Natural and anthropogenic processes in La Janda basin (SW Iberia) from the Late Pleistocene to the Mid-Late Holocene

Abstract

A multiproxy study (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, sedimentology, and geochemistry) was carried out in two cores drilled in La Janda basin (SW Iberia) to trace the environmental evolution and human impact on the landscape. An incised fluvial valley existed in the basin during the Late Pleistocene, followed by a transitional environment characterized by the development of saltmarsh vegetation affected by the increased marine influence ca. 10/8.7 ka cal BP. During this period comprising the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (>∼7.8 ka cal BP), the impact of hunter-gatherer groups on the landscape was rather low according to palynological and geochemical records. A restricted estuary connected to the sea was identified in La Janda between ca. 10/8.7-3.5/3.3 ka cal BP, coinciding with a predominance of saltmarsh vegetation developing on saline shore soils and the punctual presence of foraminifera and dynoflagellate cysts. The anthropogenic pressure was progressively increasing during the Neolithic, especially from ca. 7 ka cal BP, with markers suggesting herding/livestock activities prior to the punctual presence of cereals, which is only confirmed by the archaeological record ca. 6 ka cal BP. Human pressure become more noticeable throughout the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age (∼5-3 ka cal BP), period during which a new transitional phase is recorded in La Janda (ca. 3.5/3.3-1.3 ka cal BP), culminating in the terrestrialization of the area. The predominance of freshwater taxa and decrease of saltmarsh vegetation is observed during this period, and the transformation of the landscape for agricultural activities over the last centuries is reflected in the local presence of cereals and markers of erosive processes.