Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway
Disentangling the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the environment is a major challenge in paleoenvironmental research. Here, we used fecal sterols and other biogeochemical compounds in lake sediments from northern Norway to identify both natural and anthropogenic signals of...
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ftunivmassamh:oai:works.bepress.com:raymond_bradley-1147 2023-05-15T17:43:34+02:00 Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway Bradley, Raymond S D'Anjou, Robert Balascio, Nicholas L Finkelstein, David B 2012-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/74 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=raymond_bradley unknown SelectedWorks https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/74 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=raymond_bradley Raymond S Bradley lake sediments human impact biogeochemistry archeology Climate Sedimentology text 2012 ftunivmassamh 2022-01-09T20:27:03Z Disentangling the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the environment is a major challenge in paleoenvironmental research. Here, we used fecal sterols and other biogeochemical compounds in lake sediments from northern Norway to identify both natural and anthropogenic signals of environmental change during the late Holocene. The area was first occupied by humans and their grazing animals at ∼2,250 ± 75 calendar years before 1950 AD (calendar years before present). The arrival of humans is indicated by an abrupt increase in coprostanol (and its epimer epicoprostanol) in the sediments and an associated increase in 5β-stigmastanol (and 5β-epistigmastanol), which resulted from human and animal feces washing into the lake. Human settlement was accompanied by an abrupt increase in landscape fires (indicated by the rise in pyrolytic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and a decline in woodland (registered by a change in n-alkane chain lengths from leaf waxes), accelerating a process that began earlier in the Holocene. Human activity and associated landscape changes in the region over the last two millennia were mainly driven by summer temperatures, as indicated by independent tree-ring reconstructions, although there were periods when socioeconomic factors played an equally important role. In this study, fecal sterols in lake sediments have been used to provide a record of human occupancy through time. This approach may be useful in many archeological studies, both to confirm the presence of humans and grazing animals, and to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural factors that have influenced the environment in the past. Text Northern Norway University of Massachusetts: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Norway |
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collection |
University of Massachusetts: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
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ftunivmassamh |
language |
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topic |
lake sediments human impact biogeochemistry archeology Climate Sedimentology |
spellingShingle |
lake sediments human impact biogeochemistry archeology Climate Sedimentology Bradley, Raymond S D'Anjou, Robert Balascio, Nicholas L Finkelstein, David B Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
topic_facet |
lake sediments human impact biogeochemistry archeology Climate Sedimentology |
description |
Disentangling the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the environment is a major challenge in paleoenvironmental research. Here, we used fecal sterols and other biogeochemical compounds in lake sediments from northern Norway to identify both natural and anthropogenic signals of environmental change during the late Holocene. The area was first occupied by humans and their grazing animals at ∼2,250 ± 75 calendar years before 1950 AD (calendar years before present). The arrival of humans is indicated by an abrupt increase in coprostanol (and its epimer epicoprostanol) in the sediments and an associated increase in 5β-stigmastanol (and 5β-epistigmastanol), which resulted from human and animal feces washing into the lake. Human settlement was accompanied by an abrupt increase in landscape fires (indicated by the rise in pyrolytic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and a decline in woodland (registered by a change in n-alkane chain lengths from leaf waxes), accelerating a process that began earlier in the Holocene. Human activity and associated landscape changes in the region over the last two millennia were mainly driven by summer temperatures, as indicated by independent tree-ring reconstructions, although there were periods when socioeconomic factors played an equally important role. In this study, fecal sterols in lake sediments have been used to provide a record of human occupancy through time. This approach may be useful in many archeological studies, both to confirm the presence of humans and grazing animals, and to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural factors that have influenced the environment in the past. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bradley, Raymond S D'Anjou, Robert Balascio, Nicholas L Finkelstein, David B |
author_facet |
Bradley, Raymond S D'Anjou, Robert Balascio, Nicholas L Finkelstein, David B |
author_sort |
Bradley, Raymond S |
title |
Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
title_short |
Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
title_full |
Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
title_fullStr |
Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern Norway |
title_sort |
biogeochemical evidence for prehistoric human impacts on the environment in northwestern norway |
publisher |
SelectedWorks |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/74 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=raymond_bradley |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Northern Norway |
op_source |
Raymond S Bradley |
op_relation |
https://works.bepress.com/raymond_bradley/74 https://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=raymond_bradley |
_version_ |
1766145674050535424 |