Late Glacial rapid climate change and human response in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco).

Gerd-Christian Weniger,Viviane Bolin,María De Andrés-Herrero,Martin Kehl,Alessandro Potì,Yvonne Tafelmaier,Taylor Otto,Marco Peresani

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225049

Gerd-Christian Weniger, Viviane Bolin + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225049

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Abstract

This paper investigates the correlation between climate, environment and human land use in the Westernmost Mediterranean on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar during the Late Glacial. Using a multi-proxy approach on a sample of 300 sites from the Solutrean and Magdalenian of the Iberian Peninsula and from the Iberomaurusian in Morocco, we find evidence for significant changes in settlement patterns and site density after the Last Glacial Maximum. In Southern Iberia, during Heinrich Stadial 1, hyperarid zones expanded drastically from the south-eastern coast to the West through the Interior. This aridification process heavily affected Magdalenian settlement in the South and caused a strong decline of hunter-gatherer population. Southern Iberia during Heinrich Stadial 1 turned out to be a high-risk environment when compared to Northern Iberia. At the same time, the Late Iberomaurusian of Morocco, although considered to be situated in a high-risk environment as well, experiences an increase of sites and expansion of settlement area.

Highlights

Climatological research focusing on the coring of ice sheets, marine and lake sediments undertaken during the last decade has given evidence of rapid climate changes during Late Pleistocene Europe [1]
The study is based on a database of archaeological sites from Iberia and Morocco dated to the interval between Heinrich Stadial 2 (HS 2) and the end of the Pleistocene (S1 and S2 Tables)
As we are studying land use differences on the supra-regional scale, short term fluctuations identified in the 14C plots–resulting from dating biases or reflecting actual trends in occupation history–are difficult to detect in the following analyses due to the necessary coarse resolution, but will be discussed in the concluding chapters of this paper

Summary

Introduction

Climatological research focusing on the coring of ice sheets, marine and lake sediments undertaken during the last decade has given evidence of rapid climate changes during Late Pleistocene Europe [1]. These repeated oscillations are expected to have significantly influenced the demographic development, land use and mobility of hunter-gatherer groups [2,3,4]. Latest advances in palaeogenetic studies of European Late Pleistocene populations indicate repeated migration events and population turnover [5,6] These results go hand in hand with archaeological studies on Late Pleistocene palaeodemography based on settlement patterns and land use.

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