Late Holocene fire impact and post-fire regeneration from the Bereket basin, Taurus Mountains, southwest Turkey |
| |
Authors: | David Kaniewski Etienne Paulissen Marc Waelkens |
| |
Affiliation: | a Center for Archaeological Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium b Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle, ECOLAB, UMR 5245 CNRS UPS INPT, Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse 3, 29 Rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France c Physical and Regional Research Group, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium d Archaeology Unit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven, Belgium |
| |
Abstract: | The 800 cm long sequence from the Bereket provides the first detailed fire history in the western Taurus Mountains for the last three millennia. The main disturbances occurred during the Bey?ehir Occupation Phase (BO Phase), a period of intensive polyculture and dated at Bereket from ca. 2230 to 1550 cal yr BP. Four phases of local and extra-local fire periods have been recorded at 2320-2240, 1985-1970, 1865-1820 cal yr BP and post-AD 1950. The fire history established for the BO Phase is complex, with fire periods alternating with periods without local fires, as is the case for the late BO Phase from 1820 until 1550 cal yr BP. It is suggested that the past agricultural practices including fires cause a higher soil erodibility than agricultural practices without fires. A climatic shift towards aridity during Roman times may have triggered the observed change in fire regime but local processes, mainly human disturbances, appear to be the proximal cause of all recorded changes. In the Bereket surroundings, fires led to a simplification of the vegetation structure, favouring soil erosion, pastures and intensive cultivation. |
| |
Keywords: | Vegetation history Fire history Deposition rates Human impact Late Holocene Southwest Turkey |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|