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This paper explores how significant are the ecological and climatic variables to influence the stable isotopes of guanacos. Lama guanicoe bone collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios are assumed as a macro regional average value in west Argentina, mostly as a baseline to model archaeological human diet. If stable isotopes on mammals reflex ecology and climate, we need to know how those variables influence mammals bone stable isotope ratio. This paper analyses the 13C/12C and 15 N/14N ratio on bone collagen on 122 guanacos from Northwest Patagonia during the Holocene. The results confirm significant variation in both isotopes between Monte and Andean-Patagonian specimens. Guanacos from Monte shows higher δ13C and δ15N than those from Andean-Patagonian. Temporal trends indicate variation through Holocene but this variation is not spatially homogeneous. In this paper we suggest that Medieval Climatic Anomaly had stronger effect in Monte desert than in Patagonia desert, generating driest and/or hottest conditions between 1250 and 600 years BP. Those variations need to be considered to reconstruct human diet at least during the second part of the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review article focussing on the research on past environments of Zimbabwe. The paper synthesises the current knowledge on palaeo-climates and other environmental parameters that inform debates and discussions on climate change and human adaptation. The study of palaeoenvironments provides environmental knowledge that chronologically goes beyond the range of written climatic records that are available in the country. The palaeoenvironmental data now available shows that our human ancestors in Zimbabwe have survived numerous climatic upheavals since the beginning of the Stone Age. However, limited research in the Stone Age and the variety of proxy data available creates a less coherent record. Extrapolation of evidence from the region makes the data less reliable for archaeological interpretations. The paper shows conflicting signals across the region at some specific periods. There are numerous gaps in the record. The paper concludes by calling for multidisciplinary research on the past environments of Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the methodological and practical issues relevant to the ways in which natural scientists, historians and archaeologists may collaborate in the study of past climatic changes in the Mediterranean basin. We begin by discussing the methodologies of these three disciplines in the context of the consilience debate, that is, attempts to unify different research methodologies that address similar problems. We demonstrate that there are a number of similarities in the fundamental methodology between history, archaeology, and the natural sciences that deal with the past (“palaeoenvironmental sciences”), due to their common interest in studying societal and environmental phenomena that no longer exist. The three research traditions, for instance, employ specific narrative structures as a means of communicating research results. We thus present and compare the narratives characteristic of each discipline; in order to engage in fruitful interdisciplinary exchange, we must first understand how each deals with the societal impacts of climatic change. In the second part of the paper, we focus our discussion on the four major practical issues that hinder communication between the three disciplines. These include terminological misunderstandings, problems relevant to project design, divergences in publication cultures, and differing views on the impact of research. Among other recommendations, we suggest that scholars from the three disciplines should aim to create a joint publication culture, which should also appeal to a wider public, both inside and outside of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern Arctic Indigenous peoples face many interconnected pressures, not the least of which is anthropogenic climate change, which is emerging as one of the most dramatic drivers of social and economic change in recent memory. In this paper, we investigate whether or not insights into premodern strategies for coping with climate change—and especially the "deeper histories" of traditional ways-of-knowing—can play a useful role in future planning, management and mitigation efforts. We do this in two ways. First, we assess this special issue's 17 archaeological case studies, in order to determine whether they are conducted within a framework that is consistent with approaches to resilience in studies of modern Arctic communities. Second, we focus on three climate-driven challenges faced by Canadian Arctic Inuit: safe travel, food security and food safety. For each, we identify specific ways in which studies of past social-ecological systems intersect with modern climate adaptation. We conclude that since archaeological insights highlight the operation of decision-making processes within long-term culture-adaptive trajectories, they can offer unique insights into the much shorter-term processes currently underway. While we highlight many potential directions for productive collaboration, much more work is required in local and regional settings to demonstrate the full potential of archaeology for future-oriented planning and mitigation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Climatic and environmental changes of the Middle Pleistocene in Europe provide the context for an important phase in the evolution and dispersal of early hominins. Pollen records from terrestrial and marine sediment sequences reveal patterns not usually visible in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from archaeological sites alone and