Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T11:20:43.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Tyrolean Iceman and His Glacial Environment During the Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2016

Walter Kutschera ,
Gernot Patzelt ,
Peter Steier Open the ORCID record for Peter Steier [Opens in a new window]  and
Eva Maria Wild
Walter Kutschera*
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research and Nuclear Physics, Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Gernot Patzelt
Affiliation:
Patscher Strasse 20, A-6080 Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
Peter Steier
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research and Nuclear Physics, Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Eva Maria Wild
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research and Nuclear Physics, Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA), A-1090 Vienna, Austria
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper summarizes the present knowledge on the variation of summer temperatures in the European Alps throughout the Holocene by combining the results of an extraordinary archaeological find with the information gathered from glacier and tree-line movements. As it turns out, there were several distinct periods were the glaciers were smaller than today, allowing in some periods the growth of trees in areas, which even now are still covered with ice. On average, the first half of the Holocene was warmer than the second half, with temperatures starting to decrease around the time of the Iceman some 5000 yr ago. One of the coldest periods during the Holocene, the so-called Little Ice Age (LIA), lasted from about AD 1300 to 1850. It is well known that since then the Alpine glaciers have been receding, most likely amplified by anthropogenic impact. The study of temperature variations before human influence may help to eventually disentangle natural and anthropogenic causes for the global warming of our time.

Keywords

AMS 14C datingdendrochronologyglacierclimate
Type
14C as a Tracer of Past or Present Continental Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 2: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , April 2017 , pp. 395 - 405
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

