Badal, 1990(Badal, , 1998(Badal, , 2001, and higher in altitude, Pinus halepensis and Pinus nigra if we take into account the current ecology of these species (Cabezudo and Pérez Latorre, 2001;Pérez Latorre et al., 2006, 2008 as well as and its pollen dispersion and representativeness Broothaerts et al., 2018). This picture of Pleistocene vegetation has been widely discussed before in reference to other territories (Carrión, 1992a(Carrión, , 1992b(Carrión, , 2001(Carrión, , 2002Carrión et al., 1995aCarrión et al., , 1999Carrión et al., , 2000Carrión et al., , 2003bCarrión et al., , 2008Carrión et al., , 2018Carrión et al., , 2019aCarrión et al., , 2019bCarrión et al., , 2019cGonzález-Ramón et al., 2012;López-Sáez et al., 2007;Ochando et al., 2019;Zilhão et al., 2016). ...
This paper presents a palynological study of the archeological layers from the Neanderthal site Abrigo 3 del Complejo del Humo, in southern Spain (Málaga), with the aim of reconstructing the environmental conditions in the vicinity of this hominin site. The Upper Pleistocene vegetation and its variability are described, revealing a high diversity of thermophilous plant taxa throughout the cold dry phases, together with a long-term persistence of woody taxa, including Mediterranean, mesophytes, xerothermics and conifers. With the pollen records of Maytenus senegalensis as an outstanding finding, this study demonstrates the co-existence of temperate, Mediterranean and Ibero-Maghrebian angiosperms on the southern coastal plains of the Iberian Pleistocene where Neanderthals survived for a long time. It is therefore clear that Neanderthals and early Upper Paleolithic modern humans lived in a litoral refugium, which was a propitious environment for maintaining a high biodiversity, including potentially edible plant species. Besides, this coastal refugium offers broad possibilities for hunting, and interpopulational relationships through coastal platforms.
... Cave pollen deposits, such as speleothems and surface sediments, are challenged by generally poor preservation of their palynomorphs, and the post-depositional alteration of the pollen assemblages (Leroi-Gourhan & Renault-Miskovsky, 1977;Carrión et al., 1999), which increase difficulties with interpretation (Bryant & Holloway, 1983). Nevertheless, in some cases, pollen may indicate the local and regional plant communities, and display value as paleoenvironmental proxy, especially in arid and semi-arid territories (Carrión et al., 1995(Carrión et al., , 1999. ...
... Cave pollen deposits, such as speleothems and surface sediments, are challenged by generally poor preservation of their palynomorphs, and the post-depositional alteration of the pollen assemblages (Leroi-Gourhan & Renault-Miskovsky, 1977;Carrión et al., 1999), which increase difficulties with interpretation (Bryant & Holloway, 1983). Nevertheless, in some cases, pollen may indicate the local and regional plant communities, and display value as paleoenvironmental proxy, especially in arid and semi-arid territories (Carrión et al., 1995(Carrión et al., , 1999. In addition, pollen may aid in the stratigraphic and taphonomic resolution of these deposits, since palynomorphs are good indicators of transport conditions via water, wind, or animals (Carrión et al., 1995;Navarro Camacho et al., 2000). ...
This paper presents descriptions, and taxonomic and ecological data by the angiosperm pollen grains recovered from Quaternary sediments of the Gruta do Urso Cave, Tocantins State, Northern Brazil. Among recovered assemblage, 44 types of angiosperm pollen were identified. Most of the pollen types described here are related to the modern aboreal-shrub and herbaceous-subshrub taxa currently present in the plant communities of the Cerrado biome: (i) forest formations (Annonaceae, Aspidosperma, Ilex, Celtis, Trema, Tournefortia, Protium, Combretaceae-Melastomataceae type, Croton-type, Moraceae-Urticaceae type, cf. Bauhinia brevipes, Cassia, Pithecellobium, Peixotoa, and Cedrela); (ii) savannah formations (Anacardium, Astronium, Asteraceae Tribu Eupatorieae, Caryocar, Cyperaceae, Eriotheca-type, Ludwigia, Pseudobombax spp., Ouratea, Qualea, and Utricularia), and (iii) grasslands (Poaceae). Regarding the diversity of pollen types registered, the most representative botanical families were: Fabaceae (8), Malvaceae (4), Euphorbiaceae (3), Anacardiaceae (3), Apocynaceae (2), Cannabaceae (2), Sapindaceae (2) and Poaceae (2), which also occur in the Cerrado-Caatinga transition. Pollen data show paleovegetation during the Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene times out of the cave, and provides a reliable source for paleoecological, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic investigations.
Keywords: palynology, Quaternary, paleovegetation, Brazilian savanna
... Leroi- Gourhan & Renault-Miskovsky 1977, Leroi-Gourhan & Girard 1979. La problemática cronológica y tafonómica (relativa a los procesos deposicionales que actúan sobre los restos de los seres vivos tras su muerte) inherente a este tipo de yacimientos determinó el rechazo a las secuencias paleoclimáticas obtenidas en contextos arqueológicos (Turner & Hannon 1988;Sánchez Goñi 1991aSánchez Goñi ,1991bRamil-Rego 1992, Carrión et al. 1999), más aún cuando las formulaciones sobre la dinámica de vegetación para el continente europeo realizadas hasta ese momento (Huntley & Birks 1983) generalizaban el modelo fraguado en el Centro y Sur de Europa, en el que los periodos extremadamente fríos del Pleistoceno provocaron la extinción de la mayor parte de los taxones mesófilos y termófilos de amplias unidades geográficas. En este modelo, la distribución actual de estas especies sería fruto de procesos de migración que se habrían producido a finales del Pleistoceno o incluso en el Holoceno, desde refugios ubicados alrededor del Centro-Sur y SE de Europa (Van der Wiel & Wijmstra 1987a, 1987bTzedakis et al. 2006), minusvalorando la posibilidad de que muchas especies vegetales pudieran haber sobrevivido en refugioslocalizados en la Península Ibérica (Huntley & Birks 1983). ...
... BP. se producía un aumento progresivo de la temperatura de las áreas oceánicas y continentales. Propuestas más recientes ( Walker et al. 1999), han puesto en evidencia la existencia de eventos fríos, como el GH-11.2 y el GH-8.2, descritos originalmente en las secuencias de hielo de Groenlandia. En el NW Ibérico, el evento GH-11.2 debió tener una incidencia mas o menos acusada en los territorios del NW ibérico, cuyo efecto más relevante seguramente consistió en la ralentización de la propagación de los bosques caducifolios, tanto en algunas áreas montañosas (en especial las más septentrionales) como en los territorios mas próximos a la cuenca del Duero. ...
O ano 2011 foi declarado polas Nacións Unidas como “Ano Internacional dos Bosques”, coa finalidade de concienciar á sociedade do problema que supón a desaparición anual de millóns de hectáreas de bosques e promocionar as iniciativas encamiñadas a fomentar o aproveitamento sostible, a conservación e o incremento da superficie ocupada por masas arboradas así como o intercambio de coñecementos sobre estratexias que freen a deforestación e a degradación forestal.
Dentro deste marco conceptual, durante o as datas comprendidas entre o 19 e o 22 xullo de 2011, o IBADER organizou un Seminario de Verán cuxo principal obxectivo foi o achegamento ao público dun diagnóstico do estado actual das masas forestais autóctonas de Galicia, a identificación de modelos de xestión que garantan o seu valor ecolóxico e as posibilidades de aproveitamento no futuro e a utilidade do arborado monumental para achegar á sociedade o valor das árbores e masas arboradas. Todas estas cuestións foron obxecto das ponencias que se reúnen neste volumen, co cal se pretende contribuir á divulgación do estado actual dos coñecemento nestas materias.
... In this regard, some taxa with strict zoogamy may be exclusive to archaeopalynological records, as is the case with Maytenus, Ziziphus, and Calicotome, absent in Palominas (Ochando et al., 2022b). Both sources of information complement each other, and their concurrences reinforce paleoecological interpretation (Carrión et al., 1999, 2009, Carrión, 2022d. ...
... The main proxies used to draw paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic inferences for the Holocene include pollen (Carrión et al., 1999;Jalut et al., 2000;Davis et al., 2003;Fernández et al., 2007;Ruíz-Zapata et al., 2010;Valero-Garcés et al., 2010;Pérez-Obiol et al., 2011;López-Merino et al., 2012;, marine cores (Johnsen et al., 1972;Shackleton et al., 2000;Cacho et al., 2001;Kageyama et al., 2005), continental cores (Pons & Reille, 1988;Moreno et al., 2007;Bernárdez et al., 2008;Morellón et al., 2009;Sancho et al., 2011), charcoal (Badal et al., 2012;Kaal et al., 2011;López-Doriga et al., 2011;, and sediments (Benito et al., 2010;Domínguez-Villar et al., 2012;Gómez-Paccard et al., 2013;Pérez-Lambán et al., 2014). Nevertheless, in recent decades, small vertebrates have been used as paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxies in studies of Europe (Stoetzel et al., 2011;Ponomarev et al., 2013;López-García et al., 2014;Popova, 2015;Berto et al., 2016), and more specifically, in studies of the Iberian Peninsula (Laplana Conesa & Cuenca-Bescós, 1995;Guillém-Calatayud, 1999;Murelaga et al., 2007;Oms et al., 2009;Cuenca-Bescós et al., 2009;Bañuls-Cardona & López-García, 2009López-García et al., 2011;Sesé, 2011;Cuenca-Bescós & García-Pimienta, 2012;Bañuls-Cardona et al., 2013, 2017aDomínguez-García et al., 2019;Fagoaga et al., 2021). ...
El Mirador cave has become a reference for the study of the economic, social organization and funerary behavior of first farming communities in the Iberian Peninsula. In this chapter we put into context the set of studies carried out to date and presented in this monographic volume. The Neolithic occupations of El Mirador cave are among the earliest in the northern Meseta, dating from the 6th millennium cal BCE. These groups developed a consolidated agricultural and livestock economy that underwent a progressive intensification that is reflected in the development of cultural landscapes since the Neolithic. The cave was used as a sheepfold and also as a domestic space. Agricultural and livestock products formed the basis of the diet and were processed and consumed using ceramic and lithic remains found in the site. Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic human groups used the cave as a burial space. Funerary practices developed during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic were diverse, with cannibalism being practiced and bodies being buried both individually and collectively. Genetic studies indicate that these practices were carried out by a large group, which went beyond the family sphere.KeywordsEarly NeolithicHuman migrationsChalcolithicFunerary practicesHusbandryAgricultureFarming
... The main proxies used to draw paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic inferences for the Holocene include pollen (Carrión et al., 1999;Jalut et al., 2000;Davis et al., 2003;Fernández et al., 2007;Ruíz-Zapata et al., 2010;Valero-Garcés et al., 2010;Pérez-Obiol et al., 2011;López-Merino et al., 2012;, marine cores (Johnsen et al., 1972;Shackleton et al., 2000;Cacho et al., 2001;Kageyama et al., 2005), continental cores (Pons & Reille, 1988;Moreno et al., 2007;Bernárdez et al., 2008;Morellón et al., 2009;Sancho et al., 2011), charcoal (Badal et al., 2012;Kaal et al., 2011;López-Doriga et al., 2011;, and sediments (Benito et al., 2010;Domínguez-Villar et al., 2012;Gómez-Paccard et al., 2013;Pérez-Lambán et al., 2014). Nevertheless, in recent decades, small vertebrates have been used as paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxies in studies of Europe (Stoetzel et al., 2011;Ponomarev et al., 2013;López-García et al., 2014;Popova, 2015;Berto et al., 2016), and more specifically, in studies of the Iberian Peninsula (Laplana Conesa & Cuenca-Bescós, 1995;Guillém-Calatayud, 1999;Murelaga et al., 2007;Oms et al., 2009;Cuenca-Bescós et al., 2009;Bañuls-Cardona & López-García, 2009López-García et al., 2011;Sesé, 2011;Cuenca-Bescós & García-Pimienta, 2012;Bañuls-Cardona et al., 2013, 2017aDomínguez-García et al., 2019;Fagoaga et al., 2021). ...
