The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean

Weninger, Bernhard; Lee, Clare; Rohling, Eelco J.; Bar‐Yosef, Ofer; Böhner, Utz; Budja, Mihael; Bundschuh, Manfred; Feurdean, Angelica; Gebe, Hans Georg; Jöris, Olaf; Linstädter, Jörg; Mayewski, Paul Andrew; Mühlenbruch, Tobias; Reingruber, Agathe; Rollefson, Gary O.; Schyle, Daniel; Thissen, Laurens; Todorova, Henrieta; Zielhofer, Christoph

doi:10.4312/dp.36.2

Cited by 194 publications

(135 citation statements)

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“…In the following, we continue our previous WDTstudies with subordinate further consideration of the available 14 C-data, which have already undergone sufficient analysis (e.g., Weninger et al 2009;Asouti, Fuller 2013;Borrell et al 2015). Instead, let us have a fresh look at the remarkable coincidence of the WDT with the previously identified major increase in precipitation levels in large parts of the Near East at around 10.2 ka cal BP.…”

Section: Archaeological Examples Of Punctuated Equilibriummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also unfortunate that the postulated social resilience to climate change does not even theoretically follow from its non-identification (Flohr et al 2015). A more promising approach lies in dedicated climate-archaeological fieldwork (e.g., Zielhofer et al 2012).In the following, we continue our previous WDTstudies with subordinate further consideration of the available 14 C-data, which have already undergone sufficient analysis (e.g., Weninger et al 2009;Asouti, Fuller 2013;Borrell et al 2015). Instead, let us have a fresh look at the remarkable coincidence of the WDT with the previously identified major increase in precipitation levels in large parts of the Near East at around 10.2 ka cal BP.…”

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Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Weninger

2017

Doc. praeh.

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IntroductionA central challenge to the theory of agricultural origins (TAO) concerns the integration and joint interpretation of the increasingly large amounts of numeric empirical data made available by participating scientific disciplines, for example, cultural studies, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, plant and animal genetics, radiometric dating, palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, and others. In a recently published study, Kristen Gremillion et al. (2014) have argued that it may be possible to unify the scientific results pertaining to TAO under the umbrella of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. To the same topic, Kim Niche construction and theory of agricultural origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium 7 of plants and animals, both microscopic and macroscopic, including humans (Gould, Eldredge 1977;Gould 1989;Jones et al. 1994;Laland et al. 2016;Saltz et al. 2016;Zeder 2016). NCT is equally promising for applications in archaeology, for which purpose even the elementary (unpretentious) renaming of the Neolithic Package as a mobile eco-system that is capable of environmental or climatic habitattracking may help students and researchers alike to achieve a qualitatively better understanding of the complex processes underlying Neolithisation. In the long run, however, quantitative modelling of archaeological NCT appears to be necessary. Punctuated Equilibrium (PE)In the following, let us explore what might happen in archaeological NCT discourse if concepts derived from the neo-darwinian theory of punctuated equilibrium (Gould, Eldredge 1977;Gould 2007) are taken into consideration. In contrast to classical Darwinian forecasting, the geological record shows not a slow and continuous fossil development (graduation), but instead long periods of stasis with no observable change. Then follows an abrupt switch from one species to the next (punctuation), with no apparent transition. According to Darwin's (and others'), explanation, the geological observation of a seemingly abrupt and quasi-instantaneous origination of new palaeontological species is caused by the notoriously imperfect character of the fossil record due to stratigraphic disturbance, incomplete preservation, and fragmentary research (Gould, Eldredge 1993.223). For PE theory, in contrast, the abrupt origination of species is the result neither of noisy or missing data, nor of an unobserved geographic switch in habitat, but the expected and meaningful consequence of a rapid genetic switch from one species to the next, following the law of natural selection. In a nutshell, most species originate in such brief moments of time, that expected 'transitions' have no apparent manifestation in the geological stratigraphy (Gould 2007).But how does PE work? As indicated above, many PE related processes are (today) subsumed under what is more commonly called the Theory of Complex Systems (or similar), but I propose we continue to use the term PE. An example from physics would be coulomb excitation, whereby a subatomic particle passes so close to an atomic nuc...

