Search

This study was funded by the LATESICE-CGL2016-78380-P, FINICES-PID2020-117685 GB-I00 and MED-REFUGIA-RTI2018-101714-BI00 (Plan Nacional I + D + I, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) projects. This study was also funded by the OROMEDREFUGIA project (P18-RT-4963) from the Andalusian Office of Economy and Knowledge. Luelmo Lautenschlaeger was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (FPU16/00676). We sincerely thank Dr. Guy Jalut for the constructive and helpful comments that improved our original draft. We would also like to sincerely thank Professor Eneko Iriarte, University of Burgos, Spain, for his help and advice in interpreting the geochemical records. We also thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and constructive suggestions that have significantly improved this manuscript., The Iberian Central System (ICS) is a clue region to reveal Mediterranean/Atlantic inferences over Iberia. We present a multidisciplinary study from western Spain conducted in the Navamuño depression (ND), covering the last 16.8 ka (cal BP). A reconstruction of the palaeotemperature from the resulting geochemical data highlights four cold and dry intervals, namely, the Oldest Dryas, Older Dryas, Intra-Allerød Cold Period (IACP), and the Younger Dryas, along with warmer intervals: the Bølling (14.7–14 ka) and the Allerød (12.9–12.6 ka); however, the Greenland Interstadial GI-1c (13.4–13.1 ka) is barely distinguishable in the ND. Despite the shortage of biomass to sustain fire, the earliest charcoals are from ~14.4–13.8 ka. Evidence of ash/dust events overprinting the geochemical background starts at ~13.8–12.8 ka. Significant fire activity in the Early Holocene at ~11.7–10.6 ka affected the ND, matching the westernmost ICS data. This period includes short oceanic spells inferred from Cl peaks at ~10.9–10.2 ka and three cold intervals at 11.4, 9.3, and 8.2 ka disrupted the progressive temperature increase. The Mid-Holocene showed a continuously increasing trend towards an arid climate, peaking at 4.2 ka under a pervasive dust influx from North Africa, which has prevailed since almost ~7.9 ka. A prominent volcanic event at ~6.8–5.8 ka is in Navamuño and Roñanzas (Asturias, N Spain; Gallego et al., 2013) identified from heavy metal-rich layer, synchronous with the last known eruption of the Calatrava volcanic field (South-Central Spain; Poblete-Piedrabuena et al., 2019). This volcanic eruption could affect many other regions half north of Iberia. The pervasive presence of oceanic aerosols in the last three millennia (2.8 ka ~ ) allowed the formation of a Cl-rich peat layer during the Ibero-Roman humid period ~2.1 ka, before a changing around ~0.4 ka toward colder and drier conditions at the Little Ice Age (LIA) period., Plan Nacional I + D + I, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities LATESICE-CGL2016-78380-P FINICES-PID2020-117685 GB-I00 MED-REFUGIA-RTI2018-101714-BI00, Andalusian Office of Economy and Knowledge P18-RT-4963, Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports FPU16/00676

The study of macroscopic charcoal particles from peat bogs has led to a better understanding of climate, vegetation and fire history, and human impacts. To determine the relationship between human activities and the role of fire events in vegetation change during the last 3300. cal yr BP, we present the results of a multi-proxy approach based on the analysis of sediment characteristics, sedimentary charcoal, organic matter and pollen, as well as historical sources. This multi-proxy research permits high resolution palaeoenvironmental and fire history reconstruction of a mountain area located in the southern central Pyrenees (Spain). In the Pyrenees, fire is typically attributed to human activities since the beginning of the Bronze Age and may be correlated with slash-and-burn cultivation, metallurgy and pasturing activities. The data indicate a good linkage between high fire signals and Poaceae and Cerealia pollen, which reveals the impact of agro-pastoral practices. This study also shows two periods, 2900-2650. cal yr BP and 1850-1550. cal yr BP, for which higher frequencies of fire occurred, suggested by high arboreal pollen (AP) concentrations, and confirming the need for arboreal biomass to sustain fires. From the beginning of the Middle Ages, it seems that a change occurred in the anthropogenic use of fire, from a tool for agro-pastoral forest clearance to a means of maintaining open spaces. © 2011 Elsevier B.V., This work was supported by 1) a research grant from the Comunitat de Treball dels Pirineus (2007ITT 00001): Environmental dynamic of the Pyrenees over the past 20,000 years: A study of the impact of changes in climate and land use on forest ecosystems for the development of possible scenarios (Dinàmica ambiental pirinenca dels darrers 20.000 anys: estudi de l'impacte dels canvis climàtics i dels usos del sòl sobre els ecosistemes forestals per a l'elaboració d'escenaris prospectius) and 2) a project of the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya — 2006EXCAVA00022): Archaeology of the high Pyrenees mountains.