People and large carnivores as biostratinomic agents in Lateglacial cave assemblages

Biostratinomic analysis (processes acting between death and burial) of Lateglacial mammal bone assemblages from three caves in northern England demonstrates the value of re‐examining archived assemblages. With AMS radiocarbon dating of key specimens, these assemblages shed light on the ecology of a region at the northern limit of Lateglacial human activity in Britain. During the Lateglacial Interstadial bears, wolves and humans expanded into the region, bears by around 12 500 ¹⁴C yr BP, and the earliest evidence for human presence is around 12 300 ¹⁴C yr BP. At Victoria Cave, wolf activity included predation and scavenging of large ungulates and scavenging bear carcasses apparently resulting from hibernation deaths. The scavenging of bear carcasses is possibly confined to the first part of the Lateglacial Interstadial, whereas evidence for wolf scavenging large ungulates increases later in the Interstadial, after about 11 800 ¹⁴C yr BP, perhaps reflecting changes in the productivity of the Lateglacial ecosystem, and in human subsistence patterns. The assemblage from Sewell's Cave is wolf den debris from the very end of the Lateglacial Interstadial around 10 800 ¹⁴C yr BP, whilst that from Kinsey Cave is dominated by large‐bodied carnivores, and is argued to have a quite different taphonomic history. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The early Lateglacial re-colonization of Britain: new radiocarbon evidence from Gough's Cave, southwest England

Gough's Cave is still Britain's most significant Later Upper Palaeolithic site. New ultrafiltered radiocarbon determinations on bone change our understanding of its occupation, by demonstrating that this lasted for only a very short span of time, at the beginning of the Lateglacial Interstadial (Greenland Interstadial 1 (GI-1: Bølling and Allerød)). The application of Bayesian modelling to the radiocarbon dates from this, and other sites from the period in southwest England, suggests that re-colonization after the Last Glacial Maximum took place only after 14,700 cal BP, and is, therefore, more recent than that of the Paris Basin and the Belgian Ardennes. On their own, the radiocarbon determinations cannot tell us whether re-colonization was synchronous with, just prior to, or after, Lateglacial warming. Isotopic studies of humanly-modified mammalian tooth enamel may be one way forward.     

Timing of Lateglacial vegetation dynamics and respective palaeoenvironmental conditions in southern Estonia: evidence from the sediment record of Lake Nakri

This paper investigates a detailed well‐dated Lateglacial floristic colonisation in the eastern Baltic area, ca. 14 000–9000 cal. a BP, using palynological, macrofossil, loss‐on‐ignition, and ¹⁴C data. During 14 000–13 400 cal. a BP, primarily treeless pioneer tundra vegetation existed. Tree birch (Betula sect. Albae) macro‐remains and a high tree pollen accumulation rate indicate the presence of forest‐tundra with birch and possibly pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees during 13 400–12 850 cal. a BP. Palaeobotanical data indicate that the colonisation and development of forested areas were very rapid, arising within a period of less than 50 years. Thus far, there are no indications of conifer macrofossils in Estonia to support the presence of coniferous forests in the Lateglacial period. Signs of Greenland Interstadial 1b cooling during 13 100 cal. a BP are distinguishable. Biostratigraphic evidence indicates that the vegetation was again mostly treeless tundra during the final colder episode of the Lateglacial period associated with Greenland Stadial 1, approximately 12 850–11 650 cal. a BP. This was followed by onset of the Holocene vegetation, with the expansion of boreal forests, in response to rapid climatic warming. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Late Devensian Lateglacial palaeoenvironmental record from Whitrig Bog, SE Scotland. 2. Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera)

Changes in chironomid midge larval assemblages in Lateglacial (c. 13.5–10 ka yr BP) lake sediments from Whitrig Bog are used to infer climatic (temperature) change. The earliest sediments contain few, predominantly cold stenothermic taxa. This fauna is replaced by an assemblage dominated by thermophilic taxa, indicating rising temperatures. The relatively warm Interstadial is punctuated by at least two brief cold oscillations which are characterized by the return of certain cold-water taxa and the demise of some elements of the thermophilic fauna. The earlier of the two oscillations was apparently shorter and colder than the second. The highest Lateglacial Interstadial temperatures were attained either shortly before or after the first cold oscillation. This timing of the Lateglacial thermal maximum is apparently later than has been previously inferred from fossil beetle data. The Lateglacial Interstadial is terminated by the Loch Lomond (Young Dryas) Stadial, which is indicated in this monolith by an abrupt return of cold stenothermic Chironomidae and the virtual elimination of thermophilic taxa. Temperatures during the Younger Dryas appear to have been colder than during either of the previous minor cold oscillations. Climatic inferences from chironomid analysis broadly support and augment conclusions drawn from sediment chemistry and palynological evidence derived from the same monolith, although there is evidence that the vegetation and chironomid responses to early postglacial warming were out of phase.     

The early Postglacial environment of Scotland: Evidence from a site near Tyndrum, Perthshire

Pollen-stratigraphic evidence is presented from a site in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland in which a detailed record is preserved of early Postglacial plant succession in an area previously occupied by glacier ice. Following an initial period of open habitat conditions during which sedge-moss communities were interspersed with large areas of bare, disturbed ground, the area around the site was colonised first by Empetrum heath, and then successively by juniper scrub, birch, and then birch-hazel woodland. On a local scale, the biostratigraphic record implies a rapid shallowing of lake waters during the early Postglacial, due possibly to relatively dry climatic conditions which prevailed in the area after ca. 9000 B.P. Radiocarbon dates were obtained from the basal sediments in the site, but these are regarded as aberrant due to groundwater contamination. In view of the poor resolution associated with the radiocarbon-dating of Lateglacial and early Flandrian events in Britain, a method is proposed here whereby pollen stratigraphic evidence at widely separated sites can be employed to gauge the extent to which deglaciation at the end of the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial was time-transgressive across the Highlands of Scotland     

History of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the eastern Baltic region and its implications for the origin and immigration routes of the recent northern European wild reindeer populations

A total of 45 subfossil reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antlers and bones - artefacts excluded - have been found over the years in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The relatively high number of specimens suggests a stable residence of the species in the eastern Baltic region. For the first time, 12 of these finds were radiocarbon-dated. The ages of the samples range between 12 085 and 9970 ¹⁴C yr BP (14 180-11 280 cal. yr BP), and cover the Lateglacial and early Holocene, a time period during which climatic conditions shifted from periglacial to temperate. The dates suggest a rapid colonization of the area during the deglaciation period and a local extinction around the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. The results of the study do not support the theory that the recent wild reindeer populations of northern Europe had their origin in the Late Weichselian reindeer populations of the eastern Baltic region.     

Vegetation dynamics during the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in the extreme northern taiga zone, northeastern European Russia

Vegetation dynamics during the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in the extreme northern taiga zone of the Usa basin, northeastern European Russia, were reconstructed using plant macrofossil and pollen evidence from a sediment core from Lake Llet-Ti. The pollen stratigraphy during the Younger Dryas (about 12 500-11 500 cal. yr BP) is characterized by pollen types indicative of treeless arctic vegetation, whereas the macrofossil evidence shows the occurrence of scattered spruce and birch trees around the lake. The Younger Dryas-early Holocene transition is characterized by a rapid increase in vegetation density, including an increase in the birch population, followed by the expansion of the spruce population at about 10 000 cal. yr BP. Dense spruce-birch forest dominated until 5000 cal. yr BP. Our results contribute to the debate about the Lateglacial environments in northern Russia, and illustrate the importance of plant macrofossil records in Lateglacial vegetation reconstructions.     

Climatic oscillations in central Italy during the Last Glacial–Holocene transition: the record from Lake Accesa

This paper presents an event stratigraphy based on data documenting the history of vegetation cover, lake‐level changes and fire frequency, as well as volcanic eruptions, over the Last Glacial–early Holocene transition from a terrestrial sediment sequence recovered at Lake Accesa in Tuscany (north‐central Italy). On the basis of an age–depth model inferred from 13 radiocarbon dates and six tephra horizons, the Oldest Dryas–Bølling warming event was dated to ca. 14 560 cal. yr BP and the Younger Dryas event to ca. 12 700–11 650 cal. yr BP. Four sub‐millennial scale cooling phases were recognised from pollen data at ca. 14 300–14 200, 13 900–13 700, 13 400–13 100 and 11 350–11 150 cal. yr BP. The last three may be Mediterranean equivalents to the Older Dryas (GI‐1d), Intra‐Allerød (GI‐1b) and Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) cooling events defined from the GRIP ice‐core and indicate strong climatic linkages between the North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas during the last Termination. The first may correspond to Intra‐Bølling cold oscillations registered by various palaeoclimatic records in the North Atlantic region. The lake‐level record shows that the sub‐millennial scale climatic oscillations which punctuated the last deglaciation were associated in central Italy with different successive patterns of hydrological changes from the Bølling warming to the 8.2 ka cold reversal. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Devensian and Flandrian palaeoenvironmental changes on the Scottish continental shelf west of the Outer Hebrides

