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Southern outskirts of Carpathian basin, namely the region between Sava, Drava and Danube rivers, have specific climate conditions today partially influenced by geological structure and geographical position. In this region Neolithic Starčevo and Sopot cultures are observed. Radiocarbon dates for Neolithic cultures are used to build a time frame whi...
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... outskirts of Carpathian basin, the region ob- served in this paper, in geographical sense covers the region between Sava, Drava and Danube rivers (Fig. 1). In geopoli- tical sense, it is the north-east part of Croatia, i.e. Slavonia and Syrmia region. Drava and Sava rivers flank it from the north and south while Danube river makes its eastern border. Those rivers represent quickest communication routs but they were also source of great annual flooding of the plain 1 , put under control ...
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... down by high Danube waters, making a wetland near its mouth called Kopaèki rit (Buriae and Teeak Gregl, 2009). Banks of Sava and Drava rivers are low but Danube's right bank is much higher than its left bank -in some parts more than 30 m. Between Sava and Drava Holo- cene alluvial plains there is a Pleistocene loess ridge (Haase et al., 2007: Fig. 1, Fig. 9 -here, the area in question is marked as containing loess derivates only but see detailed map in Baèani et al., 1999;Buriae and Teeak Gregl, 2009) known as Ðakovo-Vinkovci plateau (Baèani et al., 1999). Loess and its derivatives cover app. 35.7% of Croatia's total surface area, in some areas reaching thickness of up to 30 m ( Galoviae, ...
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... significant drop of Dead Sea water levels was noted for the period after the 8.6 ka calBP recovering slightly only around 7.5 ka calBP and continuing at relatively low levels until 5.6 ka calBP (Budja, 2007;Weninger et al., 2009). As the Dead Sea level responds primarily to precipita- tion changes in the northern Jordan Valley, it is possible to conclude that, during the low levels of the Dead Sea, precipi- tation decreased significantly in the wider eastern Mediterra- nean region (Weninger et al., 2009) (Figs 9, 10). ...
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... + ]; ppb) ion proxy for the Siberian High ( Mayewski et al., 1997;Meeker and Mayewski, 2002), (G) High-Resolution GISP2 potassium (nonsea salt [K + ]; ppb) ion proxy for the Siberian High ( Mayewski et al., 1997;Meeker and Mayewski, 2002). Duration of Neolithic in Slavonia region is marked in light gray (modified after Weninger et al., 2009: 9, Fig. ...
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... interpretative chronozone model of the spread of farming across western Eurasia (telescoped time slice layers, non geo referenced). YD -Young Dryas; PBO -pre-Boreal oscillation; EHE -early Holocene event; 6.2-E -6.2 event; 5.1-E -5.1 event; LIA -Little Ice Age; CE -cold events; GDO -germination/dying-off events (after Gronenborn, 2009: 98, Fig. 1). Detail is shown in the lower section. insufficient archaeological research but the new research in Thessaly showed that this lack of settlements during the end of Neolithic/Eneolithic can be linked to abrupt and major move away from tell settlements in favour of a distinct shift towards small upland sites. In recent times, it is also ...
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The mid-latitude Westerlies (MLW) are one of the most important atmospheric circulation systems in the Northern Hemisphere, exerting a huge influence on the climate of the region downwind, and thus on vegetation, water resources, and human wellbeing. However, the seasonal variation of the MLW during the Holocene is not yet been fully understood, es...
Citations
... The first and simultaneous occurrence of several secondary anthropogenic indicators such as Chenopodiaceae, Juglans, Artemisia, Plantago lanceolata type and Matricaria type was noticed during the '8.2 ka event'. This shortlived pattern suggested a probable early Neolithic human impact on the researched area, which is in accordance with previous archaeological findings from continental Croatia [71][72][73][74]97]. ...
