No abstract

Ain Ghazal is among the earliest large population centers known in the Middle East. A total of four major stratigraphic cultural units have been identified: 1) The oldest Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (MPPNB) unit (10.2 to 9.5 cal ka BP) clearly corresponds with the early Holocene maximum Dead Sea levels. 2) The second unit consists of Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB) in situ walls and hearths. 3) In the subsequent PPNC (8.9 to 8.6 cal ka BP) the population density at the settlement drops dramatically, which corresponds with a significant drop in the Dead Sea level. 4) The 4th stratigraphic unit is characterized by the "Yarmoukian rubble layer". Additionally, there is evidence for a previously unrecognized use of the site by Chalcolithic pastoralists. Sedimentological analyses reveal a constant increase in dust from a remote source during the entire human occupation period, which correlates well with the detectable drops in climatic humidity from the Dead Sea. As the major focus of this study, we can now rule out previous notions that the "Yarmoukian" rubble layer could have been produced by (catastrophic) slope-scale gravitational movements. To this point, it appears that the Neolithic mega-site was abandoned due to a climatic aridification.

How to cite:Struck, J., Roettig, C.

<p>The analysis of the stable oxygen isotopes <sup>18</sup>O and <sup>16</sup>O has revolutionised palaeoclimate research since the middle of the last century. Particularly, <sup>18</sup>O of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica is used as a palaeotemperature proxy and <sup>18</sup>O of deep-sea sediments is used as a proxy for global ice volume. Important terrestrial archives to which <sup>18</sup>O as palaeoclimate proxy is successfully applied are speleothems, lake sediments or tree rings. By contrast, <sup>18</sup>O applications to loess-palaeosol sequences (LPSs) are scarce, despite for instance a compound-specific <sup>18</sup>O analytical tool for sugar biomarkers was developed and presented already years ago (Zech et al., 2014). Here we present a first continuous <sup>18</sup>O record (n=50) for the LPS Crvenka in Serbia, SE Europe, spanning the last glacial-interglacial cycle. From a methodological point of view, we took advantage of a recently proposed palaeoclimate/-hydrological tool/proxy based on bulk <sup>18</sup>O analyses of plant-derived lipids. The <sup>18</sup>O lipid values range between −10.2‰ and +23.0‰ and are systematically more positive in the interglacial and interstadial (paleo-)soils compared to the loess layers. In our presentation, we compare our <sup>18</sup>O lipid record from the LPS Crvenka with the marine oxygen-isotope stages as well as with the Greenland <sup>18</sup>O ice core records revealing the famous Dansgaard-Oeschger events (stadials and interstadials). Concerning the interpretation of our LPS <sup>18</sup>O lipid record, we will discuss several influencing factors, such as temperature-control on <sup>18</sup>O, evaporative leaf water enrichment, post-sedimentary effects and pool-effects.</p> <p>References</p> <p>Labahn, J., Bittner, L., Hirschmann, P., Roettig, C., Burghardt, D., Glaser, B., Marković, S. and Zech, M., 2022. <sup>18</sup>O analyses of bulk lipids as novel paleoclimate tool in loess research – a pilot study. E&G Quaternary Science Journal 71, 83-90.</p> <p>Zech, M., Mayr, C., Tuthorn, M., Leiber-Sauheitl, K. and Glaser, B., 2014. Reply to the comment of Sternberg on "Zech et al. (2014) Oxygen isotope ratios (<sup>18</sup>O/<sup>16</sup>O) of hemicellulose-derived sugar biomarkers in plants, soils and sediments as paleoclimate proxy I: Insight from a climate chamber experiment”. GCA 126, 614-623. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 141, 680-682.</p>