Anthropogenic activity in prehistory on the background of Holocene climate changes in the south-eastern Baltic region

Abstract

Data on natural palaeoarchives combined with archaeological materials from prehistoric sites of the south-eastern Baltic provide a picture of ancient anthropogenic activity and main stages of evolution of local communities starting from the Mesolithic. Modern Analog Technique (MAT) method applied for the Kamyshovoe lake palynological data is used to reconstruct the seasonal temperature and precipitation trends and values during the Holocene. During the Mesolithic, climate conditions changed from those close to the late Glacial through a period of warmer and wetter climate with parameters close to the present day to conditions of climatic optimum, when temperature was several degrees higher that modern ones. These climate conditions existed during the first part of the Neolithic as well, while from about 5500 cal yr BP the climate changed towards colder temperatures and a shift in seasonal moisture content: summers became wetter and winters less snowy. For the Bronze Age, relative temperature stability along with significant precipitation fluctuations are reconstructed. Since the Iron Age, temperatures remain close to modern ones and several “wetter” episods are distinguished.