show that hominin evolution took place against a background of marked environmental change as forests expanded and contracted in concert with global and regional climatic shifts. It is rare to find archaeological material in stratigraphically long and continuous palaeoenvironmental sequences, yet this is what is needed to enable particular phases of hominin evolution to be securely associated with climatic and environmental changes. At the well-known Middle Pleistocene archaeological site of Ceprano in Italy we have been able to produce a pollen record from the sedimentary unit directly below the stratum of the hominin remains. The new pollen data from Ceprano are presented here in full for the first time and provide a detailed picture of interglacial vegetation development during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13. This evidence contributes significantly to our knowledge of the spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem responses to climatic change during this period and helps to further constrain the age of the hominin remains. New sites combining both archaeology and long, continuous high quality palaeoecological records would help clarify the relationship between hominin presence and palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions. In the meantime, better communication between the research communities can also go a long way to improving our understanding of the links between the two. Highlights • The paper presents the detailed palynological record from the early hominin site of Ceprano in central Italy. • An extensive review of central Italian Middle Pleistocene sites places the record in context. • A wider review of southern European Middle Pleistocene records provides the environmental background to hominin evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are southern Africa's highest and lie at a crucial interface between the sub-continent's drier, colder, more seasonal interior and its perennially productive sub-tropical coastal belt. Their location, high elevation, and topography make them ideal for exploring human responses to late Quaternary climatic change. This paper reviews and synthesizes palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental data from the Maloti-Drakensberg region over the past 50,000 years. It then employs 325 calibrated radiocarbon dates to examine human occupational trends across the region and its component parts, discuss human-environment dynamics over this time-span, and explore patterning between particular phases of climatic change and the timing, mode, and motives of its exploitation by people. Key findings are that the region's Lesotho core may have served as a refugium for human populations during drier, more unstable climatic periods and that intensified exploitation of freshwater fish likely helped address resource stress in cooler ones. An agenda for future palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research is also mapped out. Highlights • Elevation and location make the Maloti-Drakensberg highly sensitive to climate change. • Proxy data document greater moisture availability during glacial and stadial maxima. • Diverse climatic conditions saw pulsed human occupation of different sub-regions. • Mountain core provided refuge for human populations during drier/unstable episodes. • Flexible responses to resource stress included intensified fishing in cooler periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides estimates of rates of change in mean sea level around the English Channel, based on an extensive new hourly sea level data set for the south coast of the UK, derived from data archaeology. Mean sea level trends are found to vary by between 0.8 and 2.3mm/yr around the Channel. The rates of mean sea level change are calculated by removing the coherent part of the sea level variability from the time series of annual mean sea level before fitting linear trends. The improvement in accuracy gained by using this approach is assessed by comparing trends with those calculated using the more traditional method, in which linear trends are fitted directly to the original records. Removal of the coherent part of the sea level variability allows more precise trends to be calculated from records spanning 30 years. With the traditional approach 50 years is required to obtain the same level of accuracy. Rates of vertical land movement are approximated by subtracting the mean sea level trends from the most recent regional estimate of change in sea level due to oceanographic processes only. These estimated rates are compared to measurements from geological data and advanced geodetic techniques. There is good agreement around most of the UK. However, the rates estimated from the sea level records imply that the geological data suggest too much submergence along the western and central parts of the UK south coast. Lastly, the paper evaluates whether the high rates of mean sea level rise of the last decade are unusual compared to trends observed at other periods in the historical record and finds that they are not. