Historical landscape change in Cappadocia (central Turkey): a palaeoecological investigation of annually laminated sediments from Nar lake

Abstract

Coupled multiproxy indicators (pollen, stable isotopes and charcoal) reconstructed from annually laminated lake sediments from Nar Gölü in Cappadocia (central Turkey) complemented by documentary and archaeological evidence provide a detailed record of environmental changes and their causes from late Antiquity (AD 300) to the present day. Stable isotope data indicate marked shifts in the variability in summer drought intensity and winter—spring rainfall, but these did not coincide in time with changes in vegetation and land use shown by pollen data. Rather, human impacts appear to have been the main driver of landscape ecological changes in Cappadocia over the last two millennia. Pollen and charcoal data indicate four principal land-use phases: (i) an early Byzantine agrarian landscape characterized by cereals and tree crops, and marking the later part of the so-called Beyşehir Occupation phase; (ii) a period of landscape abandonment and the establishment of secondary woodland from AD 670 to 950 coinciding with the Arab invasions of Anatolia and marking the transition from late Antiquity to the middle Byzantine period; (iii) the re-establishment of cereal-based agriculture and pastoralism from c. AD 950, with this cultural landscape being maintained through the Byzantine `Golden Age', the Seljuk and Ottoman Empires; and (iv) agricultural intensification during the late Ottoman era and the Turkish Republic (AD 1830 to present). Charcoal fluxes indicate that prior to the twentieth century, landscape burning was most frequent at times of diminished human impact when fuel biomass increased. Pollen and historical data show remarkably close agreement in terms of the timing of landscape change, and the former suggest that rural cultural traditions were able to survive largely intact through short-lived periods of socio-political dislocation such as the sixth century Justinian plague and the thirteenth century Mongol invasions.

Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years – A review

“…In multi-proxy studies pollen data can be used to find periods of strong human impact and thus help in the elucidation of competing hypotheses for environmental change (e.g. England et al, 2008). This highlights the necessity for locallybased comparisons of climate and human activities in order to better comprehend societal response to climate variability (see also Caseldine and Turney, 2010).…”

“…A comparison of the pollen and isotope records shows that changes in vegetation do not correlate with shifts in climate, suggesting a mainly human agent as a factor forcing vegetational change (England et al, 2008). At the same time, England et al (2008) notice a correlation between archaeological and historical records and periods of wetter climate as indicated by stable isotopes.…”

“…At the same time, England et al (2008) notice a correlation between archaeological and historical records and periods of wetter climate as indicated by stable isotopes. The relationships thus remain unclear.…”

“…In Greece, the decline occurs in the period 1350e1150 yrs BP, and in Turkey at c. 1280 yrs BP, with the end of the BO-phase coeval with a period of recurring Arab invasions (England et al, 2008). In the Turkish case this meant rapidly declining numbers of cultivated trees and a concomitant increase in natural tree species (Eastwood et al, 1998(Eastwood et al, , 1999(Eastwood et al, , 2007Vermoere et al, 2002a;Knipping et al, 2008).…”

Eastern Mediterranean hydroclimate over the late glacial and Holocene, reconstructed from the sediments of Nar lake, central Turkey, using stable isotopes and carbonate mineralogy

“…Stable isotope (Jones et al, 2006;Dean et al, 2013), pollen (England et al, 2008) and diatom (Woodbridge and Roberts, 2011) studies have previously been carried out on a 1720 year core sequence (NAR01/02) from the lake. The distinctive carbonateorganic couplets in the sediment have been shown to be annual (varves) and d 18 O carbonate has been shown to provide a means of reconstructing water balance (Jones et al, 2005;Dean et al, in press).…”