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Section: Archaeological Examples Of Punctuated Equilibriummentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Weninger

2017

Doc. praeh.

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“…When conditions got drier and colder in the 1 st half of the 4 th millennium BC ("Rapid Climate Change" period from 6000-5000 BP; Weninger et al 2009) and the steppe habitats disappeared in many regions, 71. The basic ideas of the hypotheses have been developed by one of the authors (H. G. K. Gebel) in 2006, and are updated since then.…”

Section: Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climatologically, this process is expected to be related to the so-called 5.2 ka BP event, respectively the so-called 6000-5000 BP "Rapid Climate Change" ("RCC"), cf. WENINGER et al 2009, STAUBWASSER & WEISS 2006 8. However, one cannot be sure if the Qulban Beni Murra area actually participated in such an early oases development, cf.…”

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confidence: 99%

Disappeared by Climate Change. The Shepherd Cultures of Qulban Ceni Murra (2nd Half of the 5th Millennium bc) and their Aftermath

Gebel¹,

Mahasneh²

2013

syria

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Le phénomène funéraire attesté dans le sud-est de la Jordanie témoigne d’une phase d’occupation méconnue de la région au cours du milieu de l’Holocène, en lien avec un mode de vie pastoral basé sur l’exploitation des ressources en eau des puits (« Early Mid-Holocene pastoral well cultures », 4500-4000 bc). À titre d’hypothèse, cette phase précoce d’occupation a pu aboutir au développement des premières « cultures des oasis » de la péninsule Arabique (« Oasis cultures », 4000-35000/3000 bc). Cette deuxième phase constitue, après la Néolithisation, un des derniers grands épisodes de sédentarisation des sociétés du Proche-Orient, reflet d’une importante capacité d’innovation et d’adaptation socio-économique permettant la conquête de nouveaux territoires arides pour une occupation sédentaire. L’occupation pastorale du Sud-Est jordanien constitue le prolongement oriental du phénomène de peuplement de la péninsule Arabique, caractérisé au cours de la période (acéramique) du Chalcolithique récent/Bronze ancien par la récurrence des structures funéraires mégalithiques de pierres dressées et des cairns. Le site de Qulban Beni Murra est l’un de ces complexes funéraires importants (>1 km2), et témoigne d’une grande diversité dans les types de tombes et de structures en présence. Il atteste aussi une série d’aménagements hydrauliques (dépressions creusées) alimentés par des puits (datés de 4400 av. J.-C. environ) qui sont le reflet d’une occupation pastorale qui a probablement abouti au développement dans cette région, après un assèchement du climat à partir de 4000, d’une économie basée sur l’exploitation des oasis, là où les ressources en eau étaient encore disponibles.

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“…Bonsall et al, 2002b;Weninger et al, 2006Weninger et al, , 2009Gronenborn, 2007Gronenborn, , 2009Macklin et al, 2011), while relatively few studies have considered the effects of climate shifts on Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations. (2) Many more data are available from climate proxies in Central Europe, most importantly information on Holocene lake levels and palaeotemperature records from cave speleothems and lake sediments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene climate change and prehistoric settlement in the lower Danube valley

Macklin

Boroneanț²,

Pickard

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

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An analysis of the summed probability distributions of 293 radiocarbon dates from Late Glacial to mid-Holocene sites in the Danubian Iron Gates highlights the existence of well-marked 14 C discontinuities at c. 9.5-9.0 ka, 8.65-8.0 ka and after 7.8 ka cal BP. These coincide with climate anomalies recorded in Greenland ice cores and palaeoclimate archives from the Danube catchment. Four possible explanations are considered: dwindling fish resources, changes in the social environment, floodinduced settlement relocations, and taphonomic effects. On present evidence, the last two factors are thought to be the most likely cause of the discontinuities observed in the Iron Gates Mesolithic-Early Neolithic radiocarbon record.

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The Impact of Rapid Climate Change on Prehistoric Societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean

Cited by 194 publications

References 45 publications

Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Disappeared by Climate Change. The Shepherd Cultures of Qulban Ceni Murra (2nd Half of the 5th Millennium bc) and their Aftermath

Holocene climate change and prehistoric settlement in the lower Danube valley

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