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Environmental change caused by urban development, land drainage, agriculture or climate change may result in accelerated decay of in situ archaeological remains. This paper reviews research into impacts of environmental change on hydrological processes of relevance to preservation of archaeological remains in situ. It compares work at rural sites with more complex urban environments. The research demonstrates that both the quantity and quality of data on preservation status, and hydrological and chemical parameters collected during routine archaeological surveys need to be improved. The work also demonstrates the necessity for any archaeological site to be placed within its topographic and geological context. In order to understand preservation potential fully, it is necessary to move away from studying the archaeological site as an isolated unit, since factors some distance away from the site of interest can be important for determining preservation. The paper reviews what is known about the hydrological factors of importance to archaeological preservation and recommends research that needs to be conducted so that archaeological risk can be more adequately predicted and mitigated. Any activity that changes either source pathways or the dominant water input may have an impact not just because of changes to the water balance or the water table, but because of changes to water chemistry. Therefore, efforts to manage threatened waterlogged environments must consider the chemical nature of the water input into the system. Clearer methods of assessing the degree to which buried archaeological sites can withstand changing hydrological conditions are needed, in addition to research which helps us understand what triggers decay and what controls thresholds of response for different sediments and types of artefact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect communities from external social, political and economic forces. In this paper, we present an archaeological population history of the Kuril Islands. This string of small volcanic islands on the margins of the Northwest Pacific was occupied by maritime hunting, fishing and gathering communities from the mid-Holocene to recent centuries. We bring together (1) 380 new and previously published archaeological radiocarbon dates, (2) a new paleodemographic model based on a radiocarbon-timestamped temporal frequency distribution of archaeological deposits, (3) recently published paleoclimate trends, and (4) recently published archaeological proxy evidence for changes in the extent of social networks. We demonstrate that, over the last two millennia, inhabitants of the Kuril Islands underwent dramatic demographic fluctuations. Explanations of these fluctuations are considered in the context of environmental hazards, social networks and the emergence of an East Asian “World System”, elucidating the tension between local and external adaptive strategies to social and ecological uncertainty. Results suggest that population resilience to local climate and environmental variability was achieved by virtue of social networks that maintained non-local support in times of crisis. Conversely, the expansion of the East Asian political economy into neighboring regions of the southern margin of the Kuril Islands perhaps in conjunction with exposure to epidemic diseases appears to have undermined the adaptive strategies, resulting in an increase in the vulnerability of Kuril populations to environmental fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tham Lod (Pang Mapha district, Mae Hong Son Province) is one of the rockshelters in the limestone karst of north-western Thailand. The site was excavated from 2002 to 2006 under the direction of one of us (R.S.) in the context of The Highland Archeological Project. The stratigraphical sequence of the site provided dates ranging from late Pleistocene (35 ka, TL), to late Holocene (3000 BP). Thousands of lithic and faunal remains occur throughout the sequence; ceramics and metal items appear in the upper layer (Holocene). Noteworthy are the few human burials in the late Pleistocene layers. This paper presents the lithic material from area 2, sectors S20W10 and S21W10, unearthed from the stratigraphic layers 3 to 10 (late Pleistocene). Artefacts are mostly made in locally available grey sandstone, which is overwhelming in all the layers. The lithic assemblage includes a large proportion (2/3) of rock fragments brought to the site and artificially (or thermally?) broken. These are mostly small fragments (<100 mm) while the big fragments are rare and even absent in the middle layers. Flakes are well represented in the Pleistocene upper and middle layers. Cores proper (meant to produce flakes) are extremely rare and tools proper (shaped) are less than 10% of the material, half of them being larger than 100 mm. All of them, the large and the small tools are mainly shaped on cobbles and cobble fragments and mostly with unifacial shaping. Typical sumatraliths, the signature of the Hoabinhian technical traditions, are conspicuous in the middle layers 6 to 4; they are associated with partial sumatraliths (not shaped all around), especially in the layers 6. They are much less in the lower layers and seem to be absent in the bottom layer. Conversely, the cobble tools are almost exclusively choppers in the lower layers 10 to 8. The scrapers are the major type among the small tools and they are quite constant in number throughout the stratigraphy. As some of the artefacts are definitely considered as “Hoabinhian”, the detailed technological study of the lithic industry will help in understanding this “techno-cultural” facies and in tracing how the stone artefacts were manufactured, used, maintained and finally discarded by the hunters–gatherers. Analysis of the whole sequence in Tham Lod aims at reconstructing the technical evolution in the context of the late Pleistocene climatic changes in this part of Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of paleoclimate data indicates that periods of severe drought affected the Maya Lowlands of southeastern Mexico and northern Central America, especially during the Terminal Classic period (ca. 800–950 CE), raising the possibility that climate change contributed to the widespread collapse of many Maya polities at that time. A broad range of paleoclimate proxy methods have been applied in the Maya Lowlands and the data derived from these methods are sometimes challenging