Palaeoecology

During the early Holocene the Mesolithic campsites at Friesack in northern Central Europe were located on an island amidst a wetland landscape: a swampy valley rich of reeds with generally slowly flowing water (with the exception of spring), forests dominated by birch and pine, sandy hills covered with pine, and open grasslands. Due to excellent preservation conditions thousands of mammal remains could be excavated in the refuse areas of the site Friesack 4 by B. Gramsch and his team between 1978 and 1989. 826 identified mammal remains derive from the oldest, mid-Preboreal layers of the station, 1200 bones from the following late Preboreal layers, and further 3082 remains from the subsequent early Boreal horizons. The main game species of the inhabitants of Friesack 4 were red deer, roe deer, and wild boar. Based on the bone weight, red deer was the most relevant and important species in all the Mesolithic stages of occupation. In the course of the c. 1500 years of habitation investigated on this site the economical relevance of wild boar increased gradually, whereas in particular elk lost its importance. Significantly, red deer hunting always focused on older juveniles or young adults. Based on the number of identified specimen, remains of roe deer dominate the mammal bone assemblage in all the occupation stages, and their frequency continuously increases from the oldest to the youngest Mesolithic horizon. Roe deer hunting occurred especially in May and June and was purposefully dedicated to young females. Similarly, hunting red deer was not focussed on strong, older deer, as at some contemporane-ous sites, but on young adults. Both species show that the hunter's strategy at Friesack 4 was in these cases not to get a maximum of food resources per hunting expedition, but rather to secure a successful hunt. In wild boar, in contrast, the analyses give evidence of a selective hunting of full-grown and quite old individuals, thus of wild boars for meat. Remarkably, the hunter's wild boar prey was nearly all female. A résumé of all seasonal indications concerning the mammal bones shows that Mesolithic people stayed at the location nearly exclusively in the months between May and October. There is no evidence for human presence during late autumn and winter/early spring. The portions of the body parts of the different game species show concordantly that the animals were slaughtered elsewhere. Friesack 4 was only the place of consumption. Partly, however, some valuable parts of the prey are missing at the campsite-potentially these parts were reserved for the successful hunters, who consumed them already at the kill site.

New pollen evidence and a review of past palynological research at the Pleistocene Florisbad thermal spring mound, which produced faunal, hominin and archeological remains, allow a reconstruction of past conditions in the central Free State grassland, South Africa. Pollen sequences at the spring consist of alternating pollen-rich organic peaty horizons interrupted by hiatuses or pollen-poor layers of sandy and clayey deposits. The paleoclimatic interpretation of pollen sequences in springs like Florisbad, which contain a mixture of local and regional pollen and are influenced by spring mound cycles and changes in swamp configuration, requires consideration of taphonomy and site geomorphology to separate local from regional influences. By correlating the pollen stratigraphy in different parts of the site we suggest that the lower layers containing the Florisbad hominin (dated to 259 ka) and its associated Middle Pleistocene fauna, experienced cool moist and grassy conditions. Dating of some of the overlying Middle Stone Age layers suggest that they encompass the Last Interglacial period (MIS 5e; ca. 124–119 ka). In these levels the pollen evidence of upland fynbos shrubs unexpectedly suggests that cool conditions prevailed. This raises questions about the taphonomy, precision of the age estimate of occupation or the way we interpret pollen spectra.