The archeobotanical research focusing on El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) has contributed to the reconstruction of the landscape in which human communities lived during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the surroundings of the Sierra de Atapuerca. The analysis of the palynological and anthracological record has revealed a landscape of mixed forest with evergreen and deciduous oaks and pinewood. The evolution of the vegetation reflects a progressive trend towards greater aridity. This decrease in rainfall occurred parallel to the progressive increase in anthropic pressure indicator plants, leading towards gradual deforestation. In addition to illustrating the gradual opening of the forest formations around the settlement, the analysis has evidenced many of the anthropogenic features related to human interference throughout the sequence, such as an increase in the representation of heliophilic trees and shrubs, the development of anthropo-zoogenic pasture areas, the proliferation of nitrophilic plants and the increase in herbaceous and shrub communities typical of degradation phases. This progression towards an increasingly modified landscape from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age implies a decisive change in the relationship between the environment and the human groups that inhabited it.KeywordsAnthracologyPalynologyPollenNon-pollen palynomorphsCultural landscapeAnthropogenic impactHolocene
... The main proxies used to draw paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic inferences for the Holocene include pollen (Carrión et al., 1999;Jalut et al., 2000;Davis et al., 2003;Fernández et al., 2007;Ruíz-Zapata et al., 2010;Valero-Garcés et al., 2010;Pérez-Obiol et al., 2011;López-Merino et al., 2012;, marine cores (Johnsen et al., 1972;Shackleton et al., 2000;Cacho et al., 2001;Kageyama et al., 2005), continental cores (Pons & Reille, 1988;Moreno et al., 2007;Bernárdez et al., 2008;Morellón et al., 2009;Sancho et al., 2011), charcoal (Badal et al., 2012;Kaal et al., 2011;López-Doriga et al., 2011;, and sediments (Benito et al., 2010;Domínguez-Villar et al., 2012;Gómez-Paccard et al., 2013;Pérez-Lambán et al., 2014). Nevertheless, in recent decades, small vertebrates have been used as paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxies in studies of Europe (Stoetzel et al., 2011;Ponomarev et al., 2013;López-García et al., 2014;Popova, 2015;Berto et al., 2016), and more specifically, in studies of the Iberian Peninsula (Laplana Conesa & Cuenca-Bescós, 1995;Guillém-Calatayud, 1999;Murelaga et al., 2007;Oms et al., 2009;Cuenca-Bescós et al., 2009;Bañuls-Cardona & López-García, 2009López-García et al., 2011;Sesé, 2011;Cuenca-Bescós & García-Pimienta, 2012;Bañuls-Cardona et al., 2013, 2017aDomínguez-García et al., 2019;Fagoaga et al., 2021). ...
The dental and oral pathologies of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age herders from El Mirador cave indicate good general oral health in both populations as deduced from the low prevalence of pathologies such as dental caries, dental calculus, linear enamel hypoplasia, periodontal disease and abscesses. In both groups, older individuals exhibit the highest prevalence and severity of these age-progressive pathologies. The ratio of dental caries and calculus in both populations is associated with a diet based primarily on proteins of animal origin complemented with carbohydrate-rich plant-based foods. The main difference in the typology of dental caries between the groups illustrates a shift in the way carbohydrates were processed. The Early Bronze Age group consumed softer and less fibrous plant items than the individuals from the Chalcolithic group.KeywordsBucco-dental pathologiesHealth statusHerder groupsChalcolithicBronze Age
... The main proxies used to draw paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic inferences for the Holocene include pollen (Carrión et al., 1999;Jalut et al., 2000;Davis et al., 2003;Fernández et al., 2007;Ruíz-Zapata et al., 2010;Valero-Garcés et al., 2010;Pérez-Obiol et al., 2011;López-Merino et al., 2012;Expósito & Burjachs, 2016), marine cores (Johnsen et al., 1972;Shackleton et al., 2000;Cacho et al., 2001;Kageyama et al., 2005), continental cores (Pons & Reille, 1988;Moreno et al., 2007;Bernárdez et al., 2008;Morellón et al., 2009;Sancho et al., 2011), charcoal (Badal et al., 2012;Kaal et al., 2011;López-Doriga et al., 2011;Euba et al., 2016), and sediments (Benito et al., 2010;Domínguez-Villar et al., 2012;Gómez-Paccard et al., 2013;Pérez-Lambán et al., 2014). Nevertheless, in recent decades, small vertebrates have been used as paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxies in studies of Europe (Stoetzel et al., 2011;Ponomarev et al., 2013;López-García et al., 2014;Popova, 2015;Berto et al., 2016), and more specifically, in studies of the Iberian Peninsula (Laplana Conesa & Cuenca-Bescós, 1995;Guillém-Calatayud, 1999;Murelaga et al., 2007;Oms et al., 2009;Cuenca-Bescós et al., 2009;Bañuls-Cardona & López-García, 2009López-García et al., 2011;Sesé, 2011;Cuenca-Bescós & García-Pimienta, 2012;Bañuls-Cardona et al., 2013, 2017aBisbal-Chinesta et al., 2020;Domínguez-García et al., 2019;Fagoaga et al., 2021). ...
This chapter summarizes the climate and environmental information that can be inferred for the Middle to Late Holocene on the Iberian plateau based on the analyses of small vertebrates from El Mirador cave. Due to their size, these small vertebrates are more sensitive than larger fauna, making it possible to register small changes that would not be noticeable with other proxies. In this study, climate variation during the Holocene is reflected in changing vegetation and biodiversity, but this diversity is also under threat from human activities, which have altered its composition and structure, reducing the species richness, and, in short, degrading it. In agricultural and livestock-rearing areas, humans plan and directly control the vegetation cover. Early Neolithic human groups also modified the landscape through these activities, but the modifications have intensified as the Holocene has advanced. These changes are reflected in the modification of forests and undergrowth in favor of open spaces and the deterioration of biodiversity from the end of the Neolithic onward, with a consequential rise in synanthropic species. This trend would increase exponentially starting in the Bronze Age.KeywordsSmall vertebratesEnvironmentClimateHuman impactHolocene
... As Comunidades Tradicionais em Pernambuco usam a Cenostigma-catingueira como remédio para dores na coluna (Silva, 2018). Protium-almécega) é usada entre os Yanomami tanto para a produção de tinta, além da utilização em casos de febre (Albert e Milliken, 2009 (Carrión et al., 1999;Burjacs et al., 2000). ...
Palynological research carried out in human burials at the Toca da Baixa dos Caboclos Site, PI allowed us to access information about the diet and other uses, management and cultivation of plants (Schinus-aroeira, Syagrus-ouricuri, Caryocar-pequi, Ziziphus-juazeiro, Sida-malva-benta, Piptadenia/Anadenanthera-angicos, Mimosa/Acacia-juremas, Ziziphus-juazeiro). The pollen data also point to three climatic phases: TBC 1 (510-290 years BP or 1450-1670 AD): wetter and forested, TBC 2 (340-260 years BP or 1610-1700 AD): forest climax and higher humidity, and TBC 3 (230-140 BP or 1730-1810 AD): drier, with expansion of shrub-herbaceous vegetation. The cultural and natural microbotanical remains suggest intense interactions between human groups and the plant environment, over four centuries.
... Knowledge of the ecology of the early Holocene is of great significance for understanding the process of human adaptation to the environment and the origins of agriculture. Plant micro-and macrofossils in the deposits of caves, which were important sites for prehistoric humans, are an important for the reconstruction of paleovegetation and paleoecology (Carrión et al., 1999(Carrión et al., , 2003. The main tree pollen types in the record from PAC are Tilia, Ulmus, Juglans and Celtis. ...
Against the background of climate change during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, human society gradually transitioned from a hunting/foraging economy to an agricultural economy. The role of climate change in the development of millet-based agriculture, which originated in northern China, is of major scientific interest. Millet agriculture is thought to have originated in areas of hilly terrain, because most of the early millet agricultural sites in northern China occur in such areas. Hence, understanding the ecological background of hilly terrain during the early Holocene is important for understanding the climatic and ecological mechanisms associated with the origin of millet agriculture. In this study, we reconstructed the ecological background of Ping'an Cave, an early Neolithic site in the hilly area of Beijing, based on analyses of pollen, fungal spores, and plant macrofossils recovered from the cave sediments. At ~ 11,000 cal kyr BP, deciduous broadleaved forest-grassland developed in the hilly areas of northern China, where the climate was warm and relatively dry. Nut shells of Juglans and Celtis were found, associated with an increase in Quercus pollen, indicating the development of a wetter climate at ~ 8000 cal kyr BP. Open deciduous broadleaved forest–grassland was the main vegetation type in the hilly areas of northern China during the early Holocene. The geographical characteristics of these areas were favorable for prehistoric humans, providing ecological resources from both forest and grassland.
... Pollen studies in cave archaeological sites have been developed during the last decades in many regions (Coles and Gilbertson, 1994;Doronichev et al., 2007;Hunt et al., 2010;Bolikhovskaya andShunkov, 2014, 2016;Edwards et al., 2015;Bolikhovskaya et al., 2017;Gerasimenko et al., 2019). The methodological aspects of the use of cave deposits for reconstruction of land palaeoenvironments, based on pollen data, have been thoroughly investigated (Carrión et al., 1999;De Porras et al., 2011;Hunt, 2015, 2017). These studies demonstrated that the results from cave deposits are generally similar to those from comparable open-air localities. ...
Pollen data has been obtained from archaeological horizons in cave and rock shelter deposits, on the high plateaux (the Yaila) and the slopes of the Crimean Mountains. This data, supported by geochronometry and lithology, indicate multiple environmental oscillations during the Late Glacial and Holocene. These had a significant impact on changes in the Final Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. Pollen assemblages from Late Glacial deposits indicate the existence during the last glacial of refugia of a broad-leaved flora on the lower mountain slopes. During the Late Glacial interstadials, the tribes of the Shan-Koba culture hunted forest game indicative of a temperate climate. From the Younger Dryas into the Greenlandian (11,500–10,300 cal BP) the Swiderian hunters were visitors to the treeless Crimean yailas from the northern Ukraine. During the Greenlandian, two warm and humid phases, when the forests extended, alternated with cool and arid phases when the woodland shrank and xeric herbs became important in the yailas. The Shpan culture that existed later during the Greenlandian (between c. 10,600 and 9100 cal BP) was influenced by migrations of steppe hunters from the Crimean plain area, and they hunted game that included more animals of open ecotopes. During the end of Greenlandian and the beginning of Northgrippian (9000–7500 cal BP), broad-leaved woodlands appeared at the yaila edges, with such warmth-loving species as Rhus coronaria, Cornus mas and Hedera taurica, and mesophytic steppe occupied the yailas. The tribes of the Late Mesolithic Murzak-Koba culture and the Neolithic Tash-Air culture were hunters of the game living in the broad-leaved forests, particularly wild pig. Nevertheless, the Tash-Air tribes continue to exist during a cool and arid phase after 7500 cal BP. The second half of the Meghalayan (since 2600 BP) had a humid climate: they were times showing a larger extension than before of pine and juniper onto the yaila, though an arid phase occurred at 2900-2600 cal BP. After 1000 BP, broad-leaved trees almost completely disappeared near the yaila and ferns spread enormously (due to the impact of cold winters in the Little Ice Age or to forest clearance). The role of arboreal vegetation and broad-leaves trees, as well as xeric herbs, changed cyclically during different phases of the Late Glacial and Holocene on the yailas, but mesophytic steppe always remained the dominating vegetation type there.
... Carrión, 2002Carrión, , 2007Anderson et al., 2011;Mesa-Fernández et al., 2018) or cave records (e.g. Carrión et al., 1999;Budsky et al., 2019). From this follows that there is a high demand for studies of climate-sensitive terrestrial archives in order to understand past climate dynamics and predict future system changes due to global warming, especially in these dry regions in SE-Iberia. ...
