Climate and environmental dynamics mid to late Holocene settlement in the Tobol-Ishim forest-steppe region, West Siberia

• Main Authors: Chlachula, Jiří, Zakh, Viktor A., Ryabogina, Natasha E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pergamon Elsevier Science Ltd. 2010
• Subjects: Climate and environmental evolution; Holocene; Tobol-Ishim region; forest-steppe zone; socio-economic development; Parkland; taiga; Siberia
• Online Access: http://publikace.k.utb.cz/handle/10563/1001691

Environmental multi-proxy records provide evidence on climate dynamics and related natural transformations in the forest-steppe / parkland zone of SW West Siberia during the last. 8 500 years from the late Boreal to Sub-Atlantic Period, chronologically encompassing the regional cultural evolution time span from the Mesolithic to the historical times. Pollen spectra from the investigated stratified sites indicate large-scale landscape restructurings related to both the natural as well as intensified anthropogenic activities in the forest-steppe and taiga parkland zones at several stages during the Holocene and migrations of cultural communities in response to climate variations and progressing aridity. These climatically-triggered vegetation zone shifts and territorial population movements are well manifested in the material culture.