Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations
This study illustrates the strong potential of combining paleoenvironmental reconstructions and paleoclimate modeling to refine the paleoenvironmental and chronological context of archeological and paleontological sites. We focus on the El Harhoura 2 cave (EH), an archeological site located on the N...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:613902c3fa114c129cd2003d9739727d 2023-07-16T03:59:55+02:00 Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations L. Terray E. Stoetzel E. Ben Arous M. Kageyama R. Cornette P. Braconnot 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 https://doaj.org/article/613902c3fa114c129cd2003d9739727d EN eng Copernicus Publications https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1245/2023/cp-19-1245-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/613902c3fa114c129cd2003d9739727d Climate of the Past, Vol 19, Pp 1245-1263 (2023) Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 2023-06-25T00:36:01Z This study illustrates the strong potential of combining paleoenvironmental reconstructions and paleoclimate modeling to refine the paleoenvironmental and chronological context of archeological and paleontological sites. We focus on the El Harhoura 2 cave (EH), an archeological site located on the North Atlantic coast of Morocco that covers a period from the Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene. In several stratigraphic layers, inconsistencies are observed between species presence and isotope-based inferences used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. The stratigraphy of EH also shows chronological inconsistencies in older layers between age estimated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and a combination of uranium series and electron spin resonance methods (combined US–ESR). To infer global paleoclimate variation over the EH sequence in the area, we produced an ensemble of atmosphere-only simulations using the LMDZOR6A model, using boundary conditions and forcings from pre-existing climate simulations performed with the IPSL Earth system climate model to match the different key periods. We conducted a consistency approach between paleoclimatic simulations and paleoenvironmental inferences available from EH. Our main results show that the climate sequence based on combined US–ESR ages is more consistent with paleoenvironmental inferences than the climate sequence based on OSL ages. We also evidence that isotope-based inferences are more consistent with the paleoclimate sequence than species-based inferences. These results highlight the difference in scale between the information provided by each of these paleoenvironmental proxies. Our approach is transferable to other sites due to the increasing number of available paleoclimate simulations. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Climate of the Past 19 6 1245 1263 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 L. Terray E. Stoetzel E. Ben Arous M. Kageyama R. Cornette P. Braconnot Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
topic_facet |
Environmental pollution TD172-193.5 Environmental protection TD169-171.8 Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
This study illustrates the strong potential of combining paleoenvironmental reconstructions and paleoclimate modeling to refine the paleoenvironmental and chronological context of archeological and paleontological sites. We focus on the El Harhoura 2 cave (EH), an archeological site located on the North Atlantic coast of Morocco that covers a period from the Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene. In several stratigraphic layers, inconsistencies are observed between species presence and isotope-based inferences used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. The stratigraphy of EH also shows chronological inconsistencies in older layers between age estimated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and a combination of uranium series and electron spin resonance methods (combined US–ESR). To infer global paleoclimate variation over the EH sequence in the area, we produced an ensemble of atmosphere-only simulations using the LMDZOR6A model, using boundary conditions and forcings from pre-existing climate simulations performed with the IPSL Earth system climate model to match the different key periods. We conducted a consistency approach between paleoclimatic simulations and paleoenvironmental inferences available from EH. Our main results show that the climate sequence based on combined US–ESR ages is more consistent with paleoenvironmental inferences than the climate sequence based on OSL ages. We also evidence that isotope-based inferences are more consistent with the paleoclimate sequence than species-based inferences. These results highlight the difference in scale between the information provided by each of these paleoenvironmental proxies. Our approach is transferable to other sites due to the increasing number of available paleoclimate simulations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. Terray E. Stoetzel E. Ben Arous M. Kageyama R. Cornette P. Braconnot |
author_facet |
L. Terray E. Stoetzel E. Ben Arous M. Kageyama R. Cornette P. Braconnot |
author_sort |
L. Terray |
title |
Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
title_short |
Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
title_full |
Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
title_fullStr |
Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site El Harhoura 2 (Rabat, Morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
title_sort |
refinement of the environmental and chronological context of the archeological site el harhoura 2 (rabat, morocco) using paleoclimatic simulations |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 https://doaj.org/article/613902c3fa114c129cd2003d9739727d |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Climate of the Past, Vol 19, Pp 1245-1263 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1245/2023/cp-19-1245-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9324 https://doaj.org/toc/1814-9332 doi:10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 1814-9324 1814-9332 https://doaj.org/article/613902c3fa114c129cd2003d9739727d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1245-2023 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1245 |
op_container_end_page |
1263 |
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1771548297870180352 |