West-central Europe Research Articles

Orbital, ice-sheet, and possible solar forcing of Holocene lake-level fluctuations in west-central Europe: A comment on Bleicher

Bleicher (2013) discussed interpretations proposed by Magny (2004) that Holocene lake-level fluctuations in west-central Europe suggest possible solar forcing of climate. He pointed out that the method used by Magny (2004) is a variant of a cumulative probability function (CPF) and cannot prove solar forcing of central European lake-level changes. He concluded that only few episodes of lake-level changes are climatically driven and that non-climatic factors were dominating. While Bleicher’s paper offers a stimulating contribution to the general debate on CPFs, the present comment is based on an approach which, in contrast to CPFs, excludes any consideration of variations in the probabilities over the time intervals given by calibration of 14C dates, as well as any distinction between types of dates (radiocarbon versus tree ring). It produces a revised pattern of the mid-European high lake-level events for the whole Holocene, supporting the hypothesis proposed in Magny (2004). Comparisons with other regional and North Atlantic palaeoclimatic records suggest that, without excluding other forcing factors, the successive high lake-level events recognised in west-central Europe reflect a combination of three main forcing factors acting on millennial and centennial scales, i.e. orbitally driven changes in insolation, impacts of deglacial outbursts and, possibly, variations in solar activity. Finally, it is clear that further investigations are still needed in order to improve the chronological data set for mid-European lake-level fluctuations, with particular attention to better defining the beginning and end of events.

Orbital, ice-sheet, and possible solar forcing of Holocene lake-level fluctuations in west-central Europe: A reply to Magny

In his comment on Bleicher (2013) Magny presents a revised version of his score method and reaffirms that it can prove a possible influence of solar activity on Central European lake levels. He also stresses the diagnostic value of archaeological lake site settlements. This paper points at methodological problems that are not yet resolved in the revised version. Since there is great consensus that not only is the the Sun a primary forcing factor in the climate’s system, but also that its effect cannot be expected to be linear for all of the Holocene, the use of the score record is questioned. The proposed relation between archaeological lake site settlements and solar activity is shown to be doubtful.

‘Adaptive cycles’ and climate fluctuations: a case study from Linear Pottery Culture in western Central Europe

By applying cycle-based resilience theory the dynamics of the Early Neolithic west-central European Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) are investigated. These are interpreted as resulting from a combination of internal socio-economic processes as well as external environmental parameters. Resilience theory is helpful in understanding periods of increased vulnerability and inherent trends to social complexity. Cycles and threshold levels also help to understand why societies experience periods of increasing fragility and subsequent decline.Results are based on the correlation of a typology and dendrochronology-based archaeological chronology for western LBK and various palaeoclimatic proxy-data. The 14C-production curve is taken as an indicator for solar activity fluctuations, and an age model for laminated sediments as an indicator for rainfall fluctuations. We currently consider this correlation as agreeably robust; however future fine-dating may result in slight shifts within the archaeological chronology.According to the applied age model, the simple farming societies of the LBK (5600–4900 cal BC) in west-central Europe were not immediately and devastatingly affected by most climate fluctuations. Yet, they might have been one destabilising component within broader processes. However, periods of decreased or irregularly spaced rainfall are contemporaneous to periods of population decline, while periods of increased rainfall may have favoured population growth. Towards the end of the 6th millennium cal BC, the final years of LBK in western Central Europe are contemporaneous to a general trend to less rainfall punctuated by short-term increases in precipitation. During this climatically highly volatile period LBK reaches its highest population rates and at the same time experiences a period of warfare. Thereafter population rates decline and LBK gradually vanishes from the archaeological record, being replaced by Middle Neolithic societies.

Detection of European Strain ofEchinococcus multilocularisin North America

Detection of European Strain of<i>Echinococcus multilocularis</i>in North America

Gender, Temporalities, and Periodization in Early Iron Age West-Central Europe

Gender, Temporalities, and Periodization in Early Iron Age West-Central Europe

Gender, Temporalities, and Periodization in Early Iron Age West-Central Europe

Archaeological chronologies tend to conflate temporalities from all cultural contexts in a region without consideration for the different depositional trajectories and life histories of the objects that serve as the basis of those chronologies. Social variables, such as gender, age, status, and individual mobility, act on artifacts in ways that must be identified and differentiated in order for seriations derived from one context to be applicable in another. This article presents evidence from early Iron Age contexts in Southwest Germany to illustrate this phenomenon and discusses its ramifications from the perspective of a case study focusing on the mortuary landscape of the Heuneburg hillfort on the Danube River. Gender in particular is strongly marked in this society and can be shown to affect the depositional tempo of certain artifact categories, which have different social lives and depositional fates depending on context. Artifact assemblages vary not only in terms of archaeological context and temporality but also are impacted by the social personae of the human agents responsible for, or associated with, their deposition.

