Prehistoric palaeodemographics and regional land cover change in eastern Iberia

Bibliographic Data

ID12265288
AuthorsRalph Fyfe (0000-0002-5676-008X, University of Plymouth, corresponding author), John Woodbridge (0000-0003-0756-3538, University of Plymouth), Jessie Woodbridge (University of Plymouth), Alessio Palmisano (0000-0003-4139-6366, Institute of Archaeology, University College London), A Bevan (0000-0001-7967-3117, Institute of Archaeology, University College London), Shennan (0000-0001-6605-064X, Institute of Archaeology, University College London), Francesc Burjachs (0000-0002-7200-9552, ICREA Barcelona, Spain; Rovira i Virgili University (URV), Spain), Borja Legarra Herrero (0000-0002-1458-1681, Institute of Archaeology, University College London), Oreto García Puchol (0000-0001-9716-6039, PREMEDOC Research Group, Departament de Prehistoria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Universitat de València, Spain), José S Carrión (0000-0002-6949-4382, Universidad de Murcia), José-Sebastián Carrión (Universidad de Murcia), J Revelles (0000-0003-4803-9513, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona), N Roberts (0000-0002-9379-1598, University of Plymouth), C Neil Roberts (University of Plymouth)
Year2019
Volume29
Issue5
Pages799-815
Publication date2019-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959683619826643
OpenAlexW2912760494
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited66

Much attention has been placed on the drivers of vegetation change on the Iberian Peninsula. While climate plays a key role in determining the species pools within different regions and exerts a strong influence on broad vegetation patterning, the role of humans, particularly during prehistory, is less clear. The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of prehistoric population change on shaping vegetation patterns in eastern Iberia and the Balearic Islands between the start of the Neolithic and the late Bronze Age. In all, 3385 radiocarbon dates have been compiled across the study area to provide a palaeodemographic proxy (radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs)). Modelled trends in palaeodemographics are compared with regional-scale vegetation patterns deduced from analysis of 30 fossil pollen sequences. The pollen sequences have been standardised with count data aggregated into contiguous 200-year time windows from 11,000 cal. yr BP to the present. Samples have been classified using cluster analysis to determine the predominant regional land cover types through the Holocene. Regional human impact indices and diversity metrics have been derived for north-east and south-east Spain and the Balearic Islands. The SPDs show characteristic boom-and-bust cycles of population growth and collapse, but there is no clear synchronism between north-east and south-east Spain other than the rise of Neolithic farming. In north-east Iberia, patterns of demographic change are strongly linked to changes in vegetation diversity and human impact indicator groups. In the south-east, increases in population throughout the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age result in more open landscapes and increased vegetation diversity. The demographic maximum occurred early in the 3rd millennium cal. BP on the Balearic Islands and is associated with the highest levels of human impact indicator groups. The results demonstrate the importance of population change in shaping the abundance and diversity of taxa within broad climatically determined biomes

Archaeology · Bronze Age · Climate change · East Asia · Geography · Holocene · Peninsula · Physical geography · Population · Prehistory · Radiocarbon dating · Vegetation (pathology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography

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