Examination of two radiocarbon-dated vibrocores taken from south of St Kilda at a water depth of about 155 m, a short distance within the maximum position of the Late Devensian (Dimlington Stadial) ice sheet, suggests that the St Kilda Basin became free of glacier ice after 15250 yr BP. Sedimentation in a shallow, low energy, high arctic, muddy environment continued until after 13500 yr BP. There followed a higher energy temperate episode during which water depths were roughly about 40 m: this is correlated with the latter part of the Windermere Interstadial and with the warmer interval known in shallow Scottish seas about or a little before 11 000 yr BP. The Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial is marked in the vibrocores by the return of muddy sediments and a cold-water fauna. Relatively shallow water conditions seem to have persisted into the earliest Flandrian, when the water depth was still roughly 60 m, corresponding to a sea-level in the area 90–100 m below present. It is suggested that pack ice was widespread in the northeast Atlantic before the Windermere Interstadial and also during the Loch Lomond Stadial, when it transported shards of Icelandic volcanic ash into the St Kilda basin. Estimates of sea-surface temperature for the last part of the Windermere Interstadial are close to those derived from the deep-sea record for the same period.     

Quaternary sea-level changes in Western Scotland

In recent years, major advances have been made in our understanding of Late Quaternary sea-level changes in western Scotland. In particular, new hypotheses have been advanced to explain the ages and origins of high-level rock platform fragments and high-level marine shell beds. Certain raised shorelines in Islay and Jura, SW Argyll and Wester Ross have been related to former margins of the last ice sheet and are associated with drops in the Lateglacial marine limit. In some areas the decline in Lateglacial sea-level took place in association with a stationary ice margin while in others the fall in sea-level occurred in conjunction with considerable ice retreat.During the Lateglacial Interstadial, relative sea-level fell rapidly between ca. 13 and ca. 12 ka BP and thereafter more slowly until ca. 11 ka BP. Renewed marine erosion during the cold climate of the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial (ca. 11-10 ka BP) resulted in the production of the Main Lateglacial Shoreline, which declines in altitude to the W, SW and S away from the centre of glacio-isostatic uplift in the W Highlands. The shoreline has a maximum altitude of 10–11 m O.D. in the Oban area and passes below sea-level in NE Islay, Ardnamurchan, Colonsay, W Mull, Kintyre and Arran.During the early Holocene a pronounced marine transgression took place, probably culminating between 6.6 and 7.0 ka BP. The culmination of the transgression is represented by the Main Postglacial Shoreline that reaches a maximum altitude of ca. 14 m in the Oban area and declines gently in altitude away from the centre of glacio-isostatic uplift. Reconstruction of the uplift isobases for this shoreline appears to indicate a slight eastward migration of the uplift centre since the Younger Dryas. In peripheral areas of western Scotland the Main Postglacial Shoreline is not present owing to the effect of Holocene submergence.     

A Late Weichselian stable isotope stratigraphy compared with biostratigraphical data: A case study from southern Sweden

