Late Quaternary fire histories in the Eastern Mediterranean region from lake sedimentary micro-charcoals
The Eastern Mediterranean has a long history of human occupation, which spans the transition from hunter-gatherers to the establishment of early agro-pastoralist communities, coinciding with the Last Glacial: Interglacial transition. Over the same timeframe a delay in postglacial woodland recolonisation in the region has been identified. Fire has long been used by people to manage and manipulate the landscape, and has been hypothesised to have played a role in this delay. This thesis employed lacustrine micro charcoal (particles less than 180 !lm) remains to reconstruct Late Quaternary fire histories for Central Turkey and the Levant, and examine the possible role that fire may have played in retarding woodland development in the region. Microcharcoals were analysed in cores taken from four sites in Central Turkey (AkgoÌl, Eski AcÄ±goÌl, CÌŠatalhoÌyuÌk and Nar GoÌluÌ) and one site in Israel (Lake Hula) that cover varying time intervals from the Last Glacial through to the Late Holocene. In order to develop a standardised analytical procedure for microcharcoals, a series of published extraction and quantification techniques along with a new approach using heavy liquid separation were rigorously tested
Turner, Rebecca
Late Quaternary fire histories in the Eastern Mediterranean region from lake sedimentary micro-charcoals. The Eastern Mediterranean has a long history of human occupation, which spans the transition from hunter-gatherers to the establishment of early agro-pastoralist communities, coinciding with the Last Glacial: Interglacial transition. Over the same timeframe a delay in postglacial woodland recolonisation in the region has been identified. Fire has long been used by people to manage and manipulate the landscape, and has been hypothesised to have played a role in this delay. This thesis employed lacustrine micro charcoal (particles less than 180 !lm) remains to reconstruct Late Quaternary fire histories for Central Turkey and the Levant, and examine the possible role that fire may have played in retarding woodland development in the region. Microcharcoals were analysed in cores taken from four sites in Central Turkey (AkgoÌl, Eski AcÄ±goÌl, CÌŠatalhoÌyuÌk and Nar GoÌluÌ) and one site in Israel (Lake Hula) that cover varying time intervals from the Last Glacial through to the Late Holocene. In order to develop a standardised analytical procedure for microcharcoals, a series of published extraction and quantification techniques along with a new approach using heavy liquid separation were rigorously tested
late quaternary fire history eastern_mediterranean region lake sedimentary micro eastern_mediterranean long_history human_occupation span transition hunter_gatherer establishment early pastoralist community coincide last glacial transition timeframe delay postglacial woodland region identify fