Environmental change in NW Iberia between 7000 and 500 cal BC

Abstract

We review research done on environmental changes in northwest (NW) Iberia spanning from the beginning to the late Holocene (7000–500 cal. BC). The type of archives (peat bogs, lake sediments, colluvium, soils, etc.) and proxies (pollen, element concentrations, isotopes, etc.) that were used to reconstruct changes on climate, soils, vegetation and atmospheric metal pollution are briefly described. Then we synthesize what the records suggest about the ecological history of NW Iberia. We identified four main phases: 7000–5000, 5000–3000, 3000–1500 and 1500-500 cal. BC. Each phase is determined by a set of environmental conditions, a combination of changes in climate, vegetation, soils and human impact. Human activities seem to have been involved in landscape changes in NW Iberia since at least 5000 cal. BC, with an increasing degree of anthropisation through time, which accelerated by 1500 cal. BC. The interaction between human activities and natural changes expressed as modifications in the vegetation cover, the elimination of the soil resources in many areas and its concentration in more localized, control-demanding sectors, as well as a progressive acidification and pollution of continental ecosystems. To a great extent, the present landscape in NW Iberia is the end product of these complex interactions, a cultural landscape.