The aim of this study was to reconstruct the vegetation changes, fire history and local landscape dynamics of central Croatia (the western part of southeastern Europe) from 9800 cal yr BP to the beginning of the Common Era. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal were analyzed for the first time in the aforementioned area by modern palynological methods. Three different assemblage (sub)zones were identified: "Pinus-Fagus-Quercetum mixtum" (Preboreal), "Fagus-Corylus" (Boreal) and "Alnus-Fagus" (Atlantic, Subboreal and older Subatlantic). Additionally, the oldest observation (~9800 cal yr BP) of beech pollen for continental Croatia was confirmed by radi-ocarbon dating. Our results indicated a possibly milder climate with less extreme temperatures and higher precipitation during the Preboreal chronozone, alongside intensive flooding, a transition from a mosaic of wetland/wet grassland communities to alder carr during the Boreal, and an unusually long multi-thousand-year period, the annual presence of alder on the mire itself. An increase in the number of secondary anthropogenic indicators can be tracked from the 6th century BC to the beginning of the Common Era. Although regional vegetation changes are insufficiently clear, our results fill a gap in the interpretation of vegetation/palaeoenvironmental changes before the Common Era in in this part of Europe.
... Particularly in speleothems, this should leave a paleoenvironmental signal in form of higher δ 13 C values (Jiménez de Cisneros and Caballero, 2011), so the earlier discussed positive δ 13 C shift around 7.4 ka in NG stalagmites could be explained by anthropogenic deforestation. However, Neolithisation -a shift from the hunter-gatherer nomadic to sedentary agricultural lifestyle -ushered also permanent settlements often built on the riverbanks (Botić, 2016a). In continental Croatia, Early Neolithic sites were discovered mainly in the eastern part in the lowlands (Botić, 2016b), while the hilly region of NG cave retains no sign of human settlements, supporting hydroclimate causes of isotopic variations, rather than anthropogenic. ...
We present the first stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) speleothem record from continental Croatia retrieved from two coeval stalagmites from Nova Grgosova Cave. U-Th dates constrain the stalagmite growth history from 10ka to the present, revealing coeval growth between 7.8 and 5.6ka. We interpret δ18O as an autumn/winter hydrological proxy related to changes of vapor source, precipitation amount, and/or seasonal rainfall distribution, while δ13C predominantly responds to spring/summer vegetation status and soil microbial activity. We identify several centennial to millennial-scale hydroclimate oscillations during this period that result from multiple forcing factors. Along with amount and source effect, it appears that some centennial variations were governed also by seasonal moisture balance. From 9.2 to 8.8ka BP, the local environmental setting was characterized by enhanced vegetation activity, while during the 8.2ka event the main feature was a change in precipitation seasonality. The most prominent change, identified in both δ13C records, is a sudden decline of vegetation and soil biological activity around 7.4 ka, indicating a precipitation decrease at a time of maximum plant growth in spring and summer and likely also reduced precipitation in autumn and winter. Although small in magnitude in these speleothems, a peak in δ18O and δ13C values at 4.3–4.1ka suggests that both summer and winter conditions were substantially drier during the 4.2ka event, in accordance with increased Mediterranean aridity and consistent with other global climate changes reported at this time. Compared to the present North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) influence, we assume that millennial Holocene NAO-like variations were persistent through the Holocene via their effect on modifying local/regional air temperature, vapor origin, and inter- and intrannual precipitation distribution. Anthropogenic deforestation, which was the first major human impact on the environment during the Neolithic agricultural revolution, is excluded as a leading factor in δ13C variability since the first sedentary settlements were established further to the east in more arable locations along river valleys. However, the impact of intensive mining around the cave site during the last millennium is evident, with substantial deforestation driving an increase in δ13C.
... Starting with given data (Fig. 14), it would promising to further explore the emerging Rapid Climate Change (RCC) event that is evident at around 7.4 ka calBP (Filippidi et al., 2016(Filippidi et al., , 2019. The impact of RCC has already previously been anticipated as explanation for certain properties of the archaeological data (Botić, 2016). As goes for future applications of the BS technology, the available dating precision for the Southeast and Central European Neolithic is presently less limited by the number and quality of 14 C-AMS measurements, but rathermore, (1) by the shape of the 14 C-age calibration curve, (2), by the lack of internal time-structures for the dated archaeological sites, and (3) the nearly complete lack of 14 C-AMS-ages on short-lived Mesolithic samples in the Pannonian Basin and adjacent regions. ...
... The Holocene climate fluctuations and their effect on prehistoric societies have been extensively studied over the last 20 years (see for example Weninger et al., 2009;Gronenborn, 2009; see also an extensive overview in Botić, 2016). Several periods of rapid climate change (RCC) causing major temperature drops have been attested. ...