The ‘Europe’ of the European Journal of Women’s Studies: Editorial

There is an imaginary of Europe embedded in the European Journal of Women’s Studies that implicitly or explicitly orientates the contours of its scope and terms of engagement. What this means is that there is more to the ‘Europe’ of the EJWS than simply that it is produced from Europe. Rather the ‘Europe’ in the title is an active framing principle for the journal and its authors whether this is consciously known and/or explicitly engaged. In some ways this ‘Europe as active principle’ approach has been there since the journal’s inception, though in a narrower way. Then the ‘Europe’ was a place from which to enter into and/or inflect feminist debates and theoretical developments that were emerging in the USA, as well as an attempt to make a statement against considering the USA as the only or major site of feminist studies and knowledge production. It was in a sense aimed at staging a kind of transatlantic conversation (as Kathy Davis and Mary Evans have called it) in which despite being multi-sited in the sense of coming from an array of national locations in the European landmass and state locations in the USA, the transatlantic still tended to mean USA (and maybe Canada) on one side, and north west to west central Europe on the other side. Now the aim is to cast the scope of ‘Europe’ (and its conversations) wider and deeper. In the view of the editors there are a number of reasons why this should be so. The first is loyalty to the by now well-established feminist principle regarding the importance of declaring one’s locatedness (as multiple as this might and must be in a field called ‘European’) so as to refuse the idea and claim that one speaks from no-where. Instead, we adhere to the importance of stating exactly where one is speaking, thinking, experiencing from and, of equal importance, why and how that matters, i.e. how any specific locatedness inflects the speaking, thinking, experiencing and what it brings into and occludes from view. A second reason is that it helps us to meet our aim of contributing to the disciplining and ‘provincializing’ of Europe (to use Chakrabarty’s [2000] evocative and provocative

A Name Given, a Name Taken: Camouflaging, Resistance, and Diasporic Social Identity

Naming a person makes him or her a part of the social world—a name gives the person a social identity. At the same time, a name stands for the person, it symbolizes personal identity. It indicates to members of society who the named one is and, to the named one, who he or she is expected to be. Comparing naming practices and name acquisition by blacks and Jews in British colonial West Africa and Central Europe during the century of emancipation from the 1780s to the 1860s, and during the subsequent era of growing exclusionist racism and anti-Semitism, this essay examines being given a name and taking or changing a name as acts of identification, differentiation, camouflaging, and resistance.

Solar and proxy-sensitivity imprints on paleohydrological records for the last millennium in west-central Europe

This paper presents a lake-level record established for the last millennium at Lake Saint-Point in the French Jura Mountains. A comparison of this lake-level record with a solar irradiance record supports the hypothesis of a solar forcing of variations in the hydrological cycle linked to climatic oscillations over the last millennium in west-central Europe, with higher lake levels during the solar minimums of Oort (around AD 1060), Wolf (around AD 1320), Spörer (around AD 1450), Maunder (around AD 1690), and Dalton (around AD 1820). Further comparisons of the Saint-Point record with the fluctuations of the Great Aletsch Glacier (Swiss Alps) and a record of Rhône River floods from Lake Bourget (French Alps) give evidence of possible imprints of proxy sensitivity on reconstructed paleohydrological records. In particular, the Great Aletsch record shows an increasing glacier mass from AD 1350 to 1850, suggesting a cumulative effect of the Little Ice Age cooling and/or a possible reflection of a millennial-scale general cooling until the mid-19th century in the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast, the Saint-Point and Bourget records show a general trend toward a decrease in lake levels and in flood magnitude anti-correlated with generally increasing solar irradiance.

Morphological characteristics of some accessions of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) grown in Europe and nutritional traits of their seeds

Thirty-one European accessions of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) originating from Italy, Spain, Northern France, Germany and Poland grown in the same soil-climatic conditions in Poland were investigated. The morphological traits as well as the seed morphology and nutrient contents were studied. Substantial differentiation in some morphological characteristics was noticed. The plants could be assigned to two groups: one group comprising the lines from the Mediterranean basin (Italy and Spain) and the other group containing the accessions from West-central Europe (Northern France, Germany and Poland). The grass pea plants produced from the seeds obtained from West-central Europe appeared to be about 10 cm taller than the Mediterranean accessions and had predominantly white flowers. Their seeds were more than two times smaller than seeds of the accessions of Italian or Spanish origin. There were not noted any considerable differences in nutrient contents or antinutritional factors in seeds between these two groups of Lathyrus accessions. A negative correlation between β-ODAP and tannin contents (r = −0.379, P ≤ 0.05) and a positive correlation (r = 0.843, P ≤ 0.01) between a tannin content and flower color intensity were found. A white or creme colour was associated with a low tannin level in the seeds, while the colourful blooming accessions had higher tannin contents.