for archeologists and other non-specialists to interpret. This paper reviews the principal methods used for paleoclimate inference in the region and the rationale for climate proxy interpretation to help researchers working in the Maya Lowlands make sense of paleoclimate datasets. In particular, we focus on analyses of speleothems and lake sediment cores. These two paleoclimate archives have been most widely applied in the Maya Lowlands and have the greatest potential to provide insights into climate change impacts on the ancient Maya. We discuss the development of chronologies for these climate archives, the proxies for past climate change found within them, and how these proxy variables are interpreted. Finally, we present strategies for improving our understanding of proxy paleoclimate data from the Maya Lowlands, including multi-proxy analyses, assessment of spatial variability in past climate change, combined analysis of climate models and proxy data, and the integration of paleoclimatology and archeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the papers of the QI Special Issue: Climate Change and Archaeology which were presented at the Second Frison Institute Symposium at the 2014 Society for American Archaeology annual meeting. Papers here examine the links between climate and cultural change, calling attention to the difficulty of determining the role played by climate in cultural change. Issues include whether chronological resolution of climate and cultural change is sufficient to determine that the former “caused” the latter. An additional issue is, assuming the chronological correlation is resolved, whether an observed behavioral or technological change can be attributed to climate change, or if the correlation is spurious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from Late Palaeolithic to early Mesolithic cultures is strongly associated with the major environmental and climatic changes occurring with the shift from the Younger Dryas to the Holocene in northern Europe. In this paper, we present an interdisciplinary study combining archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in an attempt to examine the relationship between environment and culture during this transition. Lundby Mose is a former kettle hole lake in southern Denmark where the earliest Danish human traces of the Holocene were excavated. Two types of bone deposits were found, 1) ritual offerings of worked, marrow-split elk bones and antler and 2) settlement waste with multiple species. These date to the early Holocene and are affiliated to the early Maglemose culture. The modelled 14 C ages suggest that the bones were deposited in four phases. A pollen based palaeoenvironmental reconstruction suggests that the ritual offerings were deposited in an environment of limited, underdeveloped forest with unstable soils and areas of open grassland. The settlement waste deposit is associated with a more developed Preboreal forest type. This forest type was not fully established until c. 11,250 cal BP and if substantiated by further evidence, may be one of the reasons why there are no known early Maglemose/Preboreal settlement sites in southern Scandinavia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new palynological record from a 146 cm long finely laminated sediment core obtained in 2009 from the deep-water meromictic Lake Shira (54°30′38″N, 90°12″09′E; ca. 353 m a.s.l.) situated in the Khakassian steppe region of southern Siberia between the rivers Ob' and Yenisei. The area is rich in lakes and represents an exceptionally well preserved sequence of Bronze and Iron Age archeological cultures. Little is known about the changes in vegetation and climate of the region during the Holocene. The palynological analysis of the core allows us to partly fill up this gap in current knowledge. The record of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs presented here covers the past 2450 year interval with an average resolution of 22 years. The results obtained support the interpretation that the late Holocene vegetation changes around Lake Shira are mainly associated with large-scale atmospheric circulation processes controlling the regional water balance rather than with human activities. An attempt to trace human impact in the pollen assemblages provides no clear evidence for anthropogenic activity, except for the last few decades since ca. 1955, though the region has a long history of mobile pastoralists. For explanation of decadal-scale changes in the regional vegetation cover, the Artemisia /Chenopodiaceae (A/C) pollen ratio proved to be a reliable indicator of effective moisture availability. Using available fossil and published instrumental data our study suggests a link between the North Atlantic warmer/colder temperatures and higher/lower atmospheric precipitation (or moisture availability) in southern Siberia at multi-decadal to centennial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Relationships between landscape-scale geomorphology and aspects of the human environment (including heritage and material cultures) are best examined in landscapes with a strong geomorphological imprint of past climatic and environmental changes, and where human activity has been present for a long period of time. In Cornwall, southwest England, a strong geomorphological signature is imparted by weathering of granite bedrock under cold Quaternary climates, and a strong cultural and heritage imprint is manifested in material and nonmaterial ways through archaeology, art, literature and folklore, and is illustrated in this paper through examples of Bodmin Moor (north Cornwall) and West Penwith (west Cornwall). Landscapes of Bodmin Moor include wide valleys with underfit rivers and upland summits with prominent tors, resulting from