Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia
In Europe, the transition from hunter–gatherer–fisher-based communities into societies mainly relying on farming was spread from the southeast towards the north and west during the Holocene. In central Germany, farming was adopted at ~7500 cal. yr BP, whereas the shift is evident at ~6000–5500 cal....
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:1186146 2023-05-15T17:32:03+02:00 Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia Rohde Krossa, Veronica Moros, Matthias Leduc, Guillaume Hinz, Martin Blanz, Thomas Schneider, Ralph 2017-02-17 https://zenodo.org/record/1186146 https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 eng eng https://zenodo.org/communities/archaeology https://zenodo.org/record/1186146 https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 oai:zenodo.org:1186146 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode The Holocene 27(10) 1589–1599 agriculture alkenones Baltic Sea outflow C 37:4 climate change Holocene northern Germany sea surface temperatures Skagerrak info:eu-repo/semantics/article publication-article 2017 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 2023-03-10T22:25:37Z In Europe, the transition from hunter–gatherer–fisher-based communities into societies mainly relying on farming was spread from the southeast towards the north and west during the Holocene. In central Germany, farming was adopted at ~7500 cal. yr BP, whereas the shift is evident at ~6000–5500 cal. yr BP in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Consequently, farming techniques were available for more than a millennium. Some studies argue that climate change might have played a role in the onset of farming in those areas. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the mid- to late-Holocene sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Skagerrak to document potential regional climatic impacts on changes in human economy. We compare our results with a record of human settlement activity in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Prior to ~6300 cal. yr BP, warm SSTs are documented throughout the Skagerrak, suggesting dominance of North Atlantic sourced water inflow providing mild climatic conditions. Between ~6300 and 5400 cal. yr BP, that is, concomitant with the shift in human economy, SSTs in the NE Skagerrak dropped by ~5–6°C, as also documented in mean annual air temperatures in central South Sweden, although less pronounced. The regional cooling suggests outflow of colder Baltic Sea water only affecting the NE Skagerrak and central South Sweden. Probably, numerous severe winters reflecting a continental-dominated atmospheric circulation pattern prevailed over the region. These changes most likely caused a gradual restriction in natural food sources, in particular from the marine realm. We thus suggest that hunter–gatherer–fishers were forced to adopt farming strategies to counter-balance this environmental stress. Our results indicate that regional changes in oceanography probably amplifying North Atlantic climate change in the western Baltic were an important factor that played a role in the adoption of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Zenodo The Holocene 27 10 1589 1599 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Zenodo |
op_collection_id |
ftzenodo |
language |
English |
topic |
agriculture alkenones Baltic Sea outflow C 37:4 climate change Holocene northern Germany sea surface temperatures Skagerrak |
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agriculture alkenones Baltic Sea outflow C 37:4 climate change Holocene northern Germany sea surface temperatures Skagerrak Rohde Krossa, Veronica Moros, Matthias Leduc, Guillaume Hinz, Martin Blanz, Thomas Schneider, Ralph Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
topic_facet |
agriculture alkenones Baltic Sea outflow C 37:4 climate change Holocene northern Germany sea surface temperatures Skagerrak |
description |
In Europe, the transition from hunter–gatherer–fisher-based communities into societies mainly relying on farming was spread from the southeast towards the north and west during the Holocene. In central Germany, farming was adopted at ~7500 cal. yr BP, whereas the shift is evident at ~6000–5500 cal. yr BP in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Consequently, farming techniques were available for more than a millennium. Some studies argue that climate change might have played a role in the onset of farming in those areas. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the mid- to late-Holocene sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Skagerrak to document potential regional climatic impacts on changes in human economy. We compare our results with a record of human settlement activity in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Prior to ~6300 cal. yr BP, warm SSTs are documented throughout the Skagerrak, suggesting dominance of North Atlantic sourced water inflow providing mild climatic conditions. Between ~6300 and 5400 cal. yr BP, that is, concomitant with the shift in human economy, SSTs in the NE Skagerrak dropped by ~5–6°C, as also documented in mean annual air temperatures in central South Sweden, although less pronounced. The regional cooling suggests outflow of colder Baltic Sea water only affecting the NE Skagerrak and central South Sweden. Probably, numerous severe winters reflecting a continental-dominated atmospheric circulation pattern prevailed over the region. These changes most likely caused a gradual restriction in natural food sources, in particular from the marine realm. We thus suggest that hunter–gatherer–fishers were forced to adopt farming strategies to counter-balance this environmental stress. Our results indicate that regional changes in oceanography probably amplifying North Atlantic climate change in the western Baltic were an important factor that played a role in the adoption of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rohde Krossa, Veronica Moros, Matthias Leduc, Guillaume Hinz, Martin Blanz, Thomas Schneider, Ralph |
author_facet |
Rohde Krossa, Veronica Moros, Matthias Leduc, Guillaume Hinz, Martin Blanz, Thomas Schneider, Ralph |
author_sort |
Rohde Krossa, Veronica |
title |
Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
title_short |
Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
title_full |
Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
title_fullStr |
Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia |
title_sort |
regional climate change and the onset of farming in northern germany and southern scandinavia |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://zenodo.org/record/1186146 https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
The Holocene 27(10) 1589–1599 |
op_relation |
https://zenodo.org/communities/archaeology https://zenodo.org/record/1186146 https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 oai:zenodo.org:1186146 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617702223 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1589 |
op_container_end_page |
1599 |
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1766129971351257088 |