Intra-plate deformation in west-central Europe

Abstract The central part of Europe north of the alpine orogenic belt is generally seen as a relatively stable area of the western tip of the Eurasian plate. Indeed, up to now, no geodetically significant motions have been detected although an active rift system running roughly in SSE–NNW direction along the Rhine valley could have some effect on the stability of this region. Presently, the increasing accuracy of geodetic point motions should allow the study of small motions at levels down to nearly 0.1 mm/yr. We start our investigation with a closer look at the ‘true’ accuracy and significance of GPS derived point velocities of permanent stations. We compare and discuss the different levels of formal errors obtained by the three analysis centers considered in this study (EPN, JPL and SOPAC) and present additional ways of assessing the accuracy using the redundancy offered by different independent analyses and multiple systems operating at one site. On the average, all results indicate that a one-sigma level of ±0.3 mm/yr can be seen as a conservative estimate for the horizontal accuracy of point motions in central Europe. On the basis of this assumption we find that at present, the actual velocity field as determined by different analysis groups and centers does not show any significant east–west extensional deformation. We do however see a prominent north–south compressional velocity gradient of about 1 mm/yr/1000 km (1 nanostrain/yr) which could be associated with the Alpine thrust in conjunction with a south-directed horizontal component of the Fennoscandian Glacial Isostatic Adjustment.

A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity

This paper seeks to re-examine the long-held view that the Celtic language developed somewhere in west central Europe and was carried westwards to the Atlantic zone, eventually reaching Ireland. An overview of the archaeological evidence for Atlantic connectivity illustrates the longue durée of community interactions along the seaways, beginning around 9000 BC, to the second quarter of the 3rd millennium. At this time mobility increased dramatically and it has been shown clearly that the Maritime Bell Beaker package spread eastwards to impact on and interact with the Battle Axe/Corded Ware tradition. Connectivity was at its most intense during the subsequent Atlantic Bronze Age until, from the 8th century BC, what had been a unified zone began to fragment into a series of regional systems. This broad archaeological scenario, with its firm chronological framework, receives more support from recent DNA studies than does the previous view, which drew heavily on ancient and (now) antiquarian views of Celticness and invasion hypotheses. It is posited that the Celtic language could in fact have emerged in the Atlantic zone and spread eastwards.

Genetic characterization ofMortierella alpinaby sequencing the 18S-28S ribosomal gene internal transcribed spacer region

The aim of this study was to establish a genetic background of Mortierella alpina, which is a cosmopolitan, soil-inhabiting Zygomycete that also has important biotechnology potential. A total of 44 18S-28S ribosomal gene internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 DNA) regions of M. alpina from three diverse locations (Far East Asia, North America and West-Central Europe) were sequenced and investigated. The sequences between M. alpina and the three closely related species (Mortierella macrocystis, Mortierella gamsii and Mortierella humilis) showed 74-84% sequence identity. When a phylogenetic tree was constructed with a neighbour-joining algorithm, four clades of M. alpina isolates were clearly distinct with high bootstrap values. In addition, isolates from the West-Central Europe were found to have the highest gene and nucleotide diversities. The ITS region was a suitable tool for distinguishing M. alpina from other closely related species. The region also provided information of the diversity of M. alpina. The study established a genetic background of M. alpina for identification and the diversity of M. alpina provided information for further isolation and screening of the fungus.

Quantitative reconstruction of climatic variations during the Bronze and early Iron ages based on pollen and lake-level data in the NW Alps, France

Vegetation and lake-level data from the archaeological site of Tresserve, on the eastern shore of Lake Le Bourget (Savoie, France), are used to provide quantitative estimates of climatic variables over the period 4000–2300 cal BP in the northern French Pre-Alps, and to examine the possible impact of climatic changes on societies of the Bronze and early Iron Ages. The results obtained indicate that phases of higher lake level at 3500–3100 and 2750–2350 cal BP coincided with major climate reversals in the North Atlantic area. In west-central Europe, they were marked by cooler and wetter conditions. These two successive events may have affected ancient agricultural communities in west-central Europe by provoking harvest failures, more particularly due to increasing precipitation during the growing season. However, archaeological data in the region of Franche-Comté (Jura Mountains, eastern France) show a general expansion of population density from the middle Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. This suggests a relative emancipation of proto-historic societies from climatic conditions, probably in relation to the spread of new modes of social and economic organisation.