granite weathering and slope processes during the Tertiary and Quaternary. Pollen records show how human activity has changed on the moor over time, with a peak of settlement during the Bronze Age, and expansion of grazing into the Iron Age. Daphne du Maurier's novels, set on or adjacent to Bodmin Moor, emphasize the moor's relationship to unstable and intense human emotions and crises. In West Penwith, which is geomorphological similar to Bodmin Moor, geomorphology–culture relations are demonstrated in different ways but through a similar sense of place and regional identity. The St Ives School of early 20th Century art, including the local artist Peter Lanyon and the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, draws inspiration from the local land and seascapes. The oral traditions and folklore of Zennor emphasize the importance of witchcraft and superstition that are in part founded on the wildness of upland summits and stormy coastline. Across West Penwith, tin mining and the mining trade exerted a strong impact on regional socioeconomic and cultural development from the Bronze Age until the end of the 19th Century, seen through settlement patterns, scientific innovation and Nonconformism. Today these geomorphology–culture relations are memorialized in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper highlights results of a multidisciplinary and multi-analytical study of Holocene archaeological soils around Cecita Lake (Sila massif, Calabria, southern Italy), which represents a typical upland Mediterranean environment. It is focused on assessment of climatic and environmental changes that took place since late Neolithic to Roman times, trying to discriminate natural from anthropogenic signals. Based on an integration of archaeological, geomorphological, stratigraphic, pedological, volcanological and soil charcoal (pedoanthracological) data, the following paleoclimatic/environmental reconstruction is proposed: a warm and humid, seasonally contrasted climate, with an overall geomorphological stability suited for soil development, characterized the late prehistoric environment (Holocene climatic optimum), dominated by a widespread oak forest. The main pedogenetic processes consisted in organic matter accumulation, clay illuviation, phyllosilicate and short-range order mineral neogenesis from weathering of granite and volcanic ash, sourced from late Pleistocene–Holocene eruptions of the Aeolian Islands. One or more mid-Holocene episodes of climate deterioration towards drier conditions (indicated by a decrease of clay translocation processes and possible irreversible dehydration of poorly-crystalline aluminosilicates into phyllosilicate clay minerals) promoted intense land degradation. This was in turn enhanced by increasing human activities for settlement and resource exploitation (among which deforestation and ploughing for agriculture), which led to a shift of the vegetation cover towards a dominant pine forest between 3 ka BP and the Roman epoch. Humid and possibly cooler climatic conditions during the late Holocene are indicated by the decrease of clay illuviation, coupled with short-range order components prevailing over phyllosilicate clays during Roman soil formation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As in many other regions of the world, the Late Pleistocene in China underwent rhythmic changes of climate, which caused some obvious changes in mammalian fauna, natural landscape and human cultural adaptations. This paper is a brief introduction of four representative Late Pleistocene sites in North China, which are dated at periods between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, and demonstrated common or particular features from geographic and geological aspects, archaeological and environmental characters, and chronological position. A large transformation happened, reflected by culture remains, showing that environmental changes profoundly influenced human behaviour and inspired new forms of culture appearance. This indicates the clear existence of Middle Palaeolithic at least in North China, which became a foreshadowing for the coming Upper Palaeolithic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Large quantities of archeology and literature records indicate that during the Shang Dynasty and a part of the Zhou Dynasty of Chinese history, about 2000 BC to 1000 BC, there once were wild elephants living in North China. For a long time, it was believed that all of these elephants belonged to the species Elephas maximus. Many scholars suggested that this phenomenon could show a much higher temperature at that time. However, as the research of Chinese historical climate has already indicated, even in the Megathermal Maximum, most of the parts of North China were still controlled by the climate of the Warm Temperate Zone, not the Subtropic Zone. This paper presents evidence suggesting that the so-called “wild elephants” in North China during that time belonged to Palaeoloxodon sp., not E. maximus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Due to its diverse geographic and climatic conditions, the Iberian Peninsula is well suited for studies into the relationship between climate, environment and hunter-gatherer adaptation. With focus on the archaeological record, this paper examines to what extent diachronic variations in site density on the Iberian Peninsula are related to climate variability and cultural change. Studies are based on a comprehensive record of technocomplexes that date from the late Middle Palaeolithic, early Upper Palaeolithic, Gravettian and Solutrean. The record comprises altogether 152 archaeological cave sites and rock shelters. Analysis reveals strong regional differences between Northern and Southern Iberia, both in isochronic and in