The concrete relationships between fluvial system behavior and potential influencing factors that are, among others, climate for cing, tectonics, and human activity are a key issue in geomorphological research. In this regard, especially the Iberian Peninsula is an area of great interest because its landscapes are highly sensitive towards climate changes and anthropogenic impact. Nowadays, the Iberian Peninsula reveals a strongly heterogeneous and spatially fragmented climate configuration. This should give rise to disparate behavior of fluvial geomorphic systems considering that climate is generally assumed the most important trigger of fluvial dynamics. In fact, river systems located in more humid and more arid regions in Iberia often reveal deviating patterns of Holocene floodplain evolution. This raises the question of whether these patterns were actually caused by a different climate history or if, alternatively, other factors might have been responsible. In this study, we investigated the Holocene floodplain evolution of the Galera River that is located in the upland of Eastern Andalucía (SE-Spain) named Baza Basin. A combination of detailed stratigraphic profile logging and close-meshed radiocarbon dating revealed that Holocene river dynamics generally followed the regional climatic development, which proves the Galera floodplain record to be a valuable archive of Holocene landscape evolution. However, we demonstrate that fluvial dynamics of the Galera system are hardly comparable to other river systems in Iberia even if the climate evolution was not so different. Our results suggest that in river systems with different basic conditions and catchment-specific configurations, similar climatic influences may lead to deviating fluvial process regimes (divergence phenomenon) because of substantial imprints of other parameters such as geological substratum, relief composition, tectonics, or human interventions.
... Not surprisingly, pine is usually excluded from the pollen sum (Turon et al., 2003;Roucoux et al., 2006;Carrión et al., 2015). Nevertheless, the Pleistocene variation of pine in SU81-13 (Parra, 1994) shows close similarities with continental records such as the Padul peat bog (Pons and Reille, 1988;Camuera et al., 2019) and Carihuela cave (Carrión, 1992;Carrión et al., 1998Carrión et al., , 1999Carrión et al., , 2019Fernández et al., 2007). The pine species involved were probably the same as those of the Lower Guadalquivir Basin (Postigo-Mijarra et al., 2010a). ...
The Doñana area in southern Iberia is one of the most renowned protected areas of Europe, mostly due to the diversity and value of its wetland ecosystems. The large biogeographical significance of this territory and the outstanding availability of sedimentary archives have made this region a hotspot of paleobotanical research in the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically, the organic deposits on El Asperillo Cliff have been studied during the past few decades from the geomorphological and paleobotanical (pollen, macrofossils) points of view. However, large uncertainties remain concerning the chronology of certain sections of the exposed profile and the paleobotanical potential of this site has not been fully exploited yet. In this study, we revisited El Asperillo with the aims of completing the paleobotanical record and refining the chronology of this site. The age of the studied deposits ranges from ca. 22,000 to 30,900 cal. yr BP according to the radiocarbon dates obtained, thus embracing the particularly cold and dry Heinrich Event 2 and the Last Glacial Maximum. Our palynological results allow inferring the presence of a coastal marshland system. Additionally, the new pollen records highlight the relevance and diversity of pines (Pinus nigra-sylvestris type, P. pinaster, P. halepensis-pinea type) in the Late Pleistocene landscape of Doñana, reinforcing the native status of pines. Last but not least, the results stress the persistence of a highly diverse woody flora in Doñana during the harshest periods of the last glacial cycle, highlighting the importance of this enclave in postglacial vegetation recolonization of the Iberian Peninsula.
... Gale et al., 1993;Carrión et al., 1999;Pirson et al., 2006;Polk et al., 2007;de Porras et al., 2009Կրաքարերը ծածկում են միջին յուրայի (բաթի) հրաբխային բրեկչիաները, սիլթային ապարները և սոխանման հողմնահարված լավաները: Սիլթային ապարներում առկա են սիլիցիտային լինզաներ: Տարածաշրջանը նեոգենի ընթացքում Արաբական սալի և հարավ հայկական բլոկի սեղմման արդյունքում բարձրացել է, իսկ միջին-վերին յուրայի կրաքարերը, ենթարկվել են ծալքվորման, հետագայում կարստացման: Քարին Տակ քարանձավը զարգացել է արդեն գոյություն ունեցող ճեղքերի և խզվածքների ուղղությամբ (Avagyan et al., 2020): ...
This article represents palaeopalynological studies from the
deposits of southeastern wall of the pit of Karin Tak (Artsakh) cave
for the first time in order to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental
conditions. Pollen studies in sediments showed a wide distribution
of conifers, such as Tsuga and Pinus, as well as the presence of
genera Fraxinus and Quercus. This indicates the prevalence of cool
and temperate climate at the end of the Pleistocene. According to
palaeopalynological research, during Last glacial maximum (LGM),
there were no dramatic climate changes in the area of Karin Tak
cave and environmental conditions were relatively favorable for
human life and activity.
... Gale et al., 1993;Carrión et al., 1999;Pirson et al., 2006;Polk et al., 2007;de Porras et al., 2009Կրաքարերը ծածկում են միջին յուրայի (բաթի) հրաբխային բրեկչիաները, սիլթային ապարները և սոխանման հողմնահարված լավաները: Սիլթային ապարներում առկա են սիլիցիտային լինզաներ: Տարածաշրջանը նեոգենի ընթացքում Արաբական սալի և հարավ հայկական բլոկի սեղմման արդյունքում բարձրացել է, իսկ միջին-վերին յուրայի կրաքարերը, ենթարկվել են ծալքվորման, հետագայում կարստացման: Քարին Տակ քարանձավը զարգացել է արդեն գոյություն ունեցող ճեղքերի և խզվածքների ուղղությամբ (Avagyan et al., 2020): ...
... In their review they confirm the potential of this natural archive to extract, in sufficient quantities, well-preserved palynomorphs, which are representative of contemporary vegetation on the surface permitting reconstruction of palaeovegetation. Further studies on Quaternary terrestrial carbonates, including travertine and calcareous tufa (Bertini et al., 2014;Carrión et al., 1999Carrión et al., , 2009Caseldine et al., 2008;Festi et al., 2016;Matley et al., 2020;Ricci, 2011;Ricci et al., 2015;Tagliasacchi & Kayseri-Özer, 2020;Toker et al., 2015), provided similar evidence reducing previous alleged biases and frequent misunderstandings regarding this peculiar natural archive. Glacials/stadials and/or interglacials/interstadials were traced by pollen records which sometimes provided unique information on both the vegetal landscape and climate parameters (e.g. ...
Buca dell’Onice di Monte Girello is a small cave located in the Alpi Apuane (central Italy). It preserves an exceptionally thick flowstone deposited intermittently during the Middle Pleistocene. Two main depositional cycles, separated by a physical discontinuity, have been recognised and described. This discontinuity and the top surface of the flowstone attest to two main phases of interrupted growth related to palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate changes. Pilot palynological investigations support the existence of such changes. Despite the high number of barren pollen samples and the overall very low concentration of pollen grains per gram of sediment, palynology furnishes some interesting insights especially regarding floral composition, vegetation cover and local to regional climate. The pollen record also contributes to the definition of the stratigraphic distribution of taxa no longer growing in this area (i.e. Carya and Picea). According to the pollen assemblage characteristic of arboreal vegetation cover, the flowstone was deposited predominantly during humid phases under both warm and cool climate conditions (interglacials/interstadials and at the end of interglacials). The warm and cool phases correspond respectively to increases of mixed thermophilous forest taxa and montane arboreal taxa. On the other hand, the pollen record does not show the major expansion of open vegetation associated with the coldest and driest conditions, which apparently fall at the main middle discontinuity and at the top interruption of the flowstone. Previous data permit changes in precipitation to be identified as one of the major limiting factors for the growth of this flowstone, probably in a period including MISs 13‐10. The more significant lithological features of the flowstone as well as the vegetal and climate signatures suggest that its development principally represents a response to global events including teleconnections active between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic circulation, with minor contribution from local factors.
... Although using only faunal fossils to reconstruct the environment is a somewhat limited approach and multiple proxies would be better, terrestrial fauna can nevertheless be used to reconstruct the macro-and meso-scale climates. However, most of the Middle Palaeolithic assemblages are from cave contexts and analysing pollen from them is often considered to be less fruitful due to the dynamic and discontinuous nature of cave sedimentation (Carrión et al., 1999). According to Dincauze (2000), fauna can provide information about the past temperature, humidity or precipitation, chemical composition of the soil, and the biomass of the region under study. ...
A database of Neanderthal raw material transports and fauna from assemblages across Europe has been compiled with the aim to explore the evolution of the Neanderthals’ mobility behaviour with regard to the environment from the beginning of the Late Saalian (191 ka BP) to the demise of Neanderthals (40 ka BP). Mobility, as observed from the lithic transports in the Palaeolithic, is often interpreted as mirroring the social organisation of a group. As the study of Neanderthal mobility normally focuses on the maximum transport distances of lithics, such a methodology is seen as inadequate because three equifinal processes (subsistence activity, social transactions, and semi-random lithic scavenging) can account for these distances. Here, two different indicators of Neanderthal mobility are created based on the transport distances, quantities, and number of utilised raw material sources. The first one is the overall mobility, which represents the sum of the effort made to acquire all lithics from all sources. The second indicator is the mean effort per raw material, which quantifies the average effort made to acquire the different raw materials present in that assemblage.
By analysing Neanderthal mobility in terms of these two variables, it is shown that Neanderthal social organisation evolves from the Saalian to the Early and Late Weichselian. This change is interpreted as reflecting diversification of their subsistence behaviour and as reflecting a tendency to optimise their foraging behaviour through decision making. In subsequent statistical analyses, it is demonstrated that there are no real differences in Neanderthal mobility between the east and the west, and that Neanderthals appear to have preferred semi-open landscapes, but somewhat avoided montane regions. The presence of the Mammoth Steppe was not noted as having either a negative or a positive impact on Neanderthals’ level of mobility. The apparent preference for semi-open landscapes and the variation in the different environments implies that they were top carnivores that may have exercised encounter-based hunting, which may explain their body type and injury patterns identified previously.
... Pollen spectra are a reliable proxy for palaeovegetation (Guiot et al., 1989;Rioual et al., 2001), and therefore pollen analysis of cave sediments would be expected to have important applications in cave archaeological research (Davis, 1990;Carrión et al., 1999). Fossil pollen spectra in caves are of great significance in archaeological research and they can provide valuable environmental background information in paleoanthropological studies, especially in areas where continuous terrestrial and lake sediment sequences are scarce. ...
Pollen analysis is rarely applied to cave sediments because of the complex range of processes influencing the origin, transport and taphonomy of pollen grains in caves. In order to evaluate the potential of pollen spectra from within caves for vegetation reconstruction, we compared the modern pollen from the interior and exterior of four caves in Guangxi and Guizhou, in southwestern China. The results show that the pollen spectra from within the sack-shaped caves, and from the front and middle of a long, narrow caves, were similar to those outside the caves, and therefore that the pollen spectra from these caves can reliably be used for palaeovegetation reconstruction. Wind is the major transport medium for the pollen entering caves, but animals may be additional transport medium. In addition, cave geometry is likely to be responsible for the observed spatial distribution of pollen concentrations in caves. In long, narrow caves, the entrance is the optimum sampling location for pollen analysis; however, in sack-shaped caves an optimum sampling location cannot be specified due to the gradient in pollen concentration between the entrance and the rear, together with its irregular distribution.
... Speleothem records 28 , lake sediments 29,30 , ostracod evidence from the continental shelf 31 reflect data closer to study areas, enabling regional-scale environmental reconstructions, but these are still distant from the sites occupied by human groups. More localised environmental indicators such as pollen, found within cave sites, can inform on past vegetation 32 and have been analysed in Asturian cave sites 33,34 but must be used with caution as they can be subject to taphonomic and diagenetic alterations 35,36 . Both macro-and micro-mammal remains are ubiquitously found on these sites [37][38][39][40][41][42][43] and are often less affected by taphonomic and sampling biases than other environmental proxies. ...