The ability of sedimentary proxies (especially dung fungal spores) to reflect the past presence and density of large herbivores on a landscape has been receiving increasing scrutiny. Here we examine the Sporormiella spore record from a well-dated, multi-proxy, highly organic sedimentary record from the small lake basin of Marcacocha in the Cuzco region of Peru. The basin, a wetland since ca. AD 1840, existed as a small lake for at least 4000 years prior. Previous work at Marcacocha has shown that changes in herbivore densities reflect the abundances of oribatid mites preserved in the lake sediments. This study tests the assumption that both the Sporormiella and the oribatid mite records responded in broadly the same way to changes in herbivore densities over the past 1200 years.
Analysis reveals a very low covariance between concentrations of Sporormiella spores and the two major components of the oribatid mite assemblage: a single aquatic species of Hydrozetes and a less abundant, wider grouping comprising members of the mostly terrestrial superfamily Ceratozetoidea (referred to as the ‘ceratozetoids’). Variations in the Hydrozetes assemblage clearly dovetail with known historical events, including the massive decline of indigenous and camelid populations following the collapse of the Inca Empire in the mid-sixteenth century. Comparison with other environmental proxies from the Marcacocha sequence, including diatoms and charophyte oospores, suggests that the ceratozetoids appear to reflect increasing terrestrialization. In contrast, although the Sporormiella record indicates the presence of livestock, it fails to register the major historical changes in herbivore presence, though reflects well episodes of lake-level lowering. In small lake settings, therefore, the use of Sporormiella to estimate the density of herbivores in the catchment might be considered a relatively blunt instrument when compared with some other indicators.

PALEOENVIRONMENTAL MEANING OF THE PRESERVED FAUNA IN THE
TREMEMBÉ FORMATION, TAUBATÉ BASIN, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

This work comprised the study of the Tremembé formation of Taubaté Basin, São Paulo state. Basin analysis studies were based on faunal data, which allows a better understanding of the paleoenvironments usually interpreted only by geological data or isolated taxonomic groups. The faunal representatives of the Tremembé Formation were inventoried and the diversity reached 43 species of insects, 13 of mammals, 10 of fishes, 8 of crustaceous and birds, 3 of reptiles, 2 of amphibious, 2 of mollusk and 1 of arachnids, annelids and spongy. Paleoanvironmental interpretation based on geological aspects and fossil plants basin was made over literature. These studies confirmed the existence of a great non oligomitic paleolake rich in aquatic plants and algae suggesting a high primary productivity. The lake water was alkaline, with a pH around 7-9. Most of the birds’ and mammals’ species, as well as paludal vegetation, lived around the lake. There was also a complex and  dense forest mainly composed of angiosperms, where selective animals fed. In the  highest region (dry and cold areas), diverse gymnosperms were identified by their pollens. The weather of the valley was moist with low seasonality, excepted by one great period of aridity registered over the bentonitic clay. All the data are consistent with Deseadan age (late Oligocene-early Miocene).

A Formação Tremembé da bacia de Taubaté foi estudada dentro da
metodologia de análise de bacia, com enfoque paleobiológico o que permitiu uma melhor compreensão dos paleoambientes, em geral interpretados através de dados geológicos ou grupos taxonômicos isolados. Foram inventariados os dados biológicos dos representantes da fauna da Formação Tremembé. A diversidade encontrada foi de 43 espécies de insetos, 13 de mamíferos, 10 de peixes, 8 de crustáceos e de aves, 3 de répteis, 2 de anfíbios, 2 de moluscos, 1 de aracnídeos, anelídeos e poríferos. Realizou-se um levantamento dos trabalhos sobre a flora e a geologia da bacia para interpretação dos paleoambientes. Foi confirmada a existência de um paleolago de grande porte, que não deveria ser oligomítico, pois possuía diversas macrófitas aquáticas e algas, caracterizando uma alta produção. A água apresentava um pH alcalino entre 7 e 9. O lago possuía uma vegetação paludal em seu entorno onde deveriam viver a maioria das espécies de aves e mamíferos. Havia também uma floresta complexa e densa, constituída principalmente de angiospermas, onde animais com alimentação mais seletiva obtinham alimentos. Na região mais alta (seca e fria), prosperavam as diversas gimnospermas identificadas pela palinologia. O clima do vale era úmido, com baixa sazonalidade, à exceção de um forte período de seca registrado no topo da argila bentonítica. Todos os dados encontrados demonstram coerência com a idade Deseadense, final do Oligoceno, início do Mioceno.