Business environment and enterprise behaviour in East Germany compared to West Germany and Central Europe

This paper examines institutional differences between the former East and West Germany and four central European transition countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic). Using enterprise survey data we show that the quality of both formal and informal institutions in East Germany still differs from West Germany. In addition, central European transition countries are shown to have closed the gap in institutional quality with East Germany in many areas. We also show that enterprises in the central European transition countries have compensated for country level institutional deficiencies by focusing on company-level innovation and investment in human capital. Meanwhile, East German enterprises report investments in new products and processes as well as in skills well below the level of not only West Germany but also the central European transition countries.

Palaeohydrological changes and human-impact history over the last millennium recorded at Lake Joux in the Jura Mountains, Switzerland

On the basis of sediment and pollen analyses of a radiocarbon-dated sediment sequence from Lake Joux in the Swiss Jura Mountains (west-central Europe), this paper presents a high-resolution record of lake-level and vegetation changes for the last millennium. The lake-level record makes it possible to determine that low-stands of the water-table dominated at c. AD 1200—1400, and from 1720 onward, with interruptions by short-lived rise events at c. AD 1340 and 1840. Highstands prevailed at c. AD 1100, and around AD 1450, 1550 and 1700. The comparison of the Joux lake-level record with a solar irradiance record based on cosmogenic nucleides supports the hypothesis of a major solar forcing of climate variations in west-central Europe over the last millennium. In agreement with other palaeohydrological records established in Western Europe and in the central North Atlantic Ocean, the Joux lake-level record suggests that, on a multicentennial scale, the period of the `Little Ice Age' coincided in the European mid-latitudes with wetter climatic conditions, and probably with an increase in summer precipitation. Variations in the hydrological cycle appear to have been associated with changes in the general atmospheric circulation pattern, probably coupled with variations in oceanic circulation and solar activity. The Joux record also points to changes in water resources expected to result from ongoing global warming. Finally, despite the severe climatic conditions which prevail in the Joux Valley, the human impact history at Lake Joux over the last millennium seems to reflect political choices and economic context more than climatic changes.

Late Cretaceous intraplate thrusting in central Europe: Effect of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence, not Alpine collision

A well-established event of intraplate basin inversion and basement thrusting affected central Europe in Late Cretaceous time. It is widely accepted to have resulted from the collision of the Alpine orogen with Europe's margin. At that time an early Alpine orogen, located on the leading edge of the Adria microplate, still lay far southeast of its present-day position and had entered a phase of extension after a first orogenic event characterized by W- to NW-directed thrusting. This configuration is not likely to have induced SSW-NNE–directed thrusting and folding in the future European foreland that was still separated from the Alpine wedge by a strip of oceanic lithosphere. By contrast, the onset of intraplate contraction coincides with an important change in relative motion between the European and African plates. At ca. 90 Ma, Africa's SSE-directed sinistral transform motion relative to Europe changed to NE-directed convergence. This agrees well with the timing and kinematics of intraplate thrusting in central Europe. Structures of similar age and kinematics occurring in southern France, Spain, and North Africa suggest that the Late Cretaceous pulse of contraction was caused by pinching west-central Europe's thin lithosphere between Baltica and Africa. Only since the onset of N-directed thrusting in the Alps in Paleocene or Eocene time are the kinematics of the Alps and their European foreland compatible, indicating that mechanical coupling between Africa-Europe and the Adria microplate had been achieved.

High-altitude varve records of abrupt environmental changes and mining activity over the last 4000 years in the Western French Alps (Lake Bramant, Grandes Rousses Massif)