REFERENCES

Abreu, JA, Beer, J, Steinhilber, F, Christl, M, Kubik, PW. 2013. 10Be in ice cores and 14C in tree rings: separation of production and climate effects. Space Science Reviews 176(1):343–349.Google Scholar
Acs, P, Wilhalm, T, Oeggl, K. 2005. Remains of grasses found with the Neolithic Iceman “Ötzi.” Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 14(3):198–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alley, RB, Agustsdottir, AM. 2005. The 8k event: cause and consequences of a major Holocene abrupt climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 24(10–11):1123–1149.Google Scholar
Bonani, G, Ivy, S, Niklaus, TR, Suter, M, Housley, RA, Bronk, CR, van Klinken, GJ, Hedges, REM. 1992. Altersbestimmung von Milligrammproben der Ötztaler Gletscherleiche mit der Beschleuniger-Massenspektrometrie-Methode (AMS). In: Höpfel F, Platzer W, Spindler K, editors. Der Mann im Eis, Band 1. Bericht über das Internationale Symposium 1992 in Innsbruck. Veröffentlichungen der Universität Innsbruck 187. p 359–377.Google Scholar
Bonani, G, Ivy, SD, Hajdas, I, Nicklaus, TR, Suter, M. 1994. AMS 14C age determinations of tissue, bone and grass samples from the Ötztal Iceman. Radiocarbon 36(2):247–250.Google Scholar
Broecker, WS, Denton, GH. 1990. What drives glacial cycles? Scientific American (January 1):43–50.Google Scholar
Coia, V, Cipollini, G, Anagnostou, P, Maixner, F, Battaggia, C, Brisighelli, F, Gómez-Carballa, A, Destro Bisol, G, Salas, A, Zink, A. 2016. Whole mitochondrial DNA sequencing in Alpine populations and the genetic history of the Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman. Nature Scientific Reports 6:18932.Google Scholar
Crutzen, PJ. 2002. Geology of mankind. Nature 415(6867):23.Google Scholar
Goehring, BM, Schaefer, JM, Schluechter, C, Lifton, NA, Finkel, RC, Jull, AJT, Akcar, N, Alley, RB. 2011. The Rhone Glacier was smaller than today for most of the Holocene. Geology 39(7):679–682.Google Scholar
Grosjean, M, Suter, PJ, Trachsel, M, Wanner, H. 2007. Ice-borne prehistoric finds in the Swiss Alps reflect Holocene glacier fluctuations. Journal of Quaternary Science 22(3):2003–2007.Google Scholar
Hays, JD, Imbrie, J, Shackleton, NJ. 1976. Variations in the Earth’s orbit: pacemaker of the Ice Ages. Science 194(4270):1121–1132.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, Housley, RA, Bronk, CR, van Klinken, GI. 1992. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 15. Archaeometry 34(2):337–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heiss, AG, Oeggl, K. 2009. The plant macro-remains from the Iceman site (Tisenjoch, Italian–Austrian border, eastern Alps): new results on the glacier mummy’s environment. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 18:23–35.Google Scholar
Hormes, A, Müller, BU, Schlüchter, C. 2001. The Alps with little ice: evidence for eight Holocene phases of reduced glacier extent in the Central Swiss Alps. The Holocene 11(3):255–265.Google Scholar
Hormes, A, Beer, J, Schlüchter, C. 2006. A geochronological approach to understand the role of solar activity on Holocene glacier length variability in the Swiss Alps. Swiss Alps Geographical Annals 88A(4):2281–2294.Google Scholar
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2013. Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/.Google Scholar
Ivy-Ochs, S, Kerschner, H, Schlüchter, C. 2007. Cosmogenic nuclides and the dating of Late Glacial and Early Holocene glacier variations: the Alpine perspective. Quaternary International 164–165:53–63.Google Scholar
Ivy-Ochs, S, Kerschner, H, Reuther, A, Preusser, F, Heine, K, Maisch, M, Kubik, PW, Schlüchter, C. 2008. Chronology of the last glacial cycle in the European Alps. Journal of Quaternary Science 23(6–7):559–573.Google Scholar
Joerin, UE, Nicolussi, K, Fischer, A, Stocker, TF, Schlüchter, C. 2008. Holocene optimum events inferred from subglacial sediments at Tschierva Glacier, Eastern Alps. Quaternary Science Reviews 27(3–4):337–350.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J, Masson-Delmotte, V, Cattani, O, Dreyfus, G, Falourd, S, Hoffmann, G, Minster, B, Nouet, J, Barnola, JM, Chappellaz, J, Fischer, H, Gallet, JC, Johnsen, S, Leuenberger, M, Loulergue, L, Luethi, D, Oerter, H, Parrenin, F, Raisbeck, G, Raynaud, D, Schilt, A, Schwander, J, Selmo, E, Souchez, R, Spahni, R, Stauffer, B, Steffensen, JP, Stenni, B, Stocker, TF, Tison, JL, Werner, M, Wolff, EW. 2007. Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000 years. Science 317(5839):793–796.Google Scholar
