Stone Age settlements at S�r�ya, sub-arctic Norway: impact on the vegetation

Vorren, Karl‐Dag

doi:10.1007/s00334-004-0052-9

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In particular, an abrupt decline in fecal 5β-stanols, indicating that farming was largely abandoned in the area from ∼2,040 to 1,900 cal y BP, appears to have been driven by a sharp drop in summer temperature (by ∼4°C), only a few centuries after initial settlement. This pattern was widespread across the region, indicating the vulnerability of the population to small changes in climate (14,35,(37)(38)(39). Summer temperatures had largely recovered by ∼1,900 cal y BP, and farming in the area quickly resumed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Climate impacts on human settlement and agricultural activities in northern Norway revealed through sediment biogeochemistry

D'anjou

Bradley

Balascio

et al. 2012

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

121

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Disentangling the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the environment is a major challenge in paleoenvironmental research. Here, we used fecal sterols and other biogeochemical compounds in lake sediments from northern Norway to identify both natural and anthropogenic signals of environmental change during the late Holocene. The area was first occupied by humans and their grazing animals at ∼2,250 ± 75 calendar years before 1950 AD (calendar years before present). The arrival of humans is indicated by an abrupt increase in coprostanol (and its epimer epicoprostanol) in the sediments and an associated increase in 5β-stigmastanol (and 5β-epistigmastanol), which resulted from human and animal feces washing into the lake. Human settlement was accompanied by an abrupt increase in landscape fires (indicated by the rise in pyrolytic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and a decline in woodland (registered by a change in n-alkane chain lengths from leaf waxes), accelerating a process that began earlier in the Holocene. Human activity and associated landscape changes in the region over the last two millennia were mainly driven by summer temperatures, as indicated by independent tree-ring reconstructions, although there were periods when socioeconomic factors played an equally important role. In this study, fecal sterols in lake sediments have been used to provide a record of human occupancy through time. This approach may be useful in many archeological studies, both to confirm the presence of humans and grazing animals, and to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural factors that have influenced the environment in the past.biomarkers | paleoclimate | geoarchaeology | paleolimnology

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Climate impacts on human settlement and agricultural activities in northern Norway revealed through sediment biogeochemistry

D'anjou

Bradley

Balascio

et al. 2012

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

121

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“…Along the outer coast of Finnmark, and on the islands, birch forest established about 10 200–10 100 cal. yr BP; at Nordkinnhalvøya (Høeg 2000 and own unpublished data) and on Sørøya (Vorren 2005 and own unpublished data). Seppä's (1996) date from Hopseidet, Nordkinnhalvøya of 11 200 cal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12) and micro‐fossils (pollen). Its pollen is found not only on Andøya, but also on Sørøya in Finnmark, in Preboreal limnic deposits (Vorren 2005) and at Tromsø (Vorren unpubl.). At Andøya, it occurs also in Allerød deposits (Vorren 1978).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation and climatec. 12 300–9000 cal. yr BP at Andøya, NW Norway

Vorren¹,

Elverland²,

Blaauw³

et al. 2009

Boreas

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Owing to proximity of the North Atlantic Stream and the shelf, the Andya biota are assumed to have responded rapidly to climatic changes taking place after the Weichselian glaciation. Palynological, macrofossil, loss-on-ignition, tephra and 14 C data from three sites at the northern part of the island of Andya were studied. The period 12 300-11 950 cal. yr BP was characterized by polar desert vegetation, and 11 950-11 050 cal. yr BP by a moisturedemanding predominantly low-arctic Oxyria vegetation. During the period 11 050-10 650 cal. yr BP, there was a climatic amelioration towards a sub-arctic climate and heaths dominated by Empetrum. After 10 650 cal. yr BP the Oxyria vegetation disappeared. As early as about 10 800 cal. yr BP the bryozoan Cristatella mucedo indicated a climate sufficient for Betula woodland. However, tree birch did not establish until 10 420-10 250 cal. yr BP, indicating a time-lag for the formation of Betula ecotypes adapted to the oceanic climate of Andya. From about 10 150 to 9400 cal. yr BP the summers were dry and warm. There was a change towards moister, though comparatively warm, climatic conditions about 9400 cal. yr BP. The present data are compared with evidence from marine sediments and the deglaciation history in the region. It is suggested that during most of the period 11 500-10 250 cal. yr BP a similar situation as in present southern Greenland existed, with birch woodland in the inner fjords near the ice sheet and low-arctic heath vegetation along the outer coast.

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