The Upper Palaeolithic in Europe was a time of extensive climatic changes that impacted on the survival and distribution of human populations. During the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), southern European peninsulas were refugia for flora, fauna, and human groups. One of these refugia, the Cantabrian region (northern Atlantic Spain), was intensively occupied throughout the Upper Palaeolithic. Characterising how climatic events were expressed in local environments is crucial to understand human and animal survival. La Riera Cave (Asturias) has a rich geo-cultural sequence dating between 20.5kyr BP to 6.5kyr BP and represents an ideal location in which to explore this. Stable isotope analysis of red deer and ibex is used alongside other environmental and climatic proxies to reconstruct Late Upper Palaeolithic conditions. Results show that during the LGM, ibex adapted their niche to survive, and became a major prey species for humans. The diverse environmental opportunities offered in the high-relief and coastal environs of La Riera may help to explain the high human population levels in the Cantabrian Region throughout the Late Upper Palaeolithic. Despite fluctuating conditions, herbivores and humans had the flexibility and resilience to adapt, demonstrating the importance of southern European refugia for the survival of different species.
... The predominance of black-scots pine woodlands, also documented in level IV of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Badal et al. 2012;Carrión et al. 2018), would also indicate the prevalence of dry or sub-humid supra-Mediterranean environmental conditions during MIS 3 period in Eastern Iberia. According to this, pollen record from the nearby site of Cova Beneito, unit XII, also indicates Pinus predominance together with Juniperus and Quercus (Carrión 1992;Carrión et al. 1999) even though the chronological frame of this site is more recent than that from units VIII -Xb of El Salt. Finally, data from herpetofauna and small mammals from the Neanderthal sites of Cova del Gegant, Abric Romaní, l'Arbreda Cave, Canyars and Teixoneres show that MAT during MIS 3 were colder than at present (between 7.7 and 2.8°C) and the MAP was higher (between 75 and 350 mm) (López- García et al. 2014), which are comparable data to the anthracological results from El Salt. ...
Ecological and climate modelling is increasingly common in archaeological science as it is a useful tool to analyse human behaviour and ecological variables that influenced the conformation of landscapes. Predictive vegetation models, mainly based on palynological data, provide meaningful information about the theoretical distribution of plant formations in the past by creating different hypothetical scenarios. However, factors linked to variability in pollen productivity according to taxa and to the regional scale offered by this proxy in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions have led some authors to propose the use of macrobotanical data in order to detect a higher number of ecological nuances on a local scale. In this paper, we present the results of a study aimed at characterising the theoretical distribution of simulated Middle Palaeolithic biogeographic and climatic values in the local area of the Upper Serpis Valley, Eastern Iberia. Our predictive model is based on the anthracological data from two local sites, Abric del Pastor (MIS 4) and El Salt (MIS 3), and the climatic data from a total of 33 current weather stations located in the study area and adjacent distances. The data suggest that the Serpis Valley was a dynamic geographic area where there may have been different biogeographical and climatic conditions, not perceptible only through charcoal analysis. These nuances may represent the presence of several biotopes in the surroundings of these two sites, where plant taxa with different temperature and humidity requirements could have grown.
... Bat guano incorporated into cave sediments can be a potential source of information that can be utilized in paleoecological reconstruction because it can preserve pollen in addition to insects in the region depending on the feeding ecology of the bats producing the guano . Previous research carried out on the bat guano samples from the different part of the world includes Romania (Pop and Ciobanu, 1950;Lupsa, 1967a, 1967b;Feurdean et al., 2011;Geanta et al., 2012;Onac et al., 2015;Forray et al., 2015), the United States (Sears and Roosma, 1961;Davis, 1990;Nieves-Rivera, 2003;Maher Jr., 2006;Batina and Reese, 2011;Widga and Colburn, 2015), Switzerland (Groner, 2004), Austria (Kral, 1968;Draxler, 1972), the UK (Coles et al., 1989;McGarry and Caseldine, 2004), Spain (Carrion, 1992;Carrion et al., 1999Carrion et al., , 2006Navarro Camacho et al., 2000;Navarro et al., 2001), Belgium (Bastin, 1978;Bastin et al., 1986), Nepal (Denniston et al., 2000), China (Qin et al., 1999;Zhang et al., 2004), Namibia (Marais et al., 2015), Wales (Leroy and Simms, 2006), and other parts of Asia (Hunt and Rushworth, 2005). In India, a preliminary study on bat guano in Siju cave of South Garo hills was carried out by Basumatary and Bera (2014), along with other preliminary palynological studies in Meghalaya (Gupta and Sharma, 1985;Basumatary and Bera, 2007, 2010Basumatary et al., 2013Basumatary et al., , 2015Basumatary et al., , 2017. ...
... Their dynamics are linked to disturbances such as fires, and they have been selected for agricultural and management perspectives and maintained in Mediterranean landscapes for thousands of years (Carcaillet et al. 1997;Vernet 1997;Figueiral and Terral 2002;Quilès et al. 2002;Wick et al. 2003). The garrigue shrubland ecosystem has been present in the European Mediterranean region since the last glaciation (Carcaillet et al. 1997;Carrion et al. 1999;Willcox 1999;Brewer et al. 2002). It results from the successive fires that burned the widespread forests of Oaks (Quercus ilex, Q. suber, and Q. coccifera) and Pines (Pinus halepensis). ...
Dryland regions are climatically defined as having low annual precipitation and dry season periods that can span over several months and take place once or twice a year. Dryland ecosystems (e.g., grasslands, savannas, or dry forests) that experience recurrent fires often exhibit fire-adapted (or “pyrophytic”) vegetation (Trabaud 1981; Scholes 1997; van Wilgen and Scholes 1997; Mistry 1998; Roques et al. 2001; Nicholas et al. 2011; Blackhall et al. 2017; Linder et al. 2017). Fire affects ecosystem dynamics in terms of species selection, regeneration, structure, nutrient cycling, and mortality. While this chapter is devoted to fire regimes, we will also summarize ecological impacts and feedbacks of fire on the environment and in particular on plant communities. Other impacts, such as the effects of fires on soil moisture dynamics, infiltration, and runoff production, are discussed in Chap. 2, while the effects on soil nutrient cycling and soil gas emissions are briefly analyzed in Chaps. 11 and 13. Additional discussion on the role of fire dynamics on different biomes, e.g., grasslands, shrublands, dry forests, and savannas, can be found in Chaps. 16 and 17, while the effects of fire on land–atmosphere interactions are discussed more in detail in Chap. 7.
... Wild olive populations would have been constrained to refugia in lowland areas and it is probably for this reason that olive is not detected in Late Pleniglacial pollen records from locations at higher altitudes (Carrión et al., 2010). The palynological evidence emphasizes that Olea persisted in thermophilous refugia during the Last Glacial not only in the Levant but also in the central and Western Mediterranean Basin (Carrión et al., 1999(Carrión et al., , 2003Cortés-Sánchez et al., 2008;Galanidou et al., 2000;Margari et al., 2009;Pantaléon-Cano et al., 2003;Tzedakis et al., 2002), as well as along the western coast of North Africa (e.g. Wengler and Vernet, 1992). ...
Olive (Olea europaea L.) was one of the most important fruit trees in the ancient Mediterranean region and a founder species of horticulture in the Mediterranean Basin. Different views have been expressed regarding the geographical origins and timing of olive cultivation. Since genetic studies and macro-botanical remains point in different directions, we turn to another proxy – the palynological evidence. This study uses pollen records to shed new light on the history of olive cultivation and large-scale olive management. We employ a fossil pollen dataset composed of high-resolution pollen records obtained across the Mediterranean Basin covering most of the Holocene. Human activity is indicated when Olea pollen percentages rise fairly suddenly, are not accompanied by an increase of other Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees, and when the rise occurs in combination with consistent archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence. Based on these criteria, our results show that the southern Levant served as the locus of primary olive cultivation as early as ~6500 years BP (yBP), and that a later, early/mid 6th millennium BP cultivation process occurred in the Aegean (Crete) – whether as an independent large-scale management event or as a result of knowledge and/or seedling transfer from the southern Levant. Thus, the early management of olive trees corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean village economy and the completion of the ‘secondary products revolution’, rather than urbanization or state formation. From these two areas of origin, the southern Levant and the Aegean olive cultivation spread across the Mediterranean, with the beginning of olive horticulture in the northern Levant dated to ~4800 yBP. In Anatolia, large-scale olive horticulture was palynologically recorded by ~3200 yBP, in mainland Italy at ~3400 yBP, and in the Iberian Peninsula at mid/late 3rd millennium BP.
... The cave of Carigüela (also known as Carihuela) de Píñar (Granada, Baetic System, Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula) comprises one of the most complete stratigraphic sequences documenting a Mousterian techno-complex and human activity from the Upper Pleistocene to the Holocene (Vega Toscano, 1988). These cave sediments have been key to the interpretation of local climate conditions (Carri on, 1990(Carri on, , 1992Carri on et al., 1999;Fern andez et al., 2007) and to document the late presence of Neanderthals in this region (Fern andez et al., 2007). Excavations at Carigüela Cave were initiated by J. C. Spahni during the 1950s, and resumed by a team of Washington State University in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
Hitherto unpublished ¹⁴ C and ²³⁰ Th[sbnd] ²³⁴ U determinations from Carihuela Cave (Granada province, Andalusia, Spain) raise a possibility of late survival here of Neanderthals and their Mousterian technocomplex into an advanced stage of the Late Pleistocene (MIS-3), when anatomically-modern humans with Upper Palaeolithic toolkits were penetrating the region, and when also several carnivore taxa competed for access to the cave. Previous palaeopalynological studies are reinforced by new pollen analyses of samples extracted from coprolites. The palaeoecological and sedimentological records bear comparison with new data from the Padul peat deposits in the Sierra Nevada, and are in line with the view that there was late persistence of the Mousterian in Granada. There is a pressing need for renewed international multidisciplinary research at Carihuela Cave, with up-to-date lithostratigraphical and dating techniques that can expand on results obtained from fieldwork undertaken by a previous generation of researchers. Carihuela Cave continues to hold out great promise for analysing Neanderthal palaeoecology during the Late Pleistocene up to the appearance in southeastern Iberian Peninsula of anatomically-modern Upper Palaeolithic people, particularly with regard to the earlier phases of the Middle Palaeolithic at the cave which await intensive excavation but apparently extend back in time to the last interglacial period.
... The cave of Carigüela (also known as Carihuela) de Píñar (Granada, Baetic System, Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula) comprises one of the most complete stratigraphic sequences documenting a Mousterian techno-complex and human activity from the Upper Pleistocene to the Holocene (Vega Toscano, 1988). These cave sediments have been key to the interpretation of local climate conditions (Carri on, 1990(Carri on, , 1992Carri on et al., 1999;Fern andez et al., 2007) and to document the late presence of Neanderthals in this region (Fern andez et al., 2007). Excavations at Carigüela Cave were initiated by J. C. Spahni during the 1950s, and resumed by a team of Washington State University in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
During several consecutive excavations from the 1950s to the 1990s the cave of Carigüela de Píñar (Granada, Baetic System, Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula) has yielded an important sample of Neanderthal fossils. Among these finds is a fragmentary frontal bone of an immature individual (CE-05877), which was described earlier. Here we present a new virtual reconstruction and a quantitative analysis of its three-dimensional morphology. Geometric morphometric analyses show that the Carigüela frontal falls within the range of shape variation of 6–7 year-old Neanderthals, and clearly outside the range of variation exhibited by same-age modern humans. Compared to other Neanderthals of similar age, Carigüela has a relatively wide nasal bridge and low frontal profile. Re-analysis of the fossil's endocranial imprints in the light of cerebral sulcal variability in modern humans indicates that only a reduced number of brain sulci can be identified reliably. Overall, the Carigüela fossil provides further support for the view that Neanderthals and modern humans exhibit distinct frontal bone morphologies, while their cerebral frontal lobes exhibit largely similar but highly variable sulcal patterns.
