A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years
Drawing on the recent synthesis of Australian palaeoclimate by the OZ-INTIMATE group (Reeves etal., 2013a), we consider the effects of climate systems on past human settlement patterns and inferred demography. We use 5044 radiocarbon dates from ∼1750 archaeological sites to develop regional time-ser...
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:104739 2023-05-15T18:25:43+02:00 A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years Williams, AN Veth, P Steffen, W Ulm, S Turney, CSM Reeves, JM Phipps, SJ Smith, M 2015 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/104739 en eng Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 Williams, AN and Veth, P and Steffen, W and Ulm, S and Turney, CSM and Reeves, JM and Phipps, SJ and Smith, M, A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years, Quaternary Science Reviews, 123 pp. 91-112. ISSN 0277-3791 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/104739 Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Quaternary Environments Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 2019-12-13T22:06:03Z Drawing on the recent synthesis of Australian palaeoclimate by the OZ-INTIMATE group (Reeves etal., 2013a), we consider the effects of climate systems on past human settlement patterns and inferred demography. We use 5044 radiocarbon dates from ∼1750 archaeological sites to develop regional time-series curves for different regions defined in the OZ-INTIMATE compilation as the temperate, tropics, interior and Southern Ocean sectors to explore humanclimate relationships in Australia over the last 35,000 years. Correlations undertaken with improved palaeoclimatic data and archaeological records indicate that the regional time-series curves are robust, and can be used as a proxy for human behaviour. However, interrogation of the datasets is essential with artificial peaks and taphonomic over-correction being critical considerations. The time-series curves are interpreted as reflecting population growth, stasis and even decline in phase with terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene climatic fluctuations. This coupling, however, decreases during the last 5000 years, most likely due to increased population levels, greater territoriality, technological solutions to stress, and social and ideational innovation. Curves from all sectors show exponential population growth over the last 5000 years. We identify future research priorities, highlighting the paucity of archaeological records across several parts of Australia (<1 dated site/4,000km 2 ), especially around the fringes of the arid zone, and the need for improved taphonomic correction techniques. Finally, we discuss how these time-series curves represent a first-order framework, not dissimilar to global climate models, which researchers can continue to test and refine with local, regional and continental records. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Reeves ENVELOPE(-67.983,-67.983,-67.133,-67.133) Southern Ocean Quaternary Science Reviews 123 91 112 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Quaternary Environments |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Quaternary Environments Williams, AN Veth, P Steffen, W Ulm, S Turney, CSM Reeves, JM Phipps, SJ Smith, M A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Quaternary Environments |
description |
Drawing on the recent synthesis of Australian palaeoclimate by the OZ-INTIMATE group (Reeves etal., 2013a), we consider the effects of climate systems on past human settlement patterns and inferred demography. We use 5044 radiocarbon dates from ∼1750 archaeological sites to develop regional time-series curves for different regions defined in the OZ-INTIMATE compilation as the temperate, tropics, interior and Southern Ocean sectors to explore humanclimate relationships in Australia over the last 35,000 years. Correlations undertaken with improved palaeoclimatic data and archaeological records indicate that the regional time-series curves are robust, and can be used as a proxy for human behaviour. However, interrogation of the datasets is essential with artificial peaks and taphonomic over-correction being critical considerations. The time-series curves are interpreted as reflecting population growth, stasis and even decline in phase with terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene climatic fluctuations. This coupling, however, decreases during the last 5000 years, most likely due to increased population levels, greater territoriality, technological solutions to stress, and social and ideational innovation. Curves from all sectors show exponential population growth over the last 5000 years. We identify future research priorities, highlighting the paucity of archaeological records across several parts of Australia (<1 dated site/4,000km 2 ), especially around the fringes of the arid zone, and the need for improved taphonomic correction techniques. Finally, we discuss how these time-series curves represent a first-order framework, not dissimilar to global climate models, which researchers can continue to test and refine with local, regional and continental records. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Williams, AN Veth, P Steffen, W Ulm, S Turney, CSM Reeves, JM Phipps, SJ Smith, M |
author_facet |
Williams, AN Veth, P Steffen, W Ulm, S Turney, CSM Reeves, JM Phipps, SJ Smith, M |
author_sort |
Williams, AN |
title |
A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
title_short |
A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
title_full |
A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
title_fullStr |
A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
title_full_unstemmed |
A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
title_sort |
continental narrative: human settlement patterns and australian climate change over the last 35,000 years |
publisher |
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/104739 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.983,-67.983,-67.133,-67.133) |
geographic |
Reeves Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Reeves Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 Williams, AN and Veth, P and Steffen, W and Ulm, S and Turney, CSM and Reeves, JM and Phipps, SJ and Smith, M, A continental narrative: human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 years, Quaternary Science Reviews, 123 pp. 91-112. ISSN 0277-3791 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/104739 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.06.018 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
123 |
container_start_page |
91 |
op_container_end_page |
112 |
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1766207350605086720 |