This study presents results fromii a multi-proxy anialysis of cores taken in a crater-lake sequence fromll Eski Acigol in centr-al Turkey which cover the period fromii pre-c. 1600X) cal. yr BP to the present. The sediments comiiprise an upper unit of enerally non-laminated, banded to massive silts and peats of mid-to late-Holocene age, oveilying a laminated tinit of late-Pleistocene to early/miid-Holocenie age. The lamiinlae, comprising mainily aragonite. amorphous silica (diatom trustules) and organic mattei were formed in a relatively deep, dilute. meromiiictic lake. Pollen data indicate an abrupt replacement of Ar;eyisi'io-chenopod steppe by grass-oakterebinth parkland during the period of laminae deposition, imiar-king the start of the Holocenie. A gradual Li i E ;i E; increase in tree pollen during the early Holocene came to a i n end c. 6500 cal. yr BP (U-series and adjusted 4C timescale), when mesic deciduotLs taxa declined at the same timiie as lake levels fell. Human impact on regional vegetation is infened from a sharp decline in oak arotind 4500-.4(X0)0 cal. yr BP. Diatom, isotopic anid mineralogical data indicate that during the second half of the Holocene the lake became relatively shallow and A oscillated between fresh and brackish/evaporated water conditions. The contrast between wetter early-and drier HOLOCENE late-Holocene climatic conditions is matched bv other eastern anid central Mediterranean proxy climate data. SPECIAL ISSUEWhile the Eski Acigol seqtLience resembles Holocene hydroclimatic changes in the Saharo-Arabian zone and was also apparenitly linlked to orbital forcing, it is unlikely to have had the samlle direct cause, i.e., an expansion and subsequent retreat of monsoon rainfall.

Olive ( Olea europaea L.) was one of the most important fruit trees in the ancient Mediterranean region and a founder species of horticulture in the Mediterranean Basin. Different views have been expressed regarding the geographical origins and timing of olive cultivation. Since genetic studies and macro-botanical remains point in different directions, we turn to another proxy – the palynological evidence. This study uses pollen records to shed new light on the history of olive cultivation and large-scale olive management. We employ a fossil pollen dataset composed of high-resolution pollen records obtained across the Mediterranean Basin covering most of the Holocene. Human activity is indicated when Olea pollen percentages rise fairly suddenly, are not accompanied by an increase of other Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees, and when the rise occurs in combination with consistent archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence. Based on these criteria, our results show that the southern Levant served as the locus of primary olive cultivation as early as ~6500 years BP (yBP), and that a later, early/mid 6th millennium BP cultivation process occurred in the Aegean (Crete) – whether as an independent large-scale management event or as a result of knowledge and/or seedling transfer from the southern Levant. Thus, the early management of olive trees corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean village economy and the completion of the ‘secondary products revolution’, rather than urbanization or state formation. From these two areas of origin, the southern Levant and the Aegean olive cultivation spread across the Mediterranean, with the beginning of olive horticulture in the northern Levant dated to ~4800 yBP. In Anatolia, large-scale olive horticulture was palynologically recorded by ~3200 yBP, in mainland Italy at ~3400 yBP, and in the Iberian Peninsula at mid/late 3rd millennium BP.

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Southern Anatolia is a highly significant area within the Mediterranean, particularly in terms of understanding how agriculture moved into Europe from neighbouring regions. This study uses pollen, palaeoclimate and archaeological evidence to investigate the relationships between demography and vegetation change, and to explore how the development of agriculture varied spatially. Data from 21 fossil pollen records have been transformed into forested, parkland and open vegetation types using cluster analysis. Patterns of change have been explored using non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and through analysis of indicator groups, such as an Anthropogenic Pollen Index, and Simpson's Diversity. Settlement data, which indicate population densities, and summed radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites have been used as a proxy for demographic change. The pollen and archaeological records confirm that farming can be detected earlier (around 7000 cal. yr. BP) in Anatolia in comparison with other parts of the Mediterranean. Dynamics of change in grazing indicators and the OJCV (Olea, Juglans, Castanea, and Vitis) index for cultivated trees appear to match cycles of population expansion and decline. Vegetation and land use change is also influenced by other factors, such as climate change. Investigating the early impacts of anthropogenic activities (e.g. woodcutting, animal herding, the use of fire and agriculture) is key to understanding how societies have modified the environment since the mid-late Holocene, despite the capacity of ecological systems to absorb recurrent disturbances. The results of this study suggest that shifting human population dynamics played an important role in shaping land cover in central and southern Anatolia.

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