Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12265281
AutoresVeronica Rohde Krossa (Department of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Germany, autor de correspondencia), Matthias Moros (0000-0003-1061-0892, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde), Guillaume Leduc (0000-0003-2950-7983, Department of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Germany), Martin Hinz (0000-0002-9904-6548, Graduate School ‘Human Development in Landscapes’, Germany), Thomas Blanz (0000-0001-6955-2020, Department of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Germany), Ralph Schneider (Department of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Germany), Ralph R Schneider (0000-0003-1453-9181, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel)
Año2017
Volumen27
Número10
Páginas1589-1599
Fecha de publicación2017-04-19
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959683617702223
OpenAlexW2606513133
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas61

In Europe, the transition from hunter–gatherer–fisher-based communities into societies mainly relying on farming was spread from the southeast towards the north and west during the Holocene. In central Germany, farming was adopted at ~7500 cal. yr BP, whereas the shift is evident at ~6000–5500 cal. yr BP in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Consequently, farming techniques were available for more than a millennium. Some studies argue that climate change might have played a role in the onset of farming in those areas. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the mid- to late-Holocene sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Skagerrak to document potential regional climatic impacts on changes in human economy. We compare our results with a record of human settlement activity in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Prior to ~6300 cal. yr BP, warm SSTs are documented throughout the Skagerrak, suggesting dominance of North Atlantic sourced water inflow providing mild climatic conditions. Between ~6300 and 5400 cal. yr BP, that is, concomitant with the shift in human economy, SSTs in the NE Skagerrak dropped by ~5–6°C, as also documented in mean annual air temperatures in central South Sweden, although less pronounced. The regional cooling suggests outflow of colder Baltic Sea water only affecting the NE Skagerrak and central South Sweden. Probably, numerous severe winters reflecting a continental-dominated atmospheric circulation pattern prevailed over the region. These changes most likely caused a gradual restriction in natural food sources, in particular from the marine realm. We thus suggest that hunter–gatherer–fishers were forced to adopt farming strategies to counter-balance this environmental stress. Our results indicate that regional changes in oceanography probably amplifying North Atlantic climate change in the western Baltic were an important factor that played a role in the adoption of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia

Agriculture · Archaeology · Biology · Climate change · Climatology · Dominance (genetics · Geography · Holocene · Human settlement · Physical geography · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Geology · Oceanography