Late Weichselian lake sediments from a site in southern Sweden, were analysed for stable carbon and oxygen isotopes, as well as plant macrofossils and insect remains. By comparison of independent data sets, general climatic changes were demonstrated. Lithological, chemical and stable isotope data reveal two significant climatic oscillations at ca. 12 200–12 000 and ca. 11 000–10 200 yr BP respectively. Continental climatic conditions, indicated by evaporative enrichment of ¹⁸O in lake marl, characterise parts of the early lake history, including the Older Dryas Stadial. Distinct variations of δ¹³C in organic material is discussed in terms of climatically induced changes in lake-water chemistry. Different types of photosynthetic assimilation of dissolved inorganic carbon is proposed as a contributing factor influencing lake marl δ¹³C. The universal application of a positive correlation between lake marl δ¹⁸O and mean annual air temperature is questioned. Quantifications of mean summer and winter temperatures based on beetle analysis show a climatic optimum around 12 000 yr BP, a marked cooling around 11 000 yr BP and a strong amelioration at ca. 10 200 yr BP. These climatic events were accompanied by distinct changes in aquatic vegetation. Plant macrofossil and insect analyses indicate an open vegetation during the entire period studied. Biostratigraphical data reflecting local limnic and terrestrial vegetation and regional climate facilitate the interpretation of stable isotope data.     

Late Quaternary tephrochronology of Sweden: a review

Studies of Late Quaternary sediments in south and central Sweden have yielded a detailed tephrochronology for the Last Glacial–Interglacial transition (LGIT; ca. 15,000–10,000 cal. yr BP) and the Holocene. More than ten tephra layers have been detected and geochemically characterised. The most widespread tephra from the LGIT is the rhyolitic phase of the Vedde Ash (ca. 12,000 cal. yr BP) which has been found in lacustrine sediments and marine clays south of the Younger Dryas moraines in south Sweden. Other horizons from the LGIT identified to date include the Borrobol tephra (ca. 14,400 cal. yr BP), the Hässeldalen tephra (ca. 11,500 cal. yr BP), the 10-ka Askja tephra (ca. 11,300 cal. yr BP) and the Högstorpsmossen tephra (ca. 10,200 cal. yr BP). The most significant Holocene isochrones are Hekla-4 (ca. 4260 cal. yr BP), Hekla-Selsund/Kebister (ca. 3750 cal. yr BP), Hekla-3 (ca. 3000 cal. yr BP) and Askja-1875. Two new Late Holocene tephra horizons (the Stömyren tephra, ca. 2100 cal. yr BP and the Gullbergby tephra; ca. 2700 cal. yr BP) were identified in single sites and are so far less valuable as marker horizons, but are potentially important for the future.     

The impact of summer temperature changes on vegetation development in Ireland during the Weichselian Lateglacial Interstadial

We analysed pollen from a sediment core from Fiddaun, a small Lateglacial lake basin in western Ireland. Results reflect the general Lateglacial vegetation development in Ireland, as reconstructed from other pollen records. The Fiddaun diagram shows a number of short‐lived regressive vegetation phases during the Interstadial. The close similarity between two pollen records from the same region (Fiddaun and Lurga) indicates that these fluctuations probably reflect regional rather than local changes. Comparison with a previously published climate reconstruction, based on a chironomid‐inferred mean July air temperature reconstruction, lithology, and oxygen and carbon isotopes of lake marl from the Fiddaun record, allowed us to establish the relationship between summer temperature and vegetation changes. Results reveal that two temporary regressive shifts in the pollen record correspond to cold oscillations, which have been correlated to Greenland Interstadial 1b and 1d. It seems that the first cold oscillation (GI‐1d) had the most distinct effect on vegetation in Ireland. In contrast, it appears that the transition from Juniperus shrubland and Empetrum heath to grassland, which is estimated at ～13.7 ka BP, was not caused by decreasing summer temperatures, as no substantial change is observed in the climate proxies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea

The cave lion, Panthera spelaea, was widespread across northern Eurasia and Alaska/Yukon during the Late Pleistocene. Both morphology and DNA indicate an animal distinct from modern lions (probably at the species level) so that its disappearance in the Late Pleistocene should be treated as a true extinction. New AMS radiocarbon dates directly on cave lion from across its range, together with published dates from other studies – totalling 111 dates – indicate extinction across Eurasia in the interval ca. 14–14.5 cal ka BP, and in Alaska/Yukon about a thousand years later. It is likely that its extinction occurred directly or indirectly in response to the climatic warming that occurred ca. 14.7 cal ka BP at the onset of Greenland Interstadial 1, accompanied by a spread of shrubs and trees and reduction in open habitats. Possibly there was also a concomitant reduction in abundance of available prey, although most of its probable prey species survived substantially later. At present it is unclear whether human expansion in the Lateglacial might have played a role in cave lion extinction. Gaps in the temporal pattern of dates suggest earlier temporary contractions of range, ca. 40–35 cal ka BP in Siberia (during MIS 3) and ca. 25–20 cal ka BP in Europe (during the ‘Last Glacial Maximum’), but further dates are required to corroborate these. The Holocene expansion of modern lion (Panthera leo) into south-west Asia and south-east Europe re-occupied part of the former range of P. spelaea, but the Late Pleistocene temporal and geographical relationships of the two species are unknown.     