All authors in publication order:
Williams, John W. Grimm, Eric C. Blois, Jessica L. Charles, Donald F. Davis, Edward B. Goring, Simon J. Graham, Russell W. Smith, Alison J. Anderson, Michael Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin Ashworth, Allan C. Betancourt, Julio L. Bills, Brian W. Booth, Robert K. Buckland, Philip I. Curry, B. Brandon Giesecke, Thomas Jackson, Stephen T. Latorre, Claudio Nichols, Jonathan Purdum, Timshel Roth, Robert E. Stryker, Michael Takahara, Hikaru

The Neotoma Paleoecology Database is a community-curated data resource that supports interdisciplinary global change research by enabling broad-scale studies of taxon and community diversity, distributions, and dynamics during the large environmental changes of the past. By consolidating many kinds of data into a common repository, Neotoma lowers costs of paleodata management, makes paleoecological data openly available, and offers a high-quality, curated resource. Neotoma’s distributed scientific governance model is flexible and scalable, with many open pathways for participation by new members, data contributors, stewards, and research communities. The Neotoma data model supports, or can be extended to support, any kind of paleoecological or paleoenvironmental data from sedimentary archives. Data additions to Neotoma are growing and now include >3.8 million observations, >17,000 datasets, and >9200 sites. Dataset types currently include fossil pollen, vertebrates, diatoms, ostracodes, macroinvertebrates, plant macrofossils, insects, testate amoebae, geochronological data, and the recently added organic biomarkers, stable isotopes, and specimen-level data. Multiple avenues exist to obtain Neotoma data, including the Explorer map-based interface, an application programming interface, the neotoma R package, and digital object identifiers. As the volume and variety of scientific data grow, community-curated data resources such as Neotoma have become foundational infrastructure for big data science.

Prehistoric field systems sometimes encompass excavated, pit-like features which are difficult to classify due to the complex stratigraphies resulting from reuse, infilling and collapse. They are frequently classified as wells and watering holes, but other potential uses for excavated depressions are rarely cited. We argue the need for environmental archaeology in the interpretation of features of this nature, and present the case study of Pode Hole, where fossil insect material clearly contradicts the archaeological interpretation. We present empirical evidence for a sealed context filled with dung which cannot be interpreted as a water source. This evidence strongly contrasts with other superficially similar features at the site.

Paper on the connection of shifts in settlement patterns and landscape change in Kamarina, South-East Sicily, using (preliminary) geoarchaeological and palynological results.
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M. Rempe, From Swing to Swamp? Considering Landscape Change in Kamarina between Greek and Roman Times, in: O. Belvedere - J. Bergemann,  Römisches Sizilien. Stadt und Land zwischen Monumentalisierung und Ökonomie, Krise und Entwicklung, Kolloquium Göttingen 25. – 27.11.17 (Palermo 2018) 47-60.
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Get the full publication at https://www.unipapress.it/it/book/la-sicilia-romana-citta-e-territorio-tra-monumentalizzazione-ed-economia-crisi-e-sviluppo_115/

Faunal content is used to study the palaeoecology and paleoenvironment of eight oyster
beds (OB-1 to OB-8) that characterize the Cenomanian–Lower Turonian Galala Formation at the
contact between northern Wadi Qena and the Southern Galala, North Eastern Desert. The
taphonomy, biodiversity and palaeoecology of the reported fauna in each oyster bed are
combined with their stratigraphic distribution and lithofacies to reveal the paleoenvironment
and origin of these oyster beds.

[EN]: Current debates around the Anthropocene tend to focus on recent planetary-scale processes. However, regional and small-scale processes can be very telling about human agency in the shaping of landscapes overtime. Indeed, anthropogenic impacts of different intensities can be observed on landscapes since Prehistory – even in such remote and allegedly marginal areas as deserts, wetlands or mountains. In this article, I reflect on the long-term anthropization of alpine and subalpine areas in the western area of the Cantabrian Mountains (North-West of Iberia) in Later Prehistory. Studying the earlier anthropogenic pressure on upland environs in this period reminds us of the potential of landscape archaeology to enhance interdisciplinarity in debates about the Anthropocene. With the aim of emphasizing the role of archaeology as a mediating arena between social sciences, humanities and earth sciences, I analyse the scarce archaeological information available for upland landscapes of this study area to show how these datasets can nuance evolutionary interpretations of paleo-environmental sequences studied at natural deposits. Only through integrated and comprehensive discussions around the cultural and environmental traits of landscapes will we be able to fully understand the complex social contexts where agrarian labour and collective action shaped the alpine and subalpine areas in the Cantabrian Mountains since the spread of the Neolithic.

