This paper investigates how former hunter-gatherers living along the southern North Sea coast in NW Europe adapted to long-term and short-term climatic and environmental changes at the beginning of the Holocene. It is argued that contemporaneous hunter-gatherers repeatedly changed their hunting equipment in response to changing climate and environment, not just for functional reasons but mainly driven by socio-territorial considerations. Based on a Bayesian analysis of 122 critically selected radiocarbon dates a broad chronological correlation is demonstrated between rapid changes in the design and technology of stone projectiles and short but abrupt cooling events, occurring at 10.3, 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP. Combined with the rapid sea level rises and increased wildfires these climatic events probably impacted the lifeways of hunter-gatherers in such a way that they increasingly faced resource stress and competition, forcing them to invest in the symbolic defense of their social territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Atmospheric Science, Environmental change, BELGIUM, Mesolithic Period, Social Sciences, Stone Age, Forests, 01 natural sciences, law.invention, Trees, Wildfires, Geographical Locations, law, 0601 history and archaeology, Radiocarbon dating, Holocene, Hunter-gatherer, History, Ancient, Climatology, Multidisciplinary, Quaternary Period, 060102 archaeology, Ecology, Eukaryota, Geology, 06 humanities and the arts, Plants, Radioactive Carbon Dating, Terrestrial Environments, Adaptation, Physiological, Europe, Geography, Archaeology, Medicine, North Sea, Weapons, TRANSITION, Research Article, 010506 paleontology, Science, Climate Change, MODELS, Climate change, Research and Analysis Methods, Ecosystems, ENVIRONMENTAL-CHANGE, Anthropology, Physical, Paleoclimatology, CHRONOLOGY, Humans, RECORDS, Mesolithic, Sea level, Chemical Characterization, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Isotope Analysis, Holocene Epoch, LAND-USE, History and Archaeology, AREA, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Radiometric Dating, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, Paleontology, Geologic Time, Bayes Theorem, BP EVENT, Archaeological Dating, People and Places, Earth Sciences, Cenozoic Era, Physical geography, VEGETATION, Pines
Abstract
This paper investigates how former hunter-gatherers living along the southern North Sea coast in NW Europe adapted to long-term and short-term climatic and environmental changes at the beginning of the Holocene. It is argued that contemporaneous hunter-gatherers repeatedly changed their hunting equipment in response to changing climate and environment, not just for functional reasons but mainly driven by socio-territorial considerations. Based on a Bayesian analysis of 122 critically selected radiocarbon dates a broad chronological correlation is demonstrated between rapid changes in the design and technology of stone projectiles and short but abrupt cooling events, occurring at 10.3, 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP. Combined with the rapid sea level rises and increased wildfires these climatic events probably impacted the lifeways of hunter-gatherers in such a way that they increasingly faced resource stress and competition, forcing them to invest in the symbolic defense of their social territories.
Published
2019
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