Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years – A review

Finné, Martin; Holmgren, Karin; Sundqvist, Hanna S.; Weiberg, Erika; Lindblom, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.05.007

Cited by 281 publications

(205 citation statements)

References 153 publications

(297 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

186

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…6). This shift is also seen in the eastern Mediterranean by Finné et al (2011). Palaeoclimate records in the eastern Mediterranean reconstruct wet conditions from 6000 to 5400 cal yr BP followed by a period of drying that develops into aridity by ca.…”

Section: A North-south Climatic Pattern? Looking At the Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lake-level records from Italy suggest that patterns of precipitation in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene were divided between the north and south, but a scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the north and central-southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. We provide robust quantitative estimates of Holocene climate in the Mediterranean region using four high-resolution pollen records from northern (Lakes Ledro and Accesa) and southern (Lakes Trifoglietti and Pergusa) Italy. Multiple methods are used to provide an improved assessment of the palaeoclimatic reconstruction uncertainty. The multi-method approach uses the pollenbased weighted averaging, weighted-average partial leastsquares regression, modern analogue technique, and the nonmetric multidimensional scaling/generalized additive model methods. We use independent lake-level data to validate the precipitation reconstructions. Our results support a climatic partition between northern and southern Italy during the Holocene, confirming the hypothesis of opposing mid-Holocene summer precipitation regimes in the Mediterranean. The northern sites (Ledro, Accesa) are characterized by minima for summer precipitation and lake levels during the early to midHolocene, while the southern sites (Trifoglietti, Pergusa) are marked by maxima for precipitation and lake levels at the same time. Both pollen-inferred precipitation and lake levels indicate the opposite pattern during the late Holocene, a maximum in northern Italy and a minimum in southern Italy/Sicily. Summer temperatures show the same partitioning, with warm conditions in northern Italy and cool conditions in Sicily during the early/mid-Holocene, and a reversal during the late Holocene. Comparison with marine cores from the Aegean Sea suggests that climate trends and gradients observed in Italy show strong similarities with those recognized from the Aegean Sea, and more generally speaking in the eastern Mediterranean

show abstract

Section: A North-south Climatic Pattern? Looking At the Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most records from the central Mediterranean divide the Holocene into three phases, similar to those in other regions of the Mediterranean (e.g. Jalut et al, 2000Jalut et al, , 2009Finné et al, 2011) with boundaries that have been recently refined by Walker et al (2012): (i) an early Holocene humid period from 11 700 to 8200 cal yr BP (calendar years before present); (ii) a mid-Holocene transitional period from 8200 to 4200 cal yr BP; and, (iii) a late-Holocene period of aridification following 4200 cal yr BP. Climate reconstructions from Lake Accesa (northcentral Italy) distinguish two distinct intervals based on precipitation and emphasize the role of the seasonality during the Holocene .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Holocene vegetation and climate changes in the central Mediterranean inferred from a high-resolution marine pollen record (Adriatic Sea)

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The high-resolution multiproxy study of the Adriatic marine core MD 90-917 provides new insights to reconstruct vegetation and regional climate changes over the southcentral Mediterranean during the Younger Dryas (YD) and Holocene. Pollen records show the rapid forest colonization of the Italian and Balkan borderlands and the gradual installation of the Mediterranean association during the Holocene. Quantitative estimates based on pollen data provide Holocene precipitations and temperatures in the Adriatic Sea using a multi-method approach. Clay mineral ratios from the same core reflect the relative contributions of riverine (illite and smectite) and eolian (kaolinite) contributions to the site, and thus act as an additional proxy with which to evaluate precipitation changes in the Holocene. Vegetation climate reconstructions show the response to the Preboreal oscillation (PBO), most likely driven by changes in temperature and seasonal precipitation, which is linked to increasing river inputs from Adriatic rivers recorded by increase in clay mineral contribution to marine sediments. Pollen-inferred temperature declines during the early-mid Holocene, then increases during the mid-late Holocene, similar to southwestern Mediterranean climatic patterns during the Holocene. Several short vegetation and climatic events appear in the record, indicating the sensitivity of vegetation in the region to millennial-scale variability. Reconstructed summer precipitation shows a regional maximum (170-200 mm) between 8000 and 7000 similar to the general pattern across southern Europe. Two important shifts in vegetation occur at 7700 cal yr BP (calendar years before present) and between 7500 and 7000 cal yr BP and are correlated with increased river inputs around the Adriatic Basin respectively from the northern (7700 event) and from the central Adriatic borderlands (7500-7000 event). During the mid-Holocene, the wet summers lead to permanent moisture all year resulting in a homogeneous seasonal precipitation regime. After 6000 cal yr BP, summer precipitation decreases towards present-day values while winter precipitation rises regularly showing the setting up of Mediterranean climate conditions. Multiproxy evidence from core MD 90-917 provides a deeper understanding of the role of precipitation and particularly the seasonality of precipitation in mediating vegetation change in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene

show abstract

“…Local effects of global Holocene climatic fluctuations have been recognized with diverse magnitudes in paleoclimate proxy archives in the Near East (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Among these climatic shifts, the 4200 B.P.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ ¹³ C in barley grain

Riehl

Pustovoytov

Weippert

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The collapse and resilience of political systems in the ancient Near East and their relationship with agricultural development have been of wide interest in archaeology and anthropology. Despite attempts to link the archaeological evidence to local paleoclimate data, the precise role of environmental conditions in ancient agricultural production remains poorly understood. Recently, stable isotope analysis has been used for reconstructing site-specific ancient growing conditions for crop species in semiarid and arid landscapes. To open the discussion of the role of regional diversity in past agricultural production as a factor in societal development, we present 1.037 new stable carbon isotope measurements from 33 archaeological sites and modern fields in the geographic area of the Fertile Crescent, spanning the Aceramic Neolithic [10,000 calibrated years (cal) B.C.] to the later Iron Age (500 cal B.C.), alongside modern data from 13 locations. Our data show that drought stress was an issue in many agricultural settlements in the ancient Near East, particularly in correlation with the major Holocene climatic fluctuations, but its regional impact was diverse and influenced by geographic factors. Although cereals growing in the coastal areas of the northern Levant were relatively unaffected by Holocene climatic fluctuations, farmers of regions further inland had to apply irrigation to cope with increased water stress. However, inland agricultural strategies showed a high degree of variability. Our findings suggest that regional differences in climatic effects led to diversified strategies in ancient subsistence and economy even within spatially limited cultural units.Holocene climate change | agricultural societies | aridity stress | Middle East | archaeobotanical crop species

show abstract

Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years – A review

Cited by 281 publications

References 153 publications

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

Holocene vegetation and climate changes in the central Mediterranean inferred from a high-resolution marine pollen record (Adriatic Sea)

Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ ¹³ C in barley grain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years – A review

Cited by 281 publications

References 153 publications

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

Holocene vegetation and climate changes in the central Mediterranean inferred from a high-resolution marine pollen record (Adriatic Sea)

Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ 13 C in barley grain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ ¹³ C in barley grain