[ES]: Los debates actuales sobre el Antropoceno suelen estar centrados en procesos de escala planetaria, mientras procesos a menor escala pueden mostrarnos mucha información sobre la capacidad de acción humana en la formación de los paisajes a lo largo del tiempo. De hecho, se pueden observar impactos antropogénicos con diferentes intensidades desde la Prehistoria, incluso en áreas remotas o pretendidamente marginales como los desiertos, las zonas pantanosas o las montañas. En este trabajo, se reflexiona sobre el proceso diacrónico de antropización de las zonas alpinas y subalpinas del área occidental de la Cordillera Cantábrica (Noroeste de Iberia) durante la Prehistoria reciente. Estudiando la más temprana presión humana sobre los ambientes altimontanos en este período podemos reclamar el potencial de la Arqueología del Paisaje como estímulo para la interdisciplinariedad en los debates acerca del Antropoceno. Con el ánimo de enfatizar el papel que la Arqueología puede desempeñar como ámbito para la mediación entre las Ciencias Sociales, las Humanidades y las Ciencias de la Tierra, se examina la escasa información arqueológica disponible en los paisajes de alta montaña del área de estudio para mostrar cómo estos datos pueden matizar las interpretaciones evolucionistas de las secuencias paleoambientales estudiadas en depósitos naturales. Sólo a través de discusiones integradas y comprehensivas sobre los complejos contextos sociales en los que el trabajo agrario y la acción colectiva modeló las áreas alpinas y subalpinas en la Cordillera Cantábrica a partir de la expansión del Neolítico.

This thesis provides a palaeolimnological and environmental reconstruction of the last ~2,800 years of Lake Siscunsí, located in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. This study is mainly based on a high-resolution diatom record in combination with Chlorophyll 𝑎 and other analyses previously done in this lake, which include grain size, C/N, δ15N, δ13C, TOM, total carbonates and magnetic susceptibility.
It consists of a review of the mid and late Holocene climates in Colombia, then it summarizes the most important findings in the palaeorecords of the three Colombian cordilleras and it briefly mentions the most significative periods of human effects. It focuses on describing the main environmental and limnological changes ocurred from ~2,854 cal yr BP until present. It describes diatom assemblage changes with the aid of the previously mentioned proxies. Diatoms were grouped by its habitat type, however the most dominant fossil diatom in this record is a new taxon, and therefore diatom guilds were used to interpret limnological changes.
Four main periods of environmental and limnological changes were recorded: (1) From ~2,854 to 1,976 cal yr BP the lake was under low hydraulic energy, representing relatively dry conditions, with low nutrient levels and lacustrine algae as the main source of organic matter; (2) from ~1,976 to 1,572 cal yr BP the littoral area expanded under more humid conditions, with an increase of C and N, where C3 plants and macrophytes were important contributors of organic
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matter; (3) from ~1,572 to 535 cal yr BP the driest conditions in the entire record occurred along with nutrient enrichment originated by C3 plants and CAM macrophytes; (4) from ~535 to 349 cal yr BP there was a transition to humid conditions and decreased levels of nutrients under a highly disturbed environment. These conditions continued from ~349 to the present when human impact was a modifier to Lake Siscunsí dynamics.
Humid/dry episodes in the record as well as in the last decades coincide with the increases/decreases in frequency and intensity of ‘El Niño’ events in Northern South America, being this phenomenon a possible cause of the environmental conditions recorded in the lake.