| Summary: | Northwestern Turkey and the southern Levant are key regions for studying vegetation and climate developments during migration phases of modern humans and the origin and expansion of agriculture. Both regions have a long history of different anthropogenic occupation phases, and the vegetation was sensitive to climate variations and anthropogenic influences. However, paleoenvironmental conditions in northwestern Turkey and the southern Levant are still insufficiently understood. Therefore, the main aim of this doctoral thesis was to investigate climate- and human-induced vegetation changes in both regions during the Last Glacial and Holocene. To fulfill this aim, palynological studies at three lacustrine archives were conducted. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs such as green algae and spores, and microscopic charcoal were extracted from sediment cores and microscopically analyzed. The sediment cores originated from Lake Iznik (northwestern Turkey), the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), and the Dead Sea (both southern Levant). Pollen data inferred from Lake Iznik sediments reveal the vegetation pattern in northwestern Turkey during the past 31 ka BP (thousand years before present). The vegetation changed between (a) steppe during stadials suggesting dry and cold climatic conditions, (b) forest-steppe during interstadials implying milder and more humid climatic conditions, and (c) oak-dominated mesic forest during the Holocene indicating warm and humid climatic conditions. A distinct succession of pioneer trees, cold temperate trees, warm temperate trees, and Mediterranean trees occurred since the Lateglacial. Rapid climate changes reflected in vegetation shifts correlate with Dansgaard-Oeschger events (DO-4, DO-3, and DO-1), the Younger Dryas, and most likely the 8.2 ka event. The distinction between climate- and human-induced vegetation changes is challenging during early settlement phases. Nevertheless, evidence for human activity consolidates since ca. 4.8 ka BP (Early Bronze Age). Forests were cleared, and ...
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