Paleohydrological implications of late Quaternary fluvial deposits in and around archaeological sites in Syria

Oguchi, Takashi; Hori, Kazuaki; Oguchi, Chiaki T.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.05.033

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The Late-Holocene is also characterized by centennial scale events of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) occurring between 1.2 and 0.9 cal kyrs BP, followed by the Little Ice Age (LIA) occurring from 1.8 to 1.3 cal kyrs BP. The availability of resources in terms of food, water, lithic raw materials and so on were vital factors in influencing cultural activities and human settlement patterns (Davies, 2005; Oguchi et al, 2008; Wilkinson, 2000). Several transitions were initiated during different cultural phases of the Indian Subcontinent which appear to be adaptive measures taken in order to cope with the changing climatic conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating possible links between Holocene environmental changes and cultural transitions across India

Behera

Chauhan

2023

The Holocene

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From the early Holocene onward, the Indian Subcontinent has accommodated a range of diverse human cultures and associated ecological adaptations and lifestyles. Around 10 kyrs ago, the Subcontinent has witnessed the development of later Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and their subsequent regional transitions to pastoralist (Neolithic) and agricultural (Chalcolithic) lifeways. The Holocene climate records reveal discrepancies in the timing and duration of climatic events, which can be attributed to a vast geographic isolation, the influence of height, elevation, and local climatic conditions. These changing climatic patterns including the development of a geographically variable monsoon directly impacted these various cultures including the Harappans and their contemporaries as well as younger Historical and Medieval empires across India, at various levels. In some regions, environmental changes led to uneven cultural transitions, geographic migrations, and the development of regionally-distinct material cultures along with establishment of sedentary life-ways. This paper attempts to present a review broadly correlating general climatic patterns throughout the Holocene period of India with regional cultural dynamics. All geomorphic-climatic zones of the Subcontinent showed strong inter-proxy coherence between 9 and 5 kyrs in response to increased precipitation. After this warming period ends, we see a moderate dry period as a result of a weakening monsoon and an overall tendency toward aridity throughout all zones (after 4 kyrs). The temporal variation of human habitation and respective adaptive responses suggest broad linkages to the varying climatic and physiographic features at a regional scale. Learning how this shaped human eco-dynamics in the past can help us expand our understanding of human history and implement lessons for the present as well as the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating possible links between Holocene environmental changes and cultural transitions across India

Behera

Chauhan

2023

The Holocene

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“…Access to much of the area is currently impossible because of war in Syria, but significant new work was undertaken on the Euphrates, Orontes and Kebir river systems in Syria prior to the onset of hostilities, while the Euphrates was studied further upstream, in southern Turkey, and the Orontes, which flows northwards, further downstream, in its lowest reach through Hatay Province, Turkey. A review of the fluvial stratigraphy in these systems is provided elsewhere in this issue (Bridgland et al, 2017), showing that they are more variable than the earlier (20th Century) workers supposed (see Oguchi et al (2008) for information on late Quaternary fluvial deposits in relation to archaeological sites and Schrøder et al (2012) on spring deposits as proxies for interstadials at the Palaeolithic site of Yabroud in Syria). The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeological records of these regions have also been reassessed in detail (Shaw, 2012); a brief summary of the repercussions of this new work for the Palaeolithic archives is provided below.…”

Section: Western Asia: the Levant Turkey And The Arabian Peninsulamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluvial deposits as an archive of early human activity: Progress during the 20 years of the Fluvial Archives Group

Chauhan

Bridgland

Moncel

et al. 2017

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Fluvial sedimentary archives are important repositories for Lower and Middle Palaeolithic artefacts throughout the 'Old World', especially in Europe, where the beginning of their study coincided with the realisation that early humans were of great antiquity. Now that many river terrace sequences can be reliably dated and correlated with the globally valid marine isotope record, potentially useful patterns can be recognized in the distribution of the find-spots of the artefacts that constitute the large collections that were assembled during the years of manual gravel extraction. This paper reviews the advances during the past two decades in knowledge of hominin occupation based on artefact occurrences in fluvial contexts, in Europe, Asia and Africa. As such it is an update of a comparable review in 2007, at the end of IGCP Project no. 449, which had instigated the compilation of fluvial records from around the world during 2000e2004, under the auspices of the Fluvial Archives Group. An overarching finding is the confirmation of the well-established view that in Europe there is a demarcation between handaxe making in the west and flakeecore industries in the east, although on a wider scale that pattern is undermined by the increased numbers of Lower Palaeolithic bifaces now recognized in East Asia. It is also apparent that, although it seems to have appeared at different places and at different times in the later Lower Palaeolithic, the arrival of Levallois technology as a global phenomenon was similarly timed across the area occupied by Middle Pleistocene hominins, at around 0.3 Ma.

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“…Mediterranean watersheds also provide an exciting context for arguing about the role of human activity as a forcing of fluvial change owing to the long-standing history of land use and civilizations in the circum-Mediterranean realm. Correspondingly, this has made the Mediterranean a key area for geoarcheologic applications in conjunction with advancing physical age dating (e.g., Judson, 1963;Woodward et al, 2001;Blondel, 2006;Oguchi et al, 2008). General relationships between land use, sediment production, and fluvial response are recognized (e.g., Thornes, 1976;Wainwright, 1994;Lespez, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining allostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic perspectives to compile subregional records of fluvial responsiveness: The case of the sustainably entrenching Palancia River watershed (Mediterranean coast, NE Spain)

et al. 2011

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Paleohydrological implications of late Quaternary fluvial deposits in and around archaeological sites in Syria

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Investigating possible links between Holocene environmental changes and cultural transitions across India

Investigating possible links between Holocene environmental changes and cultural transitions across India

Fluvial deposits as an archive of early human activity: Progress during the 20 years of the Fluvial Archives Group

Combining allostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic perspectives to compile subregional records of fluvial responsiveness: The case of the sustainably entrenching Palancia River watershed (Mediterranean coast, NE Spain)

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