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The significance of climate fluctuations for lake level changes and shifts in subsistence economy during the late Neolithic (4300-2400 b.c. ) in central Europe

Arbogast, Rose-Marie ; Jacomet, Stefanie ; Magny, Michel ; Schibler, Jörg

In: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2006, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 403-418

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    Titre
    • The significance of climate fluctuations for lake level changes and shifts in subsistence economy during the late Neolithic (4300-2400 b.c. ) in central Europe
    Auteur
    • Arbogast, Rose-Marie. CNRS-UMR 6565, Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Ecologie, 16 route de Gray, 25030, Besançon, France
    • Jacomet, Stefanie. Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University IPAS, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland
    • Magny, Michel. CNRS-UMR 6565, Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Ecologie, 16 route de Gray, 25030, Besançon, France
    • Schibler, Jörg. Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University IPAS, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2006, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 403-418. Springer-Verlag
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:313587
    Summary
    In the last decades, data on the economy and environment of the Neolithic period of lake dwellings (4300-2400 b.c.) in central Europe has increased considerably and also palaeoecological data on lake level fluctuations has been thoroughly elaborated. Lake shores were mainly settled during warm and rather dry climate periods which caused a fall in the lake levels. Nevertheless, there were strong and partly very short-term shifts in the economy during the lake-dwelling period. These can be recognised only because the settlement layers can be very precisely dated by dendrochronology. In this article we discuss in an interdisciplinary way the possible interrelations between climatic and economic changes. To explain the latter, we assume crop failures as the main reason, which caused intensified hunting and gathering. There are three different possibilities which might explain this: cold and wet summers, severe droughts during spring and summer, or local over-exploitation of soils in densely settled areas