... The Pleistocene deposits from the sector Beta attest of the occupation of the site during the Mousterian (layer N to J), the Final Mousterian (layer I), the Proto-Aurignacian (layer H), the Evolved Aurignacian (layer G), the Gravettian (layers F and E), during various phases of the Solutrean (layers D to B), and the Epipalaeolithic (layer A). Owing to the importance of this site for the debate surrounding the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Europe, archaeological evidence from layers I and H have been widely discussed in terms of lithic typology, technology (Soler i Masferrer, 1983;Ortega Cobos et al., 2005;Soler Subils et al., 2009;Mangado et al., 2010) and raw material procurement (Soler i Masferrer, 1983;Bischoff et al., 1989;Ortega, 2002;Ortega Cobos et al., 2005;Fullola Pericot et al., 2006Soler Subils et al., 2009), faunal exploitation (Estévez, 1979), and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (Burjachs and Renault-Miskovky, 1992;Carrión et al., 1999;López-García and Cuenca-Bescós, 2010;López-García et al., 2014). As a result, data from layer G attributed to the Evolved Aurignacian is considerably more limited than for layer H. ...
Studies on European population dynamics during the Early Upper Palaeolithic heavily rely on evidence gathered from the analysis of material culture. Spatial occurrence of an artefact type allows to delimit the territories occupied by their bearers, and, when a chronological perspective is added to the study, to follow shifts in land occupation through time. In this paper, we review first-hand data gathered from 129 Aurignacian osseous projectile points yielded by 11 sites that are distributed along the southern dispersal route assumed to have facilitated the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens into Western Europe, i.e., the Mediterranean coastline. In this region, clear differences are observed with regard to the relative distribution of split- and massive-based points. The Adriatic Sea is identified as the geographical limit dividing the western and eastern regions of the Mediterranean coastline. In both regions, massive-based points occur contemporaneously with split-based points at some sites. In the western region, split-based points appear at the end of the Proto-Aurignacian, and overall outnumber massive-based points. In the eastern region, split-based points are associated with the end of Early Aurignacian occupations, and it is massive-based points that are found in greater number. The geographic distribution of the data obtained from a landmark-based geometric morphometrics analysis of the forms for both projectile point types suggests the high mobility of Aurignacian populations. However, the rules of production seem more flexible for the manufacture of massive-based points compared to those reproduced during the manufacture of split-based points. A parallel is drawn between this pattern and the complexity of the operational sequence of both types. These results cast doubts on the hypothesis according to which Aurignacian osseous projectile points, and more specifically the split-based type, would represent a proxy for the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe. On the contrary, the present review indicates the adoption of osseous projectile technologies at a continental scale signals the development of novel socio-economic strategies by groups already present on the continent and linked to one another.
... This dissimilarity is probably explained by the altitudinal difference between the two sites (Padul = 750 m vs. Laguna de Rio Seco = 3000 m), being influenced by different vegetation belts (mesomediterranean vs. oromediterranean belt; see Table 1). The continental pollen record of the cave site Carihuela, inland Granada at the supramediterranean altitude, also shows a clear oak dominance during this period (Carrión et al., 1999;Fernández et al., 2007). A punctual increase in algae (principally dominated by Zygnema type) also occurred within this peat-dominated and shallow water period at around~10.5 cal kyr BP. ...
Pollen analysis has been a key technique for attempting to understand the environmental context of archaeological sites since the middle of the twentieth century. This chapter considers pollen and macroscopic plant remains, with a focus on their differing properties in terms of dispersal, preservation, quantification, and so on. Pollen may be preserved in a variety of archaeological contexts, of which the most suitable are those that are permanently waterlogged. Macroscopic plant remains are those which are visible to the naked eye, although their precise identification often requires use of a microscope. Macroscopic plant remains are often found in similar contexts to pollen, especially on waterlogged archaeological sites and in ‘off‐site’ contexts such as lakes and mires, where they may be hugely abundant and indeed form the bulk of the sediment matrix.
Palynological investigations in the Orce Archaeological Zone (OAZ) (Guadix-Baza Basin, Granada, Spain), Venta Micena 1 (VM1), Barranco León (BL) and Fuente Nueva 3 (FN3) are presented. This archaeological region is connected with the first Homo populations in Western Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. The VM1 pollen record is characterized by Ephedra, and to a lesser extent, Pinus, Juniperus and evergreen Quercus, occassionally accompanied by Olea, Genisteae, Erica, deciduous Quercus, Alnus, Castanea, Fraxinus, Salix and Phillyrea. BL is dominated by Juniperus, Olea, Pinus, Poaceae, and evergreen Quercus. FN3 is characterized by an open Mediterranean woodland dominated by evergreen Quercus, Pinus, Juniperus and Olea, accompanied by deciduous Quercus, Castanea, Populus, Salix, Ulmus, Fraxinus, Pistacia, Phillyrea, Genisteae, Erica, Cistus, and Ephedra fragilis. Relic Tertiary taxa in OAZ include Carya, Pterocarya, Eucommia, Zelkova, and Juglans. The Early Pleistocene OAZ vegetation is a mosaic of different landscapes embracing mesophytes, thermophytes, xerophytes, xerothermophytes, and Mediterranean elements. These finds are compared with former pollen analyses in the region and beyond within the Iberian Peninsula.
This study examines the pattern of preservation of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs on bat guano samples in Eraaning Cave in relation to the current vegetation of the surrounding Garo hills of Meghalaya. It is observed that, the recorded pollen data does reflect the tropical mixed deciduous forest with an admixture of riparian and evergreen plant taxa from the local and regional vegetation. The presence of evergreen and riparian taxa namely, Mesua, Schima, Duabanga, and Syzygium in the pollen assemblage is strongly indicative of the high rainfall in the region. The recovery of fern and fungal spores in the pollen assemblage also reflects the warm and humid climatic condition in this region. The forestland and open-land samples from the vicinity of the cave were also studied to understand the nature of pollen preservation in relation to the bat guano samples. The presence of cereal, Areca, Psidium, and Citrus along with Melastoma pollen in both bat guano and open-land samples is indicative of the anthropogenic activities in and around the study area. Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) and box plot were applied to the quantified data obtained from pollen frequency analyses which clearly revealed a significant variation and similarity in vegetation types among the surface samples collected in and around Eraaning Cave. The generated pollen data from the bat guano, forestland, and open-land samples reveals that, bat guano in cave sediments provides a reliable substrate to understand the modern pollen and vegetation relationship and can fruitfully be utilized as a baseline for the reconstruction of the palaeoecology in the Garo hills of Meghalaya. The study also suggested that the bat species utilized the mixed vegetation composition and different landforms as their preferred habitats as demonstrated by the pollen data from the bat guano samples.
We comprehensively analyzed sediments obtained from an archeological excavation. A trench sediment profile of Maedun Cave (MC), South Korea, was analyzed geoarchaeologically. Multi-proxy analyses (palynomorphs, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, animal bones and artifacts) reflected the vegetation, hydroclimate and lives of prehistoric people at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 40–30k cal a bp) in the early Late Paleolithic. The palynoflora consisted of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. Under the air-circulation system in the cave, anemophilous pollen flowed in during the day, whereas waterborne pollen and spores, and freshwater algae, were transported by flooding during the summer monsoon rainy season. Mixed conifer and deciduous broad-leaved forest with an understory of pteridophytes flourished around the north-east central Korean Peninsula during MIS 3. Freshwater algae and grass pollen records may reflect precipitation intensity. It is assumed that they had flowed in during flooding caused by high precipitation during the enhanced East Asian summer monsoon, corresponding to Dansgaard–Oeschger (D/O) events 5 and 8 of δ¹⁸O GISP2 and Hulu Cave. The prehistoric people hunted herbivorous animals in the area around MC and sheltered inside it seasonally. They also used the grains of oats growing near the dwelling as a source of food.
Highlights
• Multi-proxy records from cave sediments of the Korean Peninsula shed light on vegetation cover and climate conditions during MIS 3 (40–30k cal a BP).
• Herbaceous pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs flowed into the cave due to flooding caused by high precipitation under the enhanced East Asia summer monsoon.
• Fossilized mammal bones and artifacts shed light on the lifestyle of prehistoric people in the early Late Paleolithic.
• Geoarchaeological evidence provides insight into the responses of ancient societies to climate conditions in northeast central Korea.
This article aims to delve into the reality of glacial refuges of forests and tree species (including conifers, mesothermophilous angiosperms and xerothermic scrub) during the cold dry phases of the Iberian Pleistocene in which there is evidence of occupation of Middle Palaeolithic people. The research framework focuses on the eastern sector of the Iberian Peninsula due to the physiographic, palaeobotanical and archaeological peculiarities, substantiated by recent studies. We contend that some Neanderthal occupations developed in the context of high geobiological complexity, high biological diversity and highly structured forest ecosystems. We highlight the importance of glacial refuges as local anomalies that, however, would be contingent on vegetational development, and on the survival of Palaeolithic groups in areas with a broad diversity of natural resources.
The interior regions of South Africa have had less attention devoted to archaeological research than coastal regions, and palaeoenvironmental studies are also more limited. As such, little is known about the interaction between human behaviours and past environments in these semi-arid regions. Here, we present an archaeobotanical and mineralogical study from the Middle Stone Age site of Mwulu’s Cave, Limpopo Province. Our study shows the importance of using taphonomical approaches prior to interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages, while provides with novel information on the plants used by ancient inhabitants of Mwulu’s. The grass phytolith composition is of environmental significance, where a shift from C4 Panicoideae to C3 grasses is observed in the last occupation event. This tentatively suggests a shift in rainfall regime, from summer rainfall conditions to an increase in winter rain, during Marine Isotope Stage 5b in the Polokwane region, or a decrease in rainfall seasonality. Although we are unable to chronostratigraphically associate this change in the plant composition, our study adds evidence in support of previous propositions for an expansion of the winter rainfall zone into the interior regions of South Africa.
Palynological investigations of Toll Cave, a carnivore and archaeological cave site in northeastern Spain, are presented. The inferred vegetation reveals the long-term permanence of mixed pine-oak forests through a long period of environmental changes within the interval MIS 4 to MIS 1, and probably before. A relatively high diversity of woody taxa is found, including conifers, mesophytic angiosperms, Mediterranean forest, and xerothermic scrub. The most outstanding findings include the abundance of Pinus, evergreen Quercus, and Juniperus; the continuous occurrences of deciduous Quercus, Acer, Castanea, Betula, Fraxinus, Buxus, Olea, Salix, and Erica, and the presence of Abies, Taxus, Carpinus betulus, Tilia, Populus, Celtis, Juglans, Ulmus, Calicotome, Cistus, Ephedra fragilis, Myrtus, Pistacia, Rhamnus and Viburnum. Together with the pollen record of the nearby Teixoneres Cave, this new data suggest the existence of woodland refugia during the coldest and most arid stages of the upper Pleistocene across this relatively high-latitude region within the Iberian Peninsula. This study also supports the occurrence of forest ecosystems within the Mediterranean-Eurosiberian ecotone of the Iberian Peninsula in the vicinity of Homo habitats, including Neanderthals.
Pleistocene cave deposits usually provide ideal materials for the study of mammals. Karst caves in Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of south China are famous for numerous studies on their abundant mammalian fossils and most importantly, Homo sapiens. Unfortunately, the environmental backgrounds, e.g. vegetation and climate, that governed these faunas, are usually lacking because there is no appropriate proxy. In this work, we analysed the palynological assemblages from seven well-dated karst caves in Chongzuo. The ages of these seven caves (2.0–0.11 Ma) cover almost the entire Pleistocene. Though the number of pollen and spores is comparatively low, as expected, we managed to reconstruct the principle vegetation types. The results show that the individual vegetations were mainly warm temperate to subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests. The present study provides important background environmental information on the Pleistocene faunas and Homo sapiens in Guangxi, south China.
