Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe
Abstract Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing t...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/qua.2019.86 2024-03-03T08:47:23+00:00 Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe Jørgensen, Erlend Kirkeng Pesonen, Petro Tallavaara, Miikka 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.86 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589419000863 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quaternary Research volume 108, page 107-122 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) journal-article 2020 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.86 2024-02-08T08:32:24Z Abstract Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbon-dated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the “Moran effect,” positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Norway Cambridge University Press Norway Quaternary Research 1 16 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Jørgensen, Erlend Kirkeng Pesonen, Petro Tallavaara, Miikka Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) |
description |
Abstract Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbon-dated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the “Moran effect,” positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jørgensen, Erlend Kirkeng Pesonen, Petro Tallavaara, Miikka |
author_facet |
Jørgensen, Erlend Kirkeng Pesonen, Petro Tallavaara, Miikka |
author_sort |
Jørgensen, Erlend Kirkeng |
title |
Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
title_short |
Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
title_full |
Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
title_fullStr |
Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe |
title_sort |
climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in holocene northern europe |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.86 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589419000863 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Northern Norway |
op_source |
Quaternary Research volume 108, page 107-122 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.86 |
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Quaternary Research |
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16 |
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1792503567727198208 |