Keller, A, Graefen, A, Ball, M, Matzas, M, Boisguerin, V, Maixner, F, Leidinger, P, Backes, C, Khairat, R, Forster, M, Stade, B, Franke, A, Mayer, J, Spangler, J, McLaughlin, S, Shah, M, Lee, C, Harkins, TT, Sartori, A, Moreno-Estrada, A, Henn, B, Sikora, M, Semino, O, Chiaroni, J, Rootsi, S, Myres, NM, Cabrera, VM, Underhill, PA, Bustamante, CD, Egarter Vigl, E, Samadelli, M, Cipollini, G, Haas, J, Katus, H, O’Connor, BD, Carlson, MRJ, Meder, B, Blin, N, Meese, E, Pusch, CM, Zink, A. 2012. New insights into the Tyrolean Iceman’s origin and phenotype as inferred by whole-genome sequencing. Nature Communications 3:698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kutschera, W, Müller, W. 2003. “Isotope language” of the Alpine Iceman investigated with AMS and MS. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 204:705–719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutschera, W, Patzelt, G, Wild, EM, Haas-Jettmar, B, Kofler, W, Lippert, A, Oeggl, K, Pak, E, Priller, A, Steier, P, Wahlmüller-Oeggl, N, Zanesco, A. 2014. Evidence for early human presence at high altitudes in the Ötztal Alps (Austria/Italy). Radiocarbon 56(3):923–947.Google Scholar
Maixner, F, Turaev, D, Herbig, A, Hoopmann, MR, Hallows, JL, Kusebauch, U, Egarter Vigl, E, Malfertheiner, P, Megraud, F, O’Sullivan, N, Cipollini, G, Coia, V, Samadelli, M, Engstrand, L, Linz, B, Moritz, RL, Grimm, R, Krause, J, Nebel, A, Moodley, Y, Rattei, T, Zink, A. 2016. The 5300-year-old Heliobacter pylori genome of the Iceman. Science 351(6269):162–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcott, SA, Shakun, JD, Clark, PU, Mix, AC. 2013. Reconstruction of regional and global temperature for the past 11,300 years. Science 339(6124):1198–1201.Google Scholar
Müller, W, Fricke, H, Halliday, AN, McCulloch, MT, Wartho, J-A. 2003. Origin and migration of the Alpine Iceman. Science 302(5646):862–866.Google Scholar
Nicolussi, K, Patzelt, G. 2000. Discovery of Early-Holocene wood and peat on the forefield of the Pasterze Glacier, Eastern Alps, Austria. The Holocene 10(2):191–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolussi, K, Schlüchter, C. 2014. The 8.2 ka event – calendar-dated glacier response in the Alps. Geology 40(9):819–822.Google Scholar
Nicolussi, K, Kaufmann, M, Patzelt, G, van der Plicht, J, Thurner, A. 2005. Holocene tree-line variability in the Kauner Valley, Central Eastern Alps, indicated by dendrochronological analysis of living trees and subfossil logs. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 14:221–234.Google Scholar
Patzelt, G. 2014. Die nacheiszeitliche Klimaentwicklung in den Alpen im Vergleich zur Temperaturentwicklung der Gegenwart. Schriftenreihe des Europäischen Instituts für Klima und Energie, Medienverlag Jena Bd 3:3–20.Google Scholar
Pernter, P, Gostner, P, Egarter Vigl, E, Rühli, FJ. 2007. Radiologic proof for the Iceman’s cause of death (ca. 5300 BP). Journal of Archaeological Science 34(11):1784–1786.Google Scholar
Schaefer, JM, Denton, GH, Kaplan, M, Putnam, A, Finkel, RC, Barrell, DJA, Andersen, BG, Schwartz, R, Mackintosh, A, Chinn, T, Schlüchter, C. 2009. High-frequency Holocene glacier fluctuations in New Zealand differ from the northern signature. Science 324(5927):622–625.Google Scholar
Schimmelpfennig, I, Schaefer, JM, Akcar, N, Ivy-Ochs, S, Finkel, RC, Schlüchter, C. 2012. Holocene glacier culminations in the Western Alps and their hemispheric relevance. Geology 40:891–894.Google Scholar
Schimmelpfennig, I, Schaefer, JM, Akcar, N, Koffman, T, Ivy-Ochs, S, Schwartz, R, Finkel, RC, Zimmerman, S, Schlüchter, C. 2014. A chronology of Holocene and Little Ice Age glacier culminations of the Steingletscher, Central Alps, Switzerland, based on high-sensitivity beryllium-10 moraine dating. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 393:220–230.Google Scholar
Steffensen, JP, Andersen, KK, Bigler, M, Clausen, HB, Dahl-Jensen, D, Fischer, H, Goto-Azuma, K, Hansson, M, Johnsen, SJ, Jouzel, J, Masson-Delmotte, V, Popp, T, Rasmussen, SO, Röthlisberger, R, Ruth, U, Stauffer, B, Siggaard-Andersen, M-L, Sveinbjörnsdóttir, AE, Svensson, A, White, JWC. 2008. High-resolution Greenland ice core data show abrupt climate change happens in few years. Science 321(5889):680–684.Google Scholar
Steinhilber, F, Beer, J, Fröhlich, C. 2009. Total solar irradiance during the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 36:L19704.Google Scholar
Thomas, ER, Wolff, EW, Mulvaney, R, Steffensen, JP, Johnsen, SJ, Arrowsmith, C, Whited, JWC, Vaughn, B, Popp, T. 2007. The 8.2 ka event from Greenland ice cores. Quaternary Science Reviews 26(1–2):70–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, C, Le Meur, E, Six, D, Funk, M. 2005. Solving the paradox of the end of the Little Ice Age in the Alps. Geophysical Research Letters 32:L09706.Google Scholar
Vinther, BM, Clausen, HB, Johnsen, SJ, Rasmussen, SO, Andersen, KK, Buchardt, SL, Dahl-Jensen, D, Seierstad, IK, Siggaard-Andersen, ML, Steffensen, JP, Svensson, A, Olsen, J, Heinemeier, J. 2006. A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene. Journal of Geophysical Research 111:D13102.Google Scholar
Waters, CN, Zalasiewicz, J, Summerhayes, C, Barnosky, AD, Poirier, C, Gałuszka, A, Cearreta, A, Edgeworth, M, Ellis, EC, Ellis, M, Jeandel, C, Leinfelder, R, Mcneill, JR, Richter, DD, Steffen, W, Syvitski, J, Vidas, D, Wagreich, M, Williams, M, Zhisheng, A, Grinevald, J, Odada, E, Oreskes, N, Wolfe, AP. 2016. The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science 351(6269):137.Google Scholar