Palynological record is affected by several factors, such as taphonomic processes, which could cause a bias of the pollen spectra. The study of these processes occurring on archaeological deposits could provide insight into formation and sedimentation conditions, but also into anthropogenic activities. Based on these hypotheses, we have analyzed the taphonomic features of the pollen record on sediments collected from the layer M of the Abric Romaní archaeological site (40–110 ka BP), which is characterized by a high temporal resolution. Four kinds of taphonomic alterations were identified in pollen and spores: thermal alteration, fracturing, compaction, and corrosion. Palynological concentrations and the presence of microcharcoal particles have been also registered. Regarding the different origins and spatial location of the samples, we intend to establish a connection between the pollen preservation degree and the diversity of processes occurring at the site. In light of the sedimentological history of the archaeological site and the fact that layer M has been considered a palimpsest of great complexity, palynological results seem to show the existence of different depositional events. Considering the relationship between the identified alterations, it seems that thermal alteration would be linked to biostratinomic processes, while fracturing, corrosion, and compaction damages could derive from the fossil-diagenetic phase.
This paper provides a background to Neanderthal presence in Western Mediterranean Europe. Habitual tool-use underpinned human survival in late Early Pleistocene western Mediterranean Europe. By the onset of the early Middle Pleistocene, early humans (descendants of Homo antecessor in all likelihood) were exploiting diverse biotopes, sometimes (perhaps often) attaining primary access to large game, and deploying a variety of stone artifacts and rock types, which implies not only manual dexterity but also technical competence and cognitive versatility. Late Early Pleistocene human behaviour foreshadowed that of Middle Pleistocene pre-Neanderthal humans whose background conceivably had deep regional roots. By the mid-Middle Pleistocene Homo heidelbergensis, some of whose anatomical features herald Neanderthal morphology, was exploiting a wide range of natural resources in western Mediterranean environments, including small game and plants. Neanderthal morphology began to emerge during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene, accompanied by increasing technological diversity and an expanding variety of small tools, conjecturally favoured by hafting, perhaps following development of wooden spears (or other tools) and adhesive and binding technologies, and generation and heat-control of fire (which undoubtedly was necessary for activities inside Bruniquel cave). By the onset of the last interglacial period, Neanderthal morphology and Mousterian artifacts are widespread, and there are indications of coordinated retrieval and treatment of body-parts of large ungulates.
Environmental change has been proposed as a factor that contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals in Europe during MIS3. Currently, the different local environmental conditions experienced at the time when Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) met Neanderthals are not well known. In the Western Pyrenees, particularly, in the eastern end of the Cantabrian coast of the Iberian Peninsula, extensive evidence of Neanderthal and subsequent AMH activity exists, making it an ideal area in which to explore the palaeoenvironments experienced and resources exploited by both human species during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Red deer and horse were analysed using bone collagen stable isotope analysis to reconstruct environmental conditions across the transition. A shift in the ecological niche of horses after the Mousterian demonstrates a change in environment, towards more open vegetation, linked to wider climatic change. In the Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian, high inter-individual nitrogen ranges were observed in both herbivores. This could indicate that these individuals were procured from areas isotopically different in nitrogen. Differences in sulphur values between sites suggest some variability in the hunting locations exploited, reflecting the human use of different parts of the landscape. An alternative and complementary explanation proposed is that there were climatic fluctuations within the time of formation of these archaeological levels, as observed in pollen, marine and ice cores.
Resumen. Este artículo pretende una revisión crítica de los datos palinológicos del Cuaternario ibérico con particular atención al Pleistoceno Tardío y Holoceno. Se analizan aspectos relacionados con la ciclicidad climático astronómica y su influencia sobre la cubierta vegetal, los reservorios de fitodiversidad durante los estadiales, la colonización tardiglacial y holocena y el posible efecto de la acción antrópica sobre la dinámica forestal a partir del Holoceno Medio. Se comparan las zonas de influencia atlántica con las áreas de clima continental y la vertiente mediterránea. La perspectiva no es, en cualquier caso, climaticista sino histórico contingente.
Palabras clave. Palinología. Paleoecología. Pleistoceno. Holoceno. España. Portugal. Quercus. Pinus.
Abstract. FORESTS IN MOVEMENT. CASUÍSTICS IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY. This paper brings a critical revision of the palynological data from the Iberian Quaternary with special attention to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The climatic, astrononomically controlled cyclicity is analysed in the context of vegetational developments, and a discussion is provided on the phytodiversity reservoirs during glacial stadials, the Tardiglacial and Holocene forest colonisation, and the effects of anthropogenic activities on forest dynamics from Mid–Holocene onwards. Atlantic and Mediterranean regions are compared. The perspective here is not climaticist, but historical contingent.
Key words. Palynology. Palaeoecology. Pleistocene. Holocene. España. Portugal. Quercus. Pinus.
This paper presents a new Holocene palaeoecological record from coastal south-eastern Spain, a region characterised by high plant species diversity, varied physiography, high risk of desertification, and a history of human pressure on the landscape that stretches to antiquity. The pollen sequence shows four main vegetation phases: the first characterised by mixed forests of Pinus and evergreen Quercus accompanied by broad-leaved mesophilous trees, and a diversity of Mediterranean scrub; the second phase is characterised by mesophytic decline and expansion of Artemisia; a third, mid-Holocene phase of thermo-mesophytic maxima with prevalence of forested landscapes; and, finally, the progressive opening of the landscape with sparse pines, halo-xerophytic grasslands and sclerophyllous brushwood. The current treeless situation of south-eastern Spain is a relatively recent feature resulting from a dramatic change in the ecological structure of the regional landscapes. This paper stresses the continued vulnerability of these arid systems in the face of a changing climate. This sequence adds to previous palaeobotanical records (pollen and charcoal) and archaeological reports to suggest that deforestation started earlier in low-elevation areas and river basins than in the inland mountains and platforms, a factor that appears in connection to human exploitation of the natural environment.
This book collects a wide repertoire of sites from Epi-Magdalenien period on the coast of Murcia (Spain) and analyzes the implications of the production of the bands of hunters and collectors, their strategies, and settlement patterns.
The processes governing the formation of pollen and spore assemblages within cave sites are reviewed. An interim model of pollen and spore movement is presented. Areas of present ignorance are highlighted and discussed. -from Authors
This chapter discusses the role of palynology in archaeology. A primary objective of archaeological investigation is to reconstruct and explain as fully as possible mechanisms and directions of prehistoric culture change. To accomplish this task, the archaeologist must look beyond the recovery and identification of cultural materials, such as lithic debris, points, grinding stones, perishables, and pottery. Through the careful analysis of other sources of information—such as plant macrofossils, namely, seeds, leaves, bark, flowers, and wood; animal remains, namely, bones, hair, tooth, and shells; soil chemistry, charcoal identification, and pollen—the archaeologist is able to speak more confidently about many aspects of past cultures. Once these analyses are completed, the archaeologist also is afforded an opportunity to test hypotheses about the paleoenvironment, diet, subsistence, disease, and the level of prehistoric technology and trade. One of these formerly peripheral areas of archaeological study being investigated with increased regularity is the recovery and analysis of fossil pollen. Although most archaeologists are aware of the basics of palynology, many of them are still not aware of the wide range of data that palynology can provide; they are neither familiar with new sampling techniques that yield these data nor aware of the importance of asking for the advice of a palynologist prior to conducting actual field investigations.
An important excavation was opened in the filling of the Arbreda Cave (Serinyà, Gérone, Catalonia) through archaeological levels of middle and upper Palaeolithic. The station lies in the mediterranean area.
The palynological diagram gives global informations on the vegetal palaeoenvironment of the fossil man in Catalonia during about 30 000 years (archaeologically, from recent Mousterian to a stage of an indeterminate post-Solutrean palaeolithic and geologically, from the end of the early Wiirm, isotopic stage 3, to the beginning of the Holocene, stage 1): open and herbaceous vegetation with steppic characters, where are emerging some Pines and Cupressaceae. The sequence divided in 11 pollinic zones, shows some short periods of climatic ameliorations, or interstades, during the wurmian glaciation. The results are not perhaps very convincing but however well corroborated by the studies of charcoals, rodents and larges mammals, through a stratigraphy based on irrefutable chronological and geoarcheological results.
On the countrary, the interstadial stages are well individualized with the utilization of the climatic index ; they are characterized by the sporadic and incomplete extent, from refuge zone, certainly close to the site, of mesothermophilous and (or) thermophilous vegetal associations, in the lap of more or less steppic vegetation settled during a cold climate still milder because of the mediterranean influence.
During the period 20-8 ka BP, movements of the polar front in the North Atlantic Ocean between the latitudes of Iceland and the Iberian peninsula greatly affected the climate of western Europe. During the Lateglacial, sea-surface temperature changes were particularly marked in the Bay of Biscay. Such migrations of the polar front, which have been shown to be time-transgressive, have been used to explain Lateglacial climatic events in northwestern Europe. A comparative study of Lateglacial and early Holocene records from lacustrine sites in northern and northwestern Spain and the Pyrenees confirms that the Lateglacial climatic amelioration was time-transgressive along the seaboard of western Europe, beginning 500-1000 years earlier in northwestern Spain than in the British Isles. This time-lag is further exaggerated in the vegetational response by migrational lags and edaphic factors. There are marked differences in the nature and chronology of Lateglacial plant successions, not only between southwest and northwest Europe, but particularly between sites in northwestern Spain, the coastal lowlands of the Pays Basque and the Pyrenees. Sites in northwestern Spain, including that of Sanabria Marsh, here published in detail for the first time, show the moderating climatic influence of the Atlantic Ocean throughout the Lateglacial. There, the climatic amelioration began early, perhaps before 14 ka BP. Deciduous oak forest had already begun to develop during Lateglacial times; this observation suggests that the perglacial refugia for these trees lay close to the maritime Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal, and not in the Pyrenees as some authors have proposed. After the onset of the Lateglacial climatic amelioration, pine and birch forest became widespread in the Pyrenees but oaks were very sparse or absent. Oak forest only developed there after 10 ka BP in the early Holocene. The Younger Dryas episode of cooling can be detected, but only by a small expansion of herbaceous plant communities in some areas and with almost no lowering of the treeline. In contrast, Lateglacial conditions in the Pays Basque appear to have been cold and bleak. Even birch and pine forest was poorly developed and may have disappeared with the onset of the Younger Dryas cooling. Acid heathland with Empetrum and ericaceous plants then developed, to be replaced by oak-hazel forest in the early Holocene. Here, clearly, the influence of cold polar water conditions in the Bay of Biscay was very strong. Pollen diagrams from marine cores in the Bay of Biscay are also reviewed, but low sedimentation rates, bioturbation and differential transport and preservation of pollen make comparison with continental pollen diagrams difficult and correlation only possible in broad terms. Accurate vegetational interpretations are impossible. Palynologists working on archaeological cave and rock shelter sequences in southwest France and northern Spain have claimed to recognize, between 32 and 14 ka BP, a series of interstadial intervals with expansions of temperate trees. Careful consideration of pollen diagrams covering the purported Laugerie and Lascaux interstadials, said to occur between 16 and 20 ka BP (conventionally the maximum period of glacial advance of the last glacial stage), suggests that temperate pollen has percolated down through overlying deposits and been preserved in certain sedimentologically favourable beds. Although widely accepted by archaeologists, these interstadials appear to have no reality and must be rejected. There is no trace of them in the long lacustrine records of Les Echets (Beaulieu & Reille 1984) and Grande Pile (Woillard 1975, 1978). There is thus no good palynological record for 30-16 ka BP from south-west Europe, other than the long pollen sequence from Padul in southern Spain (Pons & Reille 1986).