... Publications, Inc., New York, pp. 190. Botić, K., 2016. Neolithisation of Sava-Drava-Danube interfluve at the end of the 6600-6000 BC period of Rapid Climate Change: a new solution to an old problem. ...
This special issue of Quaternary International contains a selection of
contributions from the international Conference entitled “LBK & Vinča -
Formation and Transformation of Early Neolithic Lifestyles in Europe in the second half of the 6th millennium BC” held from 21st to 23rd of
March, 2019 in Tübingen (Germany).
Sites from the Eneolithic period belonging to the Sălcuța culture were partially identified and researched in the Băilești Plain, a sector located in the south-western part of the Romanian Plain. We refer to the archaeological sites from Curmătura and Cerăt. Since the site from Curmătura is a tell settlement with a height of over 10 m, being one of the most impressive sites in Oltenia, it is necessary to resume the systematic research, especially because we identified another circular enclosure that may be related to the tell settlement, at a short distance north-west of it, on satellite images. This new circular enclosure is not the only one in the Băilești Plain, several other circular enclosures being located in Urzicuța, Bârca, Cioroiași, Portărești, while similar structures are to be found in Castrele Traiane and Dobridor, archaeological sites in Dolj county. Therefore, the next natural step is to verify the new structures in the field through an intrusive archaeological diagnosis and the resumption of systematic research in Curmătura. The typology of the circular sites extend over wide geographical areas in South-Eastern Europe and on chronological levels, starting from the Eneolithic and continuing to the Second Iron Age, sometimes even in the Middle Ages.
The transformations that took place in prehistoric societies in the northern part of the Balkans, on the territories of modern-day Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Northern Greece, around 5500 BC have long been discussed and are vastly accepted as representing the “division point” between the Early and Late Neolithic Periods. The most evident transformation concerns the disappearance of painted pottery, which occurred alongside the appearance and rapid spread of dark (black) burnished wares (though some regional specifics are visible).
Extensive research over the last 15 years in the Upper Thracian Plain of Bulgaria provide new insight into the complex transformations that occurred there around 5500 BC. The number of Late Neolithic settlements known so far largely exceeds those of the Early Neolithic Period and new trends in settlement structure and social organization are also visible. While life on the place of the Early Neolithic settlements continued in a similar way, resulting in the formation of the so-called tell-sites, new types of sites also appeared and proliferated on the landscape. These new types of sites include large flat settlements with a dispersed plan, often consisting of (or including) dug-in features interpreted in some cases as pit-dwellings while in other cases as ritual pit complexes. The distribution of new settlements is also connected with a change in animal husbandry practices marked by the increasing importance of cattle over sheep and goat.
In this paper, I examine the transformations that occurred during the mid-6th millennium BC in the Upper Thracian Plain, problematize their relationship with a demographic expansion and proposed migration event, and suggest some alternative hypotheses.
The paper presents results of archaeological study of one particular moment in time regionally determined as the middle Neolithic period in Drava river valley (northern Croatia). The main aim is reconsidering old periodical and chronological sequences in use for this period. Recent archaeological research carried out on several sites yielded new data about middle Neolithic settlement infrastructures and the remains of material culture. For the first time, remains of Linear Pottery culture (LBK) were recognized south of Transdanubia sheading new light on dispersal of this culture in its early phase. Combined with new interpretation of some old excavation results and new radiocarbon dates from recent excavations, transition from early Neolithic Starčevo culture to middle Neolithic Linear Pottery culture, emergence of Ražište style and its development under the early Vinča influence are outlined. Differences in pottery tempering, decoration and firing are discussed as well as the main types of vessels. New interpretation for 5450–4900 cal BC chronological sequence in this specific micro region is given. Results are compared with data from wider southwestern Carpathian region adding to newly developed discussion about Starčevo–LBK–Ražište–Vinča connections.
Neolithic settlements (6th/5th millennium BC) encircled by moats were widespread throughout Europe, including eastern Croatia, on which there is an extensive bibliography. Excavations conducted over the last several years have confirmed the existence of thus far unrecorded methods for the formation and organization of such settlements in eastern Croatia – twin settlements. This new type of settlement was ascertained by means of remote sensing from aircraft and by means of drones, in combination with a series of satellite and aerial vertical photographs,
while the results of field surveys of the sites so discovered have confirmed that they were generally multi-layered, long-term and attributed to the Sopot culture, so that they may be generally dated to the 5th millennium BC.