Two twin short gravity cores and a long piston core recovered from the deepest part of proglacial Lake Bramant (Grandes Rousses Massif, French Alps), under and overlying a large slump identified by high-resolution seismic profile, allow the investigation of Holocene natural hazards and interactions between human activity and climatic changes at high-altitude. Annual sedimentation throughout the cores (glacial varves) is identified on photographs, ITRAX (high-resolution continuous microfluorescence-X) and CAT-Scan (computerized axial tomography) analyses and is supported by (1) the number of dark and light laminations between dates obtained by radionuclide measurements ( 137Cs, 241Am), (2) the correlation of a slump triggered by the nearby AD 1881 Allemond earthquake (MSK intensity VII) and of a turbidite triggered by the AD 1822 Chautagne regional earthquake (MSK intensity VIII), (3) the number of laminations between two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates, and (4) archaeological data. In Lake Bramant, dark layers are coarser, contain less detrital elements, but more neoformed elements and organic matter content. These darker laminations result from calm background sedimentation, whereas the lighter layers are finer and rich in detrital elements and reflect the summer snowmelt. Traces of mining activity during the Roman civilization apogee (AD 115–330) and during the Early Bronze Age (3770–3870 cal BP) are recorded by lead and copper content in the sediments and probably result from regional and local mining activity in the NW Alps. Warmer climate during the Bronze Age in this part of the Alps is suggested by (1) two organic deposits (4160–3600 cal BP and 3300–2850 cal BP) likely reflecting a lower lake level and smaller glaciers and (2) evidence of a different vegetation cover around 2500 m a.s.l. The onset of clastic proglacial sedimentation between 3600–3300 cal BP and since 2850 cal BP is synchronous with periods of glacier advances documented in the Alps and high-lake levels in west-central Europe. This major change in proglacial sedimentation highlights the development of a larger St. Sorlin glacier in the catchment area of Lake Bramant.

Early-Holocene climatic oscillations recorded by lake-level fluctuations in west-central Europe and in central Italy

On the basis of lake-level data, the period of the Preboreal oscillation (PBO) at 11 300–11 150 cal yr BP as defined by the GRIP oxygen-isotope record appears to correspond to wetter climatic conditions in west-central Europe and to a marked drying in north-central Italy. Additional short-lived phases of higher lake level have been identified before the PBO at ca 11 450–11 400 and 11 350 cal yr BP in west-central Europe, and at ca 11 500 cal yr BP in Italy. Such multiple climatic oscillations around the PBO have been observed in various records in northwestern Europe. On the basis of various proxies, a map of changes in moisture over western Europe during the PBO indicates a mid-latitude zone between 58 and 43°N characterised by wetter conditions, while a drier climate developed in southern and northern Europe. This wet middle zone shows a larger extension and suggests a more meandering, weaker Atlantic Westerly Jet during the PBO than during the 8.2 kyr event. A comparison of lake-level records in west-central Europe with (1) outbursts from North American and north-European proglacial lakes, and (2) variations in solar activity as reflected by 14C and the 10Be records supports the hypothesis that the PBO was a response to successive meltwater pulses at 11 300, 11 250, 11 200 and 11 170 cal yr BP and to a sudden decrease in solar activity at 11 250 cal yr BP. This study points to the necessity of developing integrated multi-proxy approaches to construct more robust regional event stratigraphies, and of better documenting palaeohydrological changes in the Mediterranean area.

Holocene climate changes in the central Mediterranean as recorded by lake-level fluctuations at Lake Accesa (Tuscany, Italy)

This paper presents a high-resolution lake-level record for the Holocene at Lake Accesa (Tuscany, north-central Italy) based on a range of sedimentological techniques validated in previous studies, with a chronology derived from 43 radiocarbon dates and four tephra layers. It gives evidence of centennial-scale fluctuations with major highstands at ca 11 500, 11 100, 10 200, 9400, 8200, 7300, 6200, 5700–5200, 4850, 4200, 3400, 2600, 1200 and 400 cal BP. Except for the Early Holocene until ca 10 500 cal BP, this pattern of hydrological changes appears to be in agreement with the regional pattern established for west-central Europe. Correlations with the Preboreal oscillation and the 8.2 ka event as well as with the atmospheric 14C residual series suggest that lake-level fluctuations developed at Accesa in response to (1) final steps of the deglaciation in the North Atlantic area and (2) variations in solar activity. For the period after 4500 cal BP, correlations with other palaeohydrological records from central Italy indicate that lake-level changes reconstructed at Accesa were mainly driven by climatic variations while anthropic activities and local geomorphological factors only played a secondary role. The Accesa lake-level record also highlights millennial-scale variations with a maximal lowstand at ca 9200–7700 cal BP contemporaneous with Sapropel event 1 in the Mediterranean. It was followed by generally higher lake-level conditions. This appears to be the opposite of that observed in Sicily (southern Italy) where a lake-level maximum developed at ca 9000–8200 cal BP and was followed by a general trend towards aridification. These opposite patterns were interpreted as contrasting hydrological responses to orbitally induced changes in summer insolation. This interpretation has to be tested by further lake-level studies in the central Mediterranean region. Finally, correlations between major lowstands and periods of maximal representation of Quercus ilex point to convergences between climate oscillations and Holocene vegetation history in the Accesa region. However, the maximal representation of Abies during the first half of the Holocene, including a time window where lake level reached a minimal level, suggests a more subtle impact of seasonality processes.