diachronic perspective. This is expressed by the strongly different patterns of human presence in these regions. In particular, within both regions major cultural changes coincide with the environmental impact of North Atlantic Heinrich Events (HE). From previous studies, it is known that the human population on the Iberian Peninsula (IP) must have suffered strongly under the extremely variable climate conditions during the Late Pleistocene. Based on extensive site-mapping, the hypothesis is that during HE a major disintegration of habitats must have occurred, with various but strongly isolated patchy refugia remaining. Further, during HE, Southern Iberia could not uphold its previous function in providing a reliable refuge for humans. Not only does climatic deterioration during the different HE repeatedly lead to a near-complete breakdown of settlement patterns, but following each HE there is a major reorganization in settlement patterns on the IP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the spatial organization of two layers corresponding to the first half of the Middle Holocene from the Hornillos 2 rockshelter (Susques, Jujuy Province). Some important issues taken into account are the good preservation of the site and the sedimentary deposition processes which coincide with paleoclimate aspects. Correlation of different archaeological lines of evidence allows interpretation of the connection between several activity areas and their occupational intensity. There is a trash heap related to a short occupation period at the beginning of the Middle Holocene and a main zone of intense activity ca. 6200 yrs BP. These facts are in accordance with the archaeological expectations proposed for certain periods of the Middle Holocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Whether or not abrupt Younger Dryas climate change affected regional paleoenvironments and late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer populations is an important topic in the archaeology of the American Southwest. This paper reviews multiple, age-resolved proxy evidence to gauge the magnitude and direction of Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC) environmental changes in different settings and systems. There is no record of YDC pluvial lake highstands in Arizona or New Mexico, but there are impressive records of vegetation, faunal, stable isotope, and geomorphological change coincident with the YDC. These correlate with important adaptive changes in human hunting and land use, as revealed in the analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of late Pleistocene hunting technologies. Clovis and Folsom projectile point distributions do not support extant models of paleoenvironmental conditions in these interpretations. Significant cultural changes that coincide with the YDC include the Clovis-to-Folsom transition, the demise of mammoth hunting and the development of a highly successful emphasis on bison, increased regionalization, and the abandonment of the northwestern Chihuahuan and the Sonoran deserts by mobile, big-game hunters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Human response to climatic conditions during the turbulent terminal Pleistocene has long concerned archaeologists and paleoecologists alike, especially with regards to the Younger Dryas. In some regions of the Northern Hemisphere the Younger Dryas was not significantly felt; however, in far northern regions affects of climate change are often acute. This paper focuses on the central Alaskan record to explore human–environment interactions during the terminal Pleistocene and tackle questions regarding human response to the Younger Dryas. This region of Beringia preserves a wealth of both paleoecological and archaeological data. Relative to other northern landscapes, proxy data from central Alaska indicate the Younger Dryas signal was somewhat muted but still characterized by return to cooler and/or more arid conditions. This phenomenon likely affected distributions and character of both floral and faunal resources, altering human perception of the surrounding landscape and potentially leading to reorganization of technologies, subsistence behavior, and land-use strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper re-examines the chronology and environmental context for the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant, seen as the likely starting point for the adoption of agriculture in Europe and the Near East. The role in this process of abrupt late Quaternary climate change has been discussed widely, but limitations on the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental chronologies have led to varying interpretations. Here we attempt to clarify the situation by first testing the available radiocarbon database for the archaeological transitions from the Natufian through to the PPNA. We apply internationally accepted radiocarbon quality assurance procedures and find that a significant number of the published dates fall bellow acceptable standards. The cleaning process significantly clarifies and constrains the reported time ranges for the Natufian, Late Natufian and PPNA. We then apply the new IntCal09 calibration curve and Bayesian calibration methods, using the archaeological phasing to constrain the data and calculate the most likely timing of the transitions between each phase. We then compare the onset and duration of archaeological phases to data representing the key Northern Hemisphere climatic transitions, using the new GICC05 Greenland Ice core timescale and the timing of transitions between wet and dry phases in the southern Levant from published high precision isotopic analyses of Speleothem data. The results of this exercise present the currently best available chronology for these events and suggest