Abrupt vegetation changes during the last glacial to Holocene transition in mid‐latitude South America

A pollen record from the Huelmo site (ca. 41°30′S) shows that vegetation and climate changed at millennial time‐scales during the last glacial to Holocene transition in the mid‐latitude region of western South America. The record shows that a Nothofagus parkland dominated the landscape between 16 400 and 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP, along with Magellanic Moorland and cupressaceous conifers. Evergreen North Patagonian rainforest taxa expanded in pulses at 14 200 and 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, following a prominent rise in Nothofagus at 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP. Highly diverse, closed canopy rainforests dominated the lowlands between 13 000 and 12 500 ¹⁴C yr BP, followed by the expansion of cold‐resistant podocarps and Nothofagus at ca. 12 500 and 11 500 ¹⁴C yr BP. Local disturbance by fire favoured the expansion of shade‐intolerant opportunistic taxa between 10 900 and 10 200 ¹⁴C yr BP. Subsequent warming pulses at 10 200 and 9100 ¹⁴C yr BP led to the expansion of thermophilous, summer‐drought resistant Valdivian rainforest trees until 6900 ¹⁴C yr BP. Our results suggest that cold and hyperhumid conditions characterised the final phase of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), between 16 400 and 14 600 ¹⁴C yr BP. The last ice age Termination commenced with a prominent warming event that led to a rapid expansion of North Patagonian trees and the abrupt withdrawal of Andean ice lobes from their LGM positon at ca. 147 000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Hyperhumid conditions prevailed between 16 400 and 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, what we term the ‘extreme glacial mode’ of westerly activity. This condition was brought about by a northward shift and/or intensification of the southern westerlies. The warmest/driest conditions of the last glacial–interglacial transition occurred between 9100 and 6900 ¹⁴C yr BP. During this period, the westerlies shifted to an ‘extreme interglacial mode’ of activity, via a poleward migration of stormtracks. Our results indicate that a highly variable climatic interval lasting 5500 ¹⁴C years separate the opposite extremes of vegetation and climate during the last glacial‐interglacial cycle, i.e. the end of the LGM and the onset of the early Holocene warm and dry period. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lateglacial summer temperatures in the Northwest European lowlands: a chironomid record from Hijkermeer,the Netherlands

Lateglacial environments at Hijkermeer, northwest Netherlands, were reconstructed by means of chironomid, diatom and pollen analyses. Diatom assemblages indicate that Hijkermeer was a shallow, oligo- to mesotrophic lake during this period. Pollen assemblages reflect the typical northwest European Lateglacial vegetation development and provide an age assessment for the record from the beginning of the Older Dryas (ca 14 000 calibrated ¹⁴C yr BP) into the early Holocene (to ca 10 700 calibrated ¹⁴C yr BP). The chironomid record is characterized by several abrupt shifts between assemblages typically found in mid-latitude subalpine to alpine lakes and assemblages typical for lowland environments. Based on the chironomid record, July air temperatures were reconstructed using a chironomid-temperature transfer-function from central Europe. Mean July air temperatures of ca 14.0–16.0 °C are inferred before the Older Dryas, of ca 16.0–16.5 °C during most of the Allerød, of ca 13.5–14.0 °C during the Younger Dryas, and of ca 15.5–16.0 °C during the early Holocene. Two centennial-scale decreases in July air temperature were reconstructed during the Lateglacial interstadial which are correlated with Greenland Interstadial events (GI)-1d and -1b. The results suggest that vegetation changes in the Netherlands may have been promoted by the cooler climate during GI-1d, immediately preceding the Older Dryas biozone, and GI-1b. The Hijkermeer chironomid-inferred temperature record shows a similar temperature development as the Greenland ice core oxygen isotope records for most of the Lateglacial and a good agreement with other temperature reconstructions available from the Netherlands. This suggests that chironomid-based temperature reconstruction can be successfully implemented in the Northwest European lowlands and that chironomids may provide a useful alternative to oxygen isotopes for correlating European lake sediment records during the Lateglacial.     

