Mid to Late Holocene Climate Change and ITS Influence on Cultural Development in South Central Siberia

Abstract

The emergence and the cultural blooming of the Scythian cultures in the steppe of South Central Siberia occurred from the 9th century BC (ca. 2700 cal yr BP), much earlier than in the western part of Eurasia. To understand a possible climatic cause of this cultural phenomenon, we have studied sediment cores from the Kutuzhekovo Lake in the Minusinsk depression (Southern Siberia) and the White Lake in the Uyuk depression (Tuva, Central Asia). Both pollen records indicated an arid climate during the mid-Holocene up to ca. 4 kyr BP; increased moisture but still predominantly dry conditions at 4-3 kyr BP interval; a sudden change to more-humid-than-present climate in relatively cold conditions since ca. 3 kyr BP, and a return to drier/warmer climate after ca. 1.6 kyr BP. The reconstructed climate changes correlate well with cultural changes reported for both depressions. The scarcity of Mesolithic-Neolithic (10-5 ka) findings there is in good agreement with the mid-Holocene aridity, which did not provide favorable living conditions for the ancient tribes. By contrast, wet climate establishment since ca. 3 kyr BP corresponds to the Scythian cultures expansion to the Asian steppe which started in the 9th century BC. The data obtained suggest the close relationship between climatic and cultural changes within these arid areas. We conjecture that increased effective moisture balance changed initially arid areas into attractive steppe with a higher biomass production which may have launched the cultural development and blooming of the Scythian cultures.