that during the second part of the Lateglacial interstadial, drying of the southern Levant may have triggered the transition to the Late Natufian, when hunter-gatherer communities resorted to a more mobile lifestyle. The Late Natufian culture appears to have disappeared from the southern Levant during the Younger Dryas, as drying intensified. There is then a gap in well dated evidence for human occupation until a reappearance of humans at the onset of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period at the beginning of the Holocene. Thus the onset of the Holocene can be hypothesised to be the driver behind the onset of the Neolithic in this region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper attempts to draw a connection between information that can be gained from measurements with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and the study of climate change on earth. The power of AMS to help in this endeavor is demonstrated by many contributions to these proceedings. Just like in archaeology, we are entering a phase of an ‘integrated approach’ to understand the various components of climate change. Even though some basic understanding emerged, we are still largely in a situation of a phenomenological description of climate change. Collecting more data is therefore of paramount interest. Based on a recent suggestion of ‘geo-engineering’ to take out CO2 from the atmosphere, this radical step will also be briefly discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although it was demonstrated 20 years ago that mass spectrometric U–Th methods are capable of high-precision dating of young corals, the use of this approach to decipher recent environmental, climatic and archaeological records is still restricted and its potential has not yet been widely recognised. U–Th methods are typically used to determine the ages of carbonate materials such as speleothem and coral. Dating young carbonates of this sort is challenging. Their extremely low 230Th content necessitates stricter instrumental and laboratory conditions than those required for dating older samples. Moreover, analyses must be corrected for the presence of non-radiogenic 230Th, which is proportionally far more significant than in older samples. Nevertheless, 2σ precisions of around ±1–10 years are readily achievable for pristine coral samples dating from the last 500 years. Although the range of analytical precisions for speleothems may vary more widely depending on U concentrations and levels of non-radiogenic 230Th correction, published studies reveal 2σ precisions of around ±10–80 years for typical speleothems. This paper demonstrates how the U–Th method may be applied to establish the causes of recent coral mortality, to determine the recurrence interval of extreme wave events, to investigate earthquake frequency and neotectonic uplift, to reconstruct recent climatic history, and to understand settlement patterns and sociopolitical changes in Polynesia prior to European contact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates changes in the vegetation and hydrology at Ljubljansko barje (Slovenia) using a multi-proxy approach (pollen, diatoms, geochemical and stable isotope analysis). During the Lateglacial Ljubljansko barje was a deep, oligotrophic lake surrounded by open woodland comprised predominantly of Pinus and Betula which in the early Holocene, when the lake became shallower and mesotrophic (Fragilaria pinnata, δ 15N~3.3‰, δ 13C~−33.7‰, C/N~7.9), was replaced by broadleaved tree taxa (Tilia, Ulmus, Quercus, Corylus) and Picea. This was followed by the spread of Fagus and after ~9200 cal yr BP Abies and planktonic and oligotrophic diatom taxa (Aulacoseira italica, Gomphonema angustum) as well as an increased allochthonous influx (silt, SiO2, Al2O3). Between ca. 6750 and 6000 cal yr BP the diatom data suggest shallower and oligotrophic conditions, whereas the stable isotope record (increased δ 13C and decreased δ 15N) indicates terrestrial input. Changes in forest composition (increase of Quercus, Alnus, Corylus) and the spread of herb taxa were probably advanced by human impact on the environment. The beginning of organic sedimentation, dated to 6000 cal yr BP, was followed by an increase of Fagus and Abies and by eutrophication and peat growth at ~5200 cal yr BP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Geoarchaeology is the application of geological and geomorphological techniques to archaeology and the study of the interactions of hominins with the natural environment at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Geoarchaeology in the UK over the last twenty years has flourished largely because it has gone beyond technological and scientific applications. Over the same period our ability to reconstruct the 3-dimensional stratigraphy of fluvial deposits and the matrix of fluvial sites has increased dramatically because of a number of technological advances. These have included the use of LiDAR (laser imaging) and radar to produce high-resolution digital surface models, the use of geophysics, particularly ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity, to produce sediment depth models, and the use of GIS and data visualisation techniques to manipulate and display the data. These techniques along with more systematic and detailed sedimentological recording of exposed sections have allowed the construction of more precise 3-dimensional (volumetric) models of the matrix of artefacts within fluvial deposits. Additionally a revolution in dating techniques, particularly direct sediment dating by luminescence methods, has enabled the creation of 4-dimensional models of the creation and preservation of these sites. These 4-dimensional models have the ability to provide far more information about the