Cargando…

Human forager response to abrupt climate change at 8.2 ka on the Atlantic coast of Europe

The cooling and drying associated with the so-called ‘8.2 ka event’ have long been hypothesized as having sweeping implications for human societies in the Early Holocene, including some of the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Atlantic Europe. Nevertheless, detailed ‘on-site’ records with which th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: García-Escárzaga, Asier, Gutiérrez-Zugasti, Igor, Marín-Arroyo, Ana B., Fernandes, Ricardo, Núñez de la Fuente, Sara, Cuenca-Solana, David, Iriarte, Eneko, Simões, Carlos, Martín-Chivelet, Javier, González-Morales, Manuel R., Roberts, Patrick
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9021199/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35444222
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10135-w
Descripción
Sumario:The cooling and drying associated with the so-called ‘8.2 ka event’ have long been hypothesized as having sweeping implications for human societies in the Early Holocene, including some of the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Atlantic Europe. Nevertheless, detailed ‘on-site’ records with which the impacts of broader climate changes on human-relevant environments can be explored have been lacking. Here, we reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SST) from δ(18)O values measured on subfossil topshells Phorcus lineatus exploited by the Mesolithic human groups that lived at El Mazo cave (N Spain) between 9 and 7.4 ka. Bayesian modelling of 65 radiocarbon dates, in combination with this δ(18)O data, provide a high-resolution seasonal record of SST, revealing that colder SST during the 8.2 ka event led to changes in the availability of different shellfish species. Intensification in the exploitation of molluscs by humans indicates demographic growth in these Atlantic coastal settings which acted as refugia during this cold event.