Pleistocene small-vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals) studies in Serbia (Balkan Peninsula, SE Europe): history of research, methodological state of the art, and paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions

Identifier:  TDX:3781

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3781

Authors:  Jovanovic, Mihailo

Abstract:
During the MIS 2, results suggest that the Balkans had milder and humid climate compared to Central Europe, with average temperature ranging from 2.2 to 4.5 ºC lower than presently. Holocene layers are generally not preserved due to stratigraphic mixing, but in cases where it is possible to distinguish early Holocene layers, these might contain very valuable information on the species that survived the Last Glacial Maximum, or the complex repopulating of the Balkan Peninsula by amphibians and reptiles. Overall, there were no important ecological changes during the transition between Mousterian and Aurignacian, i.e. between Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans. This conclusion is generally in line with common opinion that climate change was not a crucial factor in Neanderthal extinction in the Balkan Peninsula; instead it had the effect similar to Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas, where milder climate allowed Neanderthals to find refuge and survive longer than in the rest of the Europe. MIS 5 is reconstructed to have been much warmer than today, with temperatures averaging around 2.2 ºC higher than today, which allowed thermophilic species to thrive in such conditions.