Holocene vegetation history of the southern Levant based on a pollen record from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel

Abstract

Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee and Lake Tiberias, is located in the northeast of Israel. At a lake level of 211 m b.s.l. (below mean sea level), the central basin is 43 m deep. The maximum length of the lake is 21 km (N-S) and its maximum width is 12 km (W-E). Lake Kinneret's surface area is 166 km 2 . A new 17.8 m long sedimentary core was drilled in 2010. Here, we present the entire palynological record from it, which covers the last ~ 9,000 years. Special emphasis is given to the natural and human-influenced vegetation history of Galilee in comparison to that of the more southerly Dead Sea region. Significant signs of human impact are the first Olea (olive) increase during the beginning of the Chalcolithic period between 7,000 and 6,500 years ago, as well as the prominent Olea phase during the Hellenistic/Roman/Byzantine period between 2,300 and 1,500 years ago. Mediterranean macchia and bathas scrub vegetation, as known in the area today, has developed in the southern Levant under human impact since the last ca. 1,500 years.

Fodder, pasture, and the development of complex society in the Chalcolithic: isotopic perspectives on animal husbandry at Marj Rabba

“…Marj Rabba's location places it in relatively close proximity to other environmental zones that are markedly different from the Mediterranean vegetation of the Galilee. Today, Sudano-Zambezian vegetation dominates the most southern part of the Jordan River Valley(Danin 2004;Schiebel & Litt 2018). Further north in the Ghor, and closer to Marj Rabba, mixed communities of Mediterranean and Saharo-Sudanian vegetation are present, with some flora typically found in an Irano-Turanian zone(Danin 2004).…”

Lake Kinneret (Israel): New insights into Holocene regional palaeoclimate variability based on high-resolution multi-proxy analysis

“…In this study, we present the results of high-resolution diatom analysis combined with minerogeochemical analysis of a 17.8 m long Holocene sediment sequence from Lake Kinneret. Our results are compared to previously-published palynological data from the same core (Langgut et al, 2013, 2016, Schiebel, 2013, Schiebel and Litt, 2017, the longest and most continuous Holocene sequence yet retrieved from the lake. This study aims to exploit the value of diatoms as palaeolimnological proxy indicator for lake-level variation, and thus local changes in moisture availability.…”

“…desiccation cracks or crusts) of the lake during the past 10,000 years (Langgut et al, 2015), it can be assumed that sedimentation is continuous in the deepest parts of the Kinneret basin. The 17.8 m composite sequence covers approximately the last 9,000 cal yrs BP (figure 2, Schiebel and Litt, 2017).…”

Holocene landscape dynamics and long-term population trends in the Levant

“…Although human activity could have altered the local landscape via land management practices such as agriculture, grazing and burning (Roberts et al 2011), pollen data suggest that Early Holocene regional composition of woodland and landscape openness in the Levant were mainly linked to natural drivers (van Zeist and Bottema 1991;Djamali et al 2010;Litt et al 2012;Cheddadi and Khater 2016). Instead, a strong human impact on vegetation starts being more evident from the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age onwards and peaked in the Roman and Byzantine periods (see Schwab et al 2004;Hajar et al 2010;Langgut et al 2013 and2016;Izdebski et al 2016a;Schiebel and Litt 2017). Overall, the Holocene vegetation changes in the Levant are to be interpreted as the results of multiple factors interplaying with each other such as climate events, ecological dynamics and anthropogenic impacts (cf.…”