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Chronology of Holocene Climate and Vegetation Changes and their Connection to Cultural Dynamics in Southern Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

V G Dirksen ,
B van Geel ,
M A Koulkova ,
G I Zaitseva ,
A A Sementsov ,
E M Scott ,
G T Cook ,
J van der Plicht ,
L M Lebedeva  and
N D Bourova
...Show all authors
V G Dirksen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Far East Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Piipa Blvd., 9 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 683006, Russia
B van Geel
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
M A Koulkova
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
G I Zaitseva
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
A A Sementsov
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
E M Scott
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
G T Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Glasgow, United Kingdom
J van der Plicht
Affiliation:
Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands
L M Lebedeva
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
N D Bourova
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
N A Bokovenko
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Two sediment sequences from Big Kyzykul Lake and the Shushenskoe paleolake in the Minusinsk depression, Southern Siberia, were studied by pollen, microfossil, and geochemical analyses, as well as radiocarbon dating. The records indicate the persistence of an arid period between ∼11.7–7.6 cal kyr BP, increased effective moisture since ∼7.6 cal kyr BP, 2 humid impulses at ∼5.1 and 2.8 cal kyr BP separated by a dry interval, and the return to generally drier conditions after ∼1.5 cal kyr BP. This is contrary to the findings noted for the Eurasian temperate zone, but agrees with proxy data reported for arid and semi-arid zones of Central Asia. Reconstructed changes in climate and environment are in good agreement with archaeological data. Almost no evidence of the Mesolithic-Neolithic cultures has been reported for the depression, which is consistent with a dry early and mid-Holocene. Effective moisture started to rise from ∼7.6 cal kyr BP, followed by the beginning of human occupation at ∼6 cal kyr BP. Two maxima of humidity are recorded in the late Holocene, corresponding to the arrival of trees in the depression. No gap was to be found from the Early Bronze to the Iron ages cultures at this time, with the exception of a dry interval at ∼3.6–3.3 cal kyr BP, when the Minusinsk depression was sparsely occupied. The data obtained suggest a close relationship between climate change and cultural dynamics in the steppe zone of Southern Siberia.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 1103 - 1121
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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