Climates during the spread of the Neolithic

in Central and Western Mediterranean, 6000-5000 BC

Thomas Huet

CNRS

Niccolò Mazzucco

Università di Pisa

Materials and Methods

Data: radiocarbon dates and palaeoclimatic data.

Radiocarbon data

• Sources
• Align^t
• Outliers
• Locat^o
• Base
• Medians

c14bazAAR::get_c14data()

Early Mesolithic (EM)
Middle Mesolithic (MM)
Late Mesolithic (LM)
Early Neolithic (EN)
Middle Neolithic (MN)
Late Neolithic (LN)

ref_table_per.xlsx

• 8 different databases and datasets. Among which 2 are the Neonet datasets. We collect using the c14bazAAR and curated with NeoNet functions.
• mapping table with period and culture coming from different datasest to be mapped to the Neonet main classes (10 classes, among which 4 are undefined and period transition).
• Using

c14_aberrant_dates.tsv

• With R functions coming from the C14bazaar R package and curated with the NeoNet R series of functions, we are gathering some 10,000 radiocarbon dates coming from 8 different datasets and databases.
• We map these dates to the Neonet periods (here on the left class).
• Then we remove duplicated dates and discard outliers (currently in process).
• Some 4,000 dates are now available for the study.

c14_corrected_sitenames.geojson

Most ancient EN date weighted medians (w-medians) by site.

• For a given site, we select either the most recent LM date (ex: Monte Frignone) or simetrically the most ancient EN date (ex: Le Baratin)
• Extract on the radiocarbon date weighted median from the Summed probability density (SPD)

Köppen climate classes

Data

- Mean annual temperature (ºC)
- Annual precipitation (mm year ^-1)
- Biome (pollen-based)


Beyer et al. 2020¹

IT

pastclim::koeppen_geiger()

neonet::neo_kcc_create()

Output
…

…

Background studies

• Climates
• Sites
• Observations

• Rapid expansion in the Southern Balkans (Csa and BSk ).
• Northern Balkans expansion required adapting agriculture and stockbreeding systems to colder climates (Dfa, Dfb)
• Slowdown of Neolithic expansion. Early northern occupations, such as Porodin (idf 26).
• Confirms: Krauß et al. 2018², Ivanova et al. 2018³.

Spread of Neolithic in the Central Western Mediterranean

Radiocarbon dates are still being revised, and many of them need to be verified. First modeling

6100-6000 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• Lorem Ipsum Csa (Temperate, dry summer, hot summer) and BSk (Temperate, dry summer, warm summer) climates.
• Early settlement: Lorem Ipsum (idf Lorem Ipsum).

5800 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• From 5900 BC the isochrone is drawn in the Adriatic between Dalmatia and southern Italy
• A large majority of sites are in Csa (Temperate, dry summer, hot summer) climates.
• Leapfrog neolithisation: Pollera (idf 214), Peiro Signado (idf 206).

5600 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• Lot of missing climate data due to the map resolution (= coastal sites).
• Despite a large majority Csa (Temperate, dry summer, hot summer) climates, new occurrences of Cfa (Temperate, no dry season, hot summer) sites.
• Densification of sites in Southern Italy = painting and art (// Balkans)
• The establishment on the island of Giglio Le Secche[obs] is to be linked to Pont-de-Roque-Haute[obs].
• Cardial Basi-Filiestru-Pienza (BFP)
• Leapfrog neolithisation is obvious: Bonica (idf 28), Cova de les Cendres (idf 206), Vale Pincel I (idf 276), etc.

5400 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• The Corsican-Sardinian area connects with a strengthening of sites in the South of France (Sardinian-Languedoc area).
• Distribution of the WIT impressa in Southern Italy, Adriatic, Southern France, Mediterranean Spain

5200 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• For the first time in Italy, all new Neolithic sites are in temperate climate classes (Cfa, Cfb) and none in Csa climates. This shows a complete adaptation of the agro-pastoral economy to the more temperate climates of central Adriatic and northern Italy.

5000 BC

• Dates
• Observations

• In France, the isochrone now crosses the height of the Puy Mary volcano (Dfb). In France, the isochrone separates the Mediterranean biogeographic zone (neolithized) from the continental biogeographic area to the north.

Synthesis

Climate changes and EN occupations

Entire area

EN occupations

Thank you

https://github.com/zoometh/neonet

• Contribution: mapping table (archaeologists), interpolation methods (mathematician), aggregating data from other sources (aDNA, etc.), etc.

Footnotes

1. Beyer, R. M., Krapp, M., & Manica, A. (2020). High-resolution terrestrial climate, bioclimate and vegetation for the last 120,000 years. Scientific data, 7(1), 236.

2. Krauß, R., Marinova, E., De Brue, H., & Weninger, B. (2018). The rapid spread of early farming from the Aegean into the Balkans via the Sub-Mediterranean-Aegean Vegetation Zone. Quaternary International, 496, 24-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.019

3. Ivanova, M., De Cupere, B., Ethier, J., & Marinova, E. (2018). Pioneer farming in southeast Europe during the early sixth millennium BC: Climate-related adaptations in the exploitation of plants and animals. PLoS One, 13(5), e0197225. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197225