Packrat (Neotoma spp.) middens contain abundant and well‐preserved pollen. Pollen analysis complements macrofossil analysis of these biogenic deposits because it reflects both local and regional vegetation patterns. However, variability among and within middens is high, and the accuracy with which midden pollen reflects vegetation is lessened by this variability. The variability results both from midden inhomogeneity and from differences in the relative importance of the four major sources of pollen in middens: the air, plant material collected by the packrat, packrat feces, and the pelt of the packrat. The variability due to midden inhomogeneity is reduced by analyzing aliquots from large (ca 500 g) middens rather than the small (ca 10 g) subsamples used by previous researchers. The comparison of fossil sequences from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona, and Owl Canyon, Colorado, demonstrates the value of this procedure.
Pollen contained in three Pleistocene sequences and one Holocene sequence is interpreted from the analysis of lacustrine deposits of the Pla de l'Estany. The first Pleistocene sequence, characterised by steppe‐like vegetation of Pinus and herbs, is older than the last interglacial stage. The second, consisting of interstadial vegetation dominated by Abies and Fagus followed by deciduous Quercus and Carpinus and by steppe, which was interrupted by the expansion of Pinus is correlated with the period between isotopic stage 5.1 (St. Germain II) and the beginning of isotopic stage 3. The third Pleistocene sequence is represented by short interstades containing Corylus and deciduous Quercus. At this time, the extinction of Carpinus occurs, which is correlated with the end of isotopic stage 3 and the beginning of stage 2. The Holocene sequence dates from 3470 yr BP until the present. The Subboreal‐Subatlantic is delineated by the dominance of deciduous Quercus and some anthropic activity. From the 4th century AD until the present, pronounced anthropic influence resulted in the spread of areas of cultivation, pasture and scrub.
Charcoal analysis reveals various palaeo-ecological phases from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Agriculture starts about 7000 B.P. in favourable ecological conditions. Most of the charcoal spectra from sites on the coast represent thermomediterranean holm-oak forest; those from the inland mountains represent mesome-diterranean holm-oak forest. The Neolithic I Impressed Ware people were the first to clear the forest to plant their crops. This clearance of primary woodland resulted in the development of secondary vegetation of pine woods or scrub. The scrub reached its maximum during the Bell Beaker phase and Bronze Age in the Cova de les Cendres. In the Neolithic II open air sites, the percentages of Quercus ilex/coccifera remain high. This may be the result of a different exploitation of the land, or suitable conditions for the growth and survival of the vegetation.
The European Early Weichselian (= Early Würmian) is characterized by two long and relatively warm interstadials — Brörup and Odderade — which can be traced and correlated with certainty across large parts of Europe. The Amersfoort interstadial, described earlier from the Netherlands, has been included in the Brörup and represents the older part of it. Both great interstadials were forested in north-west, central and southern Europe: in the north, conifer forests prevailed giving way, towards the south, to deciduous forests. The climatic gradient was distinctly steeper, mainly due to southward displacement of the Gulf Stream. The two great interstadials are synchronous with the isotopic stages 5a and 5c in the deep sea cores.Subsequent to Eemian, Brörup and Odderade, and from within the context of a continuous series, two additional and clearly delimited interstadials have been recorded in a new standard profile from Oerel, NW Germany. These are now described as the ‘Oerel’ and ‘Glinde’ interstadials. They were not forested and belong to the early Pleni-Weichselian. The lower one (Oerel) can probably be correlated with the 3rd Weichselian (Würmian) interstadial in southern central Europe (Ognon II, Dürnten, Samerberg 3), while the upper one (Glinde) has so far no known counterpart. For the younger Pleni-Glacial, it is assumed that there was a long phase during which it was not too cold. The formation of humic layers during this phase took place at different times, partly due to local edaphic factors, so that the relevant 14C-dates show a wide scatter. The Hengelo and Denekamp interstadials represent only slight ameliorations which facilitated the formation of shrub tundra and can be recorded in certain regions only.
The Sahara has not always been desert; desert and semi-arid conditions have alternated on many occasions. At the junction of the Pliocene and Pleistocene conditions were probably more or less as they are now. Desert conditions, however, were interrupted on at least eight to ten major occasions during the past 2 to 3 million years. The optimal conditions of the Holocene lasted from c.9000 to 4000 years BP. The Sahara was then a semi-arid, locally humid, tropical savanna sprinkled with many lakes. It harboured a rich Afro-tropical fauna and was inhabited by both Protomediterranean cromagnoids and African melanodermic hunters; bovine pastoralists moved in and, later, so did white horsemen, the People of the Sea, probable ancestors of the Tuareg. Remnants of the Afrotropical fauna survived in montane refuges until the early 20th Century. Some relicts are still in existence: e.g. the Duprez cypress in the Tassili of Ajjers. -from Author
Failure of new attempts to recover fossil pollen from deposits older than the Late Pleistocene in the Transvaal, viz. from the Sterkfontein caves, indicates that earlier palynological interpretations of these deposits cannot be justified. Up to now only organic spring deposits of late Quaternary age from the province have provided detailed pollen data which show that a long series of conspicuous changes in climate and vegetation occurred over the last 35 000 yr. These changes include greater expansions of sub-humid montane, relatively dry savanna and cool ericaceous elements in the Late Pleistocene and relatively warm, dry and also slightly more mesic types of woodland in the Holocene. -from Author
Draws together information on how far archaeological sites, including occupation sites, may themselves serve as sources of pollen data that can be related directly to human activities in the past. Having reviewed the principles and techniques of soil pollen analysis, the author examines the opportunities provided by waterlogged sites, old land surfaces, open sites, and caves and rock shelters. Chapters outline both the scope for interpreting structures from pollen analysis, and the problems and challenges that arise from biased pollen spectra. -J.Sheail
Pollen spectra in twenty hyrax (Procavia) dung samples, four dassie rat (Petromus) midden samples, and one bird guano sample from various parts of South Africa were investigated. Multivariate analysis of pollen data shows correspondence between conventional surface soil and dust samples with Procavia and Petromus dung samples. The dung pollen spectra are therefore probably not strongly influenced by dietary preferences of the two kinds of herbivorous animals, confirming that pollen in dung middens have potential in reflecting different local vegetation types in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
An attempt is made to investigate the nature of cold-stage distributions for those forest trees which today extend to northern Europe. Evidence is taken from the pollen record of the present and earlier interglacials, a model of past climate, modern tree distributions, and physiography of southern Europe. The trees occupied mid-altitude sites in the mountains of southern Europe, especially in the western Balkans and Italy during the last cold stage. These areas would have had a suitable climate, and it is argued that the trees could easily have survived there at densities low enough to escape detection in the pollen record. Most taxa which spread north at the beginning of an interglacial become extinct in the northern part of their ranges, and do not retreat south at the end of the interglacial. The survival of these trees in southern Europe through a warm stage may be at least as important for long-term Quaternary survival in Europe as survival during a cold stage.
The results of a palynological investigation of the Upper Palaeolithic interval from the Beneito Cave (southeastern Spain) are herewith considered in the context of results from a previous report on the underlying deposits. Two new percentage and concentration pollen-diagrams with good correspondence are presented. The Upper Palaeolithic sequence is dominated by Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia, whereas arboreal pollen are less important. Mesophilous trees and Mediterranean taxa show a constant presence, but in low proportions. The new data add support to the view that interpleniglacial development of Mediterranean taxa was important in eastern Spain, while they were considerably reduced during upper pleniglacial times. Emphasis is placed on aridity as a limiting factor in influencing major vegetation changes in the area. Two additional topics are also presented: they deal with the extrapolation of north European interstadials to Mediterranean Spain and the palaeoecological value of archaeopalynological records.
summaryPercentage and concentration pollen diagrams are presented for two cores (taken 5 m apart) at an upper Pleistocene and Holocene site at Navarrés (Valencia, eastern Spain). Chronological information is provided by an internally consistent radiocarbon dating series that extends from c. 20700 to 3075 yr BP. The results highlight the dangers of relying on a single core in interpreting the patterns of variation of particular taxa. Significant palynological differences, seemingly locational, are described between the two cores. The upper Pleistocene records accords well with the widely recognized European sequence of (a) upper Pleniglacial, (b) Bölling-Allerod warm period, and (c) Younger Dryas crisis. However, the sequence does not show disruption of vegetation patterns following the commencement of the Holocene, and Pinus continues to be dominant up to c. 5500–6000 yr BP. Later, there is evidence for Quercus forest, mesophilous trees, and xerosclerophyllous Mediterranean vegetation, which is coincident with eutrophication of the study site. These vegetation changes are discussed in the context of anthropogenic disturbance by Neolithic people, competitive exclusion, and climatic change.
Results from two years of pollen trapping experiments in New York State show that pollen spectra inside the three caves studied are highly similar to the pollen rain outside the caves. Statistical comparisons of modern pollen spectra derived from Tauber traps, speleothems, moss polsters, and nearby pond sediments suggest that pollen deposition inside caves can provide a reliable index of the regional and local vegetation, directly comparable to the more conventional spectra derived from lake sediments and moss polsters. Because of the relatively low pollen influx inside caves, however, stochastic and episodic forms of particle transport may influence pollen deposition inside caves in proportions that are unique to each site. With careful attention to site parameters such as entrance size, pollen preservation, and modes of sedimentation, investigators could make greater use of caves in palynological studies.
This paper investigates fundamental taphonomic issues for palynologists working on archaeologically important cave deposits-the extent to which the pollen and spores reaching the accumulating sediment surfaces reflect the vegetation in cave entrances, or reflect the more regional environments beyond the caves. The study sites were four adjacent caves at Creswell Crags, near Sheffield, England-Church Hole, Dog Hole, C7 and Robin Hood's Cave. The compositions of the pollen and spore assemblages caught in the caves over a one year period were shown to reflect the vegetation in the cave mouths and the wider area beyond. The AP:NAP ratio in the assemblages trapped in the caves corresponded with the proportions of woodland and open ground within a 5 km radius of the site. Comparatively high representations of fern spores in caves were a persistent feature and were attributed to the interactions of habitat, distribution and taphonomic processes-(i) the abundance of ferns in cave mouths, and (ii) the effects produced by a combination of diurnal micro-climatological process interacting with diurnal variations in spore production in the cave entrance. In two caves-Church Hole Cave and Dog Hole Cave-the numbers of grains caught appeared to decline with increasing distance into the cave. In Cave C7, the numbers of grains caught increased towards the back of the cave. The number of grains caught appears to be a principal determinant of the number of plant taxa identified. There were no clear relationships between the presence of a ''flue'' effect in the cave and the presence of an increase or a decrease in the number of grains caught with changing distance into the caves. It is concluded that as long as account is taken of the particular topographic, microclimatic and taphonomic conditions in these caves, it is possible to infer the character of the vegetation beyond their confines, from the airfall pollen and spores trapped with them at the cave sediment surface.
Cave entrance and rock shelter infillings are positioned within the Pleistocene chronology for three areas of France (northern Alps, Franche-Comté, and Périgord). Despite minor local variations, it is possible to identify regional types with a consistent depositional record over long intervals of time. The interregional variability relates to the frequency and position of the gaps within the infillings. Sites in the northern Alps have not yielded any artifacts older than the Upper Paleolithic (Magdaleni{dotless}́an), and dated sedimentary sequences do not go back beyond the Older Dryas. More complete sequences in Franche-Comté contain Mousterian industries. Two major gaps occur here, one lasting about 50,000 yr during the Lower Glacial and Lower Pleniglacial periods, and the other lasting some 10,000 yr during the Upper Pleniglacial. The sequences are more complete in the Périgord, where all major climatic phases have been identified with no significant sedimentary gaps. Differences in sedimentary records can be explained by variations in regional conditions during the last interglacial-glacial cycle and especially by the distance from the maximum advance of ice daring glaciation.
Results are presented of palynological analyses of Pleistocene deposits at Cova Beneito, an archaeological site on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Benicadell, Alicante province (SE Spain), 650 m a.s.l. with a WSW orientation. The chronology is supported by radiocarbon dating, archaeological evolution, previous local sequences, and recourse to several wider correlations. For the first time in the region, a warming event is defined in the mid-last glacial stage. During this event, vegetation took on a Mediterranean character with sclerophyllous elements such as Quercus, Olea, Phillyrea, Rhamnus, Helianthemum, etc. The rest of the sequence shows a predominance of Pinus within the AP, phases of steppe-like character, and an aridity-crisis immediately after the climate improvement. Due to local conditions, forest cover was never very great.
