Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland
West Greenland has had multiple episodes of human colonization and cultural transitions over the past 4,500 y. However, the explanations for these large-scale human migrations are varied, including climatic factors, resistance to adaptation, economic marginalization, mercantile exploration, and host...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
National Academy of Sciences
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116382 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628586 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3116382 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3116382 2023-05-15T16:24:19+02:00 Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland D’Andrea, William J. Huang, Yongsong Fritz, Sherilyn C. Anderson, N. John 2011-06-14 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116382 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628586 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 en eng National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116382 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628586 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 Physical Sciences Text 2011 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 2013-09-03T16:03:33Z West Greenland has had multiple episodes of human colonization and cultural transitions over the past 4,500 y. However, the explanations for these large-scale human migrations are varied, including climatic factors, resistance to adaptation, economic marginalization, mercantile exploration, and hostile neighborhood interactions. Evaluating the potential role of climate change is complicated by the lack of quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions near settlement areas and by the relative stability of Holocene temperature derived from ice cores atop the Greenland ice sheet. Here we present high-resolution records of temperature over the past 5,600 y based on alkenone unsaturation in sediments of two lakes in West Greenland. We find that major temperature changes in the past 4,500 y occurred abruptly (within decades), and were coeval in timing with the archaeological records of settlement and abandonment of the Saqqaq, Dorset, and Norse cultures, which suggests that abrupt temperature changes profoundly impacted human civilization in the region. Temperature variations in West Greenland display an antiphased relationship to temperature changes in Ireland over centennial to millennial timescales, resembling the interannual to multidecadal temperature seesaw associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Text Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Saqqaq PubMed Central (PMC) Greenland Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 24 9765 9769 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences D’Andrea, William J. Huang, Yongsong Fritz, Sherilyn C. Anderson, N. John Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences |
description |
West Greenland has had multiple episodes of human colonization and cultural transitions over the past 4,500 y. However, the explanations for these large-scale human migrations are varied, including climatic factors, resistance to adaptation, economic marginalization, mercantile exploration, and hostile neighborhood interactions. Evaluating the potential role of climate change is complicated by the lack of quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions near settlement areas and by the relative stability of Holocene temperature derived from ice cores atop the Greenland ice sheet. Here we present high-resolution records of temperature over the past 5,600 y based on alkenone unsaturation in sediments of two lakes in West Greenland. We find that major temperature changes in the past 4,500 y occurred abruptly (within decades), and were coeval in timing with the archaeological records of settlement and abandonment of the Saqqaq, Dorset, and Norse cultures, which suggests that abrupt temperature changes profoundly impacted human civilization in the region. Temperature variations in West Greenland display an antiphased relationship to temperature changes in Ireland over centennial to millennial timescales, resembling the interannual to multidecadal temperature seesaw associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
format |
Text |
author |
D’Andrea, William J. Huang, Yongsong Fritz, Sherilyn C. Anderson, N. John |
author_facet |
D’Andrea, William J. Huang, Yongsong Fritz, Sherilyn C. Anderson, N. John |
author_sort |
D’Andrea, William J. |
title |
Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
title_short |
Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
title_full |
Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland |
title_sort |
abrupt holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in west greenland |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116382 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628586 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Saqqaq |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Saqqaq |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116382 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628586 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1101708108 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
108 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
9765 |
op_container_end_page |
9769 |
_version_ |
1766012740992761856 |