Evolution of a periglacial landscape in the Late Devensian: environments and palaeobotany of the Mepal area,Cambridgeshire, England

The landscape evolution of the Mepal area from Late Devensian Block Fen Terrace times to the beginning of the Flandrian, a period of ca. 8000 radiocarbon years, is reconstructed. Stratigraphy is based on borehole transects and single boreholes, centred on a depression between the Block Fen Terrace and the Isle of Ely. Within the depression is a Devensian late‐glacial sequence, with the Windermere Interstadial represented by radiocarbon‐dated organic sediments. Pollen and plant macroscopic remains of the late‐glacial sediments are analysed. Plant communities with Betula developed in the interstadial. Before and after the interstadial there is much reworked pollen in the inorganic sediments, derived from local pre‐Devensian Pleistocene sediments, including temperate Ipswichian Stage sediments, and from mass‐wasting of the local Jurassic bedrock. Periods of such mass‐movement occur before and after the deposition of the late‐glacial lake sediments. Deposition of aeolian sediment occurs later than the main period of mass movement, but before the Windermere Interstadial. The relationship of the aeolian sediments in time and space to permafrost, indicated by local contraction polygons and cracks, is discussed. Solifluction diverted the flow of the River Great Ouse from a northeast direction in Block Fen Terrace times to a southwest direction as a channel developed to the west of the Chatteris–March ‘island’. This led to a drainage divide in Flandrian times. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ice caps existed throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial in northern Scotland

We constrain, in detail, fluctuations of two former ice caps in NW Scotland with multibeam seabed surveys, geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic ¹⁰Be isotope analyses. We map a continuous sequence of 40 recessional moraines stretching from ～10 km offshore to the Wester Ross mountains. Surface‐exposure ages from boulders on moraine ridges in Assynt and the Summer Isles region show that substantial, dynamic, ice caps existed in NW Scotland between 13 and 14 ka BP. We interpret this as strong evidence that large active glaciers probably survived throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial, and that during the Older Dryas period (ca. 14 ka BP) ice caps in NW Scotland were thicker and considerably more extensive than in the subsequent Younger Dryas Stadial. By inference, we suggest that Lateglacial ice‐cap oscillations in Scotland reflect the complex interplay between changing temperature and precipitation regimes during this climatically unstable period (ca. 15–11 ka BP). © Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) copyright 2008. Reproduced with the permission of NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holocene vegetation history in Romanian Subcarpathians

Pollen analysis from a peat core 7.0 m in length, taken from a bog near Bisoca, in a mid-altitude area of the Buzăului Subcarpathian mountains, is used to reconstruct the postglacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record, which is supported by twelve ¹⁴C dates, starts at the end of the Late Glacial period. At the Late Glacial/Holocene transition, open vegetation was replaced by forest, suggesting a fast response to climatic warming. The Holocene began with the expansion of Betula, Pinus and Ulmus, followed, after 11,000 cal yr BP, by Fraxinus, Quercus, Tilia and Picea. The rapid expansion of these taxa may be due to their existence in the area during the Late Glacial period. At ca. 9200 cal yr BP, Corylus expanded, reaching a maximum after 7600 cal yr BP. The establishment of Carpinus occurred at ca. 7200 cal yr BP, with a maximum at ca. 5700 cal yr BP. Fagus pollen is regularly recorded after 7800 cal yr BP and became dominant at ca. 2000 cal yr BP. The first indications of human activities appear around 3800 cal yr BP.     

Late pleistocene and early holocene climate of Ny-Alesund,Svalbard (Norway): A study based on biological proxies

Subsurface sediments of a 120 cm deep trench from Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, were analysed for pollenspores and other organic matter contents. This study is supported by two AMS ¹⁴C dates (27, 200 yrs BP and 8,762 yrs BP) at the bottom and topmost litho-unit of the trench, respectively. The pollen record provides an evidence of a warm interval at about 27,200 yr BP (Late Weichselian and MIS 3) and cooling episode around 8,762 yr BP. This is also supported by the amount and type of organic matter as well as sediment type and depositional history of the trench sediments.