processes of site creation, preservation and even destruction, and also allow the integration of these processes with independent data sources concerning cultural evolution and climatic change. All improvements in the precision of dating fluvial deposits have archaeological importance in our need to translate events from a sequential or geological timeframe to human timescales. This allows geoarchaeology to make a more direct contribution to cultural history through the recognition of agency at the individual or group level. This data can then form a component of biocomplexity or agent-based modelling which is becoming increasingly used in the natural sciences, particularly ecology and geomorphology and which can be used to test scenarios including the impact on, and response of, hominins to abrupt or catastrophic environmental change. Whilst catastrophic events clearly represent the atypical they can be illuminating in revealing cognitive processes resulting in abandonment, coping, mitigation and innovation. These points are exemplified using two in-depth case studies: one from the Holocene geoarchaeological record of the River Trent in Central England and the other from the Palaeolithic record from rivers in South West Britain. In the former the interaction between climate change and human activity is illustrated at the year to century timescale whilst in the other the timescale is millennial. These case studies have deliberately been chosen to be as different as possible in temporal and spatial scale with the aim of examining the applicability of methodological and theoretical aspects of geoarchaeology. Lastly the paper considers the problem of scale in geoarchaeology and concludes it is process-dependency, which ultimately affects the questions we can ask, and that questions of human response to climate change are fundamentally a product of materiality and cognitive processes. This demands an in-depth contextual approach to such questions rather than database-driven assertions of causality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Tropical forest animals are at high risk worldwide as a result of over-exploitation and forest clearing. Zooarchaeological studies of animal use by the ancient Maya of the southern lowland regions of Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico provide long-term historical information on animal populations under conditions of human population growth and climatic change that is valuable to both archaeology and conservation biology. In this paper, zooarchaeological data from 35 chronologically defined faunal sub-samples recovered from 25 ancient Maya archaeological sites are used to assess the effects of ancient hunting on animal populations of the Maya region between the Preclassic and Colonial periods (2000 BC–AD 1697). The variations in species abundance are used as a proxy for describing changes in ancient Maya hunting practices and hunted animal populations, interpreted on the basis of hunting efficiency models from foraging ecology. A significant reduction in the proportion of large mammals, particularly Odocoileus virginianus, in zooarchaeological assemblages between the Late Classic (AD 600–850) and Terminal Classic/Postclassic periods (AD 850–1519) suggest that over-hunting during the Late Classic may have led to a reduction in availability of these animals to the ancient Maya hunters in the later periods. This finding is discussed in relation to important social and environmental variations to evaluate the impact of hunting and other factors such as forest clearance and climate on ancient animal populations in the Maya region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the High Arctic, recent acceleration of geomorphological processes is having extreme impact on archaeological landscapes. In this paper, we consider implication for circumpolar archaeology, and focus analysis on a study area of critical importance to the local Inughuit community at Siorapaluk – a small settlement in Northwest Greenland. Using a combination of ground survey, historical satellite images, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we analyze damage zones to understand the character, timing, and extent of destruction. Three types of geomorphological processes are identified as causing significant damage, including: 1) debris flows, 2) active-layer detachment slides, and 3) alluvial deposition. These processes, we demonstrate, were amplified by extraordinary rainfall events that took place in the summers of 2016 and 2017 against a backdrop of broader climate change induced shifts in arctic precipitation. Further instability in the amount and seasonality of precipitation can be expected, and archaeological consequences will expand to areas that have so far been unaffected. The scale of mass movement that we document may be unprecedented in terms of the landscape's post-glacial development, and likely represents the onset of a new state in erosional maturity. We use our results to suggest criteria that can help predict and identify areas most at risk, which will be a critical component of prioritizing response measures. The suddenness through which mass movement went from background threat to primary destructive process makes the case of Siorapaluk relevant to archaeologists working in periglacial landscapes worldwide. Image 1 • Recent mass movement events significantly damaged archaeological landscapes around the High Arctic community of Siorapaluk. • Sudden onset was caused by heavy rainfall events amidst circumpolar shifts in precipitation. • Historical satellite and aerial images reveal the extent and acceleration of destructive processes. • The case of Siorapaluk helps predict the risk to sites in periglacial environments worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]