Two borings were made at the site of Padul (Granada). Pollen analysis of 200 spectra from two successive sequences, 14.8 and 8 m deep, enables a description of the vegetational and climatic history of this region, the most southern one in Europe, from Early Würmian times. The chronology is supported by twenty-one 14C dates.Original equivalents are found for the great European Prewürm interstadials.A markedly arid though thermically not extreme episode, exactly equivalent to stage 4 of the marine isotopic stratigraphy, closes this relatively temperate period.The middle part of the Last Glacial shows climatic fluctuations that are poorly characterized, as is often the case in Europe for this period.A long section, very probably corresponding to the complete Last Pleniglacial, does not show any climatic amelioration.Towards 15,000 yr B.P. a change in the diagram is noted that can only be interpreted as reflecting a larger expansion of a regional steppe cover. This event, also reported on three occasions in southeast France, marks the beginning of the Oldest Dryas.The climatic amelioration of ca. 13,000 yr B.P. is far more pronounced here than anywhere else in Europe, whereas that at 10,000 yr B.P. is not so clearly marked. This unexpected result may be accounted for by the fact that Padul is the first continental site so far south and so near Pleniglacial refuges to be known: on the other hand, this result is consistent with what is known from oceanic isotopic stratigraphy.A quite new late-glacial and Holocene vegetational history is revealed, characterized by the early appearance and dominance of Quercus ilex oak forests of a southern type and the early occurrence of Quercus suber and Olea: it is the first account of a complete history of the postglacial reafforestation in a region with a modern semi-arid mediterranean climate. From the palaeoclimatic point of view, it shows that the hot and humid Holocene optimum was attained slightly before 8000 yr B.P. and that the Holocene climatic fluctuations were of but small amplitude.
This study forms part of an interdisciplinary research project, the aim of which is to provide a regional palaeoecological sequence suitable for inter-regional comparisons. Carihuela Cave is a major archaeological site in the Granada province of eastern Andalusia. It falls within the Upper Mesomediterranean bioclimatic belt, lies at 1020 m a.s.l. and has a northerly aspect. An overview of the background of archaeological, palaeontological, sedimentological, and geochronological research at the cave is followed by a presentation of new palynological data from its Pleistocene deposits. The sediments contain Middle Palaeolithic artefacts and are of exogenous origin. Samples for pollen analysis were taken from five stratigraphical sections and a pollen diagram was drawn up for each. Correlation of these permitted two synoptic diagrams to be constructed, with the exclusion in one of them of Asteraceae pollen other than Artemisia and Centaurea.
THE analysis of pollen from marine cores has produced continental palaeoclimate records which have been directly correlated with the oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and regional climate1-3. Here we tie the palaeoclimate of southern Europe to this global climate signal by reporting continuous pollen and delta18O records of a well-dated core in the Tyrrhenian Sea for the time span of 55-9 kyr BP. These records show a strong covariation between the marine delta18O reversed curve and a good terrestrial climate indicator, namely the pollen abundance of deciduous oak from the upland sub-humid Mediterranean forest of southern Italy and Sicily, which seems mainly constrained by moisture variation. The Artemisia and grass pollen abundances document the shift between continental semi-desert and oceanic steppe climates. Repetitive successions between 55 and 33 kyr BP of grass, oak, Artemisia and Abies pollen abundance peaks occur in locked phase with delta18O depletion events and indicate that regional vegetation cycles closely accompany deglacial pulses of global extent.
Pollen-bearing lake, bog, and spring sediments are relatively scarce in many arid and semiarid regions of the world, and few are dateable beyond the 14C range. We have obtained pollen spectra from speleothems collected from caves in the Somali-Chalbi and Kalahari deserts suggesting that these deposits may be an important future source of desert paleovegetation data. As cave speleothems can be dated by the 230Th/234U method to c. 350,000 yr B.P., and by the TL and ESR methods potentially to 1 m.y. B.P., and can sometimes give paleotemperature and paleohydrologic data, they could provide a first glimpse of desert paleoenvironments during isotope stages 4–9. Ages of speleothems from the Chihuahuan, Kalahari, and Somali-Chalbi deserts suggest that there was more available moisture in the southwestern U.S.A. and in northwestern Bostwana during glacials and interstadials of the last c. 300,000 years, but that wetter conditions in the Horn of Africa corresponded with interglacials and perhaps to a lesser extent with interstadials. Pollen from three northern Somalia speleothems indicate more mesic conditions in the Horn of Africa at 10,000, 11,800, and 176,500 yr B.P., while speleothem pollen spectra from Matupi Cave in northeastern Zaire, presently surrounded by tropical rainforest, suggest a savanna grassland at this cave c. 14,000 yr B.P.
Palaeoenvironmental records which include the interval between 11,000 and 10,000 BP have been investigated for 15 sites in South Africa. Less than half of them are well dated and have a resolution adequate for elucidating climatic conditions during the time of the Younger Dryas. A sea surface temperature record from a marine mollusc sequence provides the only unequivocal evidence of cooling during this time. None of the palynological sequences from the interior of the subcontinent suggest consistent deviations in temperature or moisture attributable to a Younger Dryas equivalent. Based on the available evidence, therefore, it seems that if global Younger Dryas conditions influenced the climate of South Africa, the effect was too small to register a spatially consistent pattern in the pollen sequences of the interior of the country.
The Abric Romani continental pollen record provides evidence of abrupt climate variations during the last glaciation. The pollen record reveals a pattern of high-frequency variations similar to that in ice cores as shown by oxygen isotopes or dust content. Analyses of 14 travertine samples yield coherent U-series ages in correct stratigraphic order, ranging from 40,000 to 70,000 yr. According to changes in the composition and structure of the vegetation, five paleoclimatic phases have been differentiated; the oldest, ranging from 70,200 to 65,500 yr ago, records thermophilous taxa which correspond to the last warm events of isotopic stage 5. The next phase, from 65,500 to 56,800 yr, records a cold, humid climate that correlates with isotope stage 4. During the third phase, from 56,800 to 49,500 yr, relatively warm and cold events alternate. The fourth phase, from 49,500 to 46,200 yr, records a cold, dry climate. The fifth phase, ranging from 46,200 to 40,800 yr, records a milder phase that is similar in appearance to the beginning of the Holocene.
The Banyoles lacustrine sequence shows that the vegetational history of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the last 30,000 yr follows the North Atlantic pattern of climatic oscillations. The Banyoles pollen diagram, supported by two calibrated 14C dates and nine U/Th dates, shows a clear interstadial event between 30,000 and 27,000 yr B.P., a Pleniglacial period with minor oscillations that ended abruptly ca. 14,420 ± 410 yr B.P., and a late-glacial sequence that records the classical stages described in Northern Europe: the Bølling-Allerød Interstade, the Younger Dryas event at 12,000 yr B.P. (U-series age), and a short warming phase between the Younger Dryas and the last cold event (dated at 11,000 yr B.P., U-series age).
During the last full glacial much of northern Europe was covered with an extensive ice sheet. In comparison, southern Europe remained unglaciated but cold, with the mean January temperature estimated as low as -30°C and July temperatures between 15 and 20°C. It was in these southerly regions that many of the present temperate European trees, shrubs and herbs survived in refugia. Apart from the intrinsic interest as to where these populations were located, a knowledge of refugial areas and the plants located in them is starting to provide important ecological information on the effects of long-term isolation upon individual populations, rates and type of vegetation change with major climatic fluctuations, and the distribution of our present-day European flora.
In southern Italy, vegetation contemporary with the end of the last glacial maximum, from 15,000 to 12,000 years ago, is shown by pollen-analysis to have been treeless and steppe-like in character. At 12,500 BP (years before present), Betula (birch) expanded into the steppe, quickly followed by Quercus (oak), Fagus (beech), Tilia (lime) and other tree genera of mesic forest. High percentages of Tilia point to a rich mesic forest that was contemporary with the ‘Allerød’ interstadial of northern Europe. A major decline in mesic trees with an accompanying return of Betula and steppe genera dated to 10,500 years ago identifies a ‘Younger Dryas’ climatic reversal. Betula and steppe genera were replaced by forest of Quercus and other mesic trees, notably Ulmus (elm), as the Holocene began. In the later Holocene, ca. 4000 years ago, Abies (fir), Carpinus betulus (hornbeam) and Taxus (yew) appeared. Abies and Taxus became extinct locally about 2500 years ago, either because of climatic change, or perhaps because of the effects of early agriculture. The Full-glacial climate is thought to have been cold and summer-dry with mainly winter precipitation. The Lateglacial ‘Bølling-Allerød’ Interstadial was summer-wet and warm. The response-surface based climate reconstruction indicates an early Holocene climate with markedly colder winter conditions than today, about −5°C compared with 3.9°C today as a mean temperature for the coldest month. The annual temperature sum is reconstructed as somewhat higher than today, 3500 degree days as compared with a calculated value of 2900 for today. The later Holocene had a climate like today's. Rainfall, and variation in its seasonal distribution, has been a critical determinant of the vegetation cover. The fossil pollen record at Laghi Di Monticchio has been complemented by diatom and plant macrofossil studies which provide evidence of former lake environments as well as data on the upland forest. Lake levels remained high during the Full- and Lateglacial with encroachment of shore vegetation during the Holocene. The sediments also have an exceptionally rich record of tephra falls which are of importance in dating and core correlation. Twenty-one macroscopically visible tephras occur in sediments of the last 15,000 years.
Equus Cave, in Quaternary tufa near Taung in the semiarid woodland of the southern Kalahari, yielded 2.5 m of sediment in which a rich assemblage of bones and coprolites was preserved. The fossils were accumulated mainly by hyenas during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Pollen from coprolites reflects diet as well as vegetation over relatively large areas visited by hyenas, while pollen from sediments represents more local sources. The pollen sequence derived from coprolites and sediments demonstrates how the vegetation evolved from open grassland with small shrubs and occasional trees during the late Pleistocene, to open savanna with more small shurbs, then, during the last 7500 yr, to modern savanna. Temperatures were not more than 4°C cooler and it was slightly moister than today during the late Pleistocene phase; it became gradually warmer but relatively dry before optimal temperature and moisture conditions developed around 7500 yr B.P. Climatic conditions slightly less favorable for woodland occurred during part of the late Holocene.
Caves have been a valuable source of paleoenvironmental information since the eighteenth century. In arid portions of western North America, caves have replaced small lakes as the primary source of biotic remains of Quaternary age. Packrat middens, dung of extinct animals, pollen, and archeological artifacts are excellently preserved. Aridity of the sediment, which is influenced by the cave's topographic position, internal morphology, and the regional climate, is the primary cause of good preservation. For stratigraphic pollen analysis, the best sites are those without internal moisture sources and without extensive bioturbation. Pollen samples should be taken near the center of the chamber, where eolian deposition is most rapid. Pollen concentrations in cave sediment are lower (2000–355,000 grains g−1) than in lake sediment, and pollen percentages in cave sediment differ from those in packrat middens due to additional transport mechanisms (on plant tissue and on the packrats themselves) for middens. Pollen diagrams for Bechan Cave, Utah, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona are presented as examples of cave sediment and packrat midden analysis.
A pollen sequence resulting from a palynological analysis of sedimentary cave deposits at the Atapuerca archaeological sites (Burgos, Spain) is described. The attribution of the sequence to the upper middle Pleistocene is based on the fauna remains discovered and absolute dating of the stalagmitic crust covering the deposits.A variation in the vegetation during the period covered by the pollen record is detected. The essential forest components of the vegetation are deciduous and evergreen Quercus together with a variable mosaic of accompanying species which indicate climates with a more temperate character in some cases and more Mediterranean in others.A hypothesis of chronological and climatic correlation is established for each of the pollen zones on the basis of vegetation fluctuations highlighted by the palynological analysis.