Author, as appears in the article.: Brisset, Elodie; Revelles, Jordi; Exposito, Isabel; Auban, Joan Bernabeu; Burjachs, Francesc;
Department: Història i Història de l'Art
URV's Author/s: BURJACHS CASAS, FRANCESC
Keywords: Vegetation Record Rapid climate changes Peninsula Paleoenvironment Land-cover Holocene History Forest Evolution Cal bc Archaeology Almeria Alicante-valencia 4 2 kyr bp event
Abstract: We conducted palynological, sedimentological, and chronological analyses of a coastal sediment sequence to investigate landscape evolution and agropastoral practices in the Nao Cap region (Spain, Western Mediterranean) since the Holocene. The results allowed for a reconstruction of vegetation, fire, and erosion dynamics in the area, implicating the role of fire in vegetation turnover at 5300 (mesophilous forests replaced by sclerophyllous scrubs) and at 3200 calibrated before present (cal. BP) (more xerophytics). Cereal cultivation was apparent from the beginning of the record, during the Mid-Neolithic period. From 5300 to 3800 cal. BP, long-lasting soil erosion was associated with the presence of cereals, indicating intense land-use during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods. The decline of the agriculture signal and vegetal recolonization is likely explained by land abandonment during the Final Bronze Age. Anthropogenic markers reappeared during the Iberian period when more settlements were present. A contingency of human and environmental agencies was found at 5900, 4200, and 2800 cal. BP, coinciding with abrupt climate events, that have manifested locally in reduced spring discharge, an absence of agropastoral evidence, and a marked decline in settlement densities. This case study, covering five millennia and three climate events, highlights how past climate changes have affected human activities, and also shows that people repeatedly reoccupied the coast once the perturbation was gone. The littoral zone remained attractive for prehistoric communities despite the costs of living in an area exposed to climatic hazards, such as droughts.
Thematic Areas: Geosciences, multidisciplinary Earth-surface processes Earth and planetary sciences (miscellaneous)
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: francesc.burjachs@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-7200-9552
Record's date: 2022-07-24
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/19
Papper original source: Quaternary. 3 (3):
APA: Brisset, Elodie; Revelles, Jordi; Exposito, Isabel; Auban, Joan Bernabeu; Burjachs, Francesc; (2020). Socio-Ecological Contingencies with Climate Changes over the Prehistory in the Mediterranean Iberia. Quaternary, 3(3), -. DOI: 10.3390/quat3030019
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Article's DOI: 10.3390/quat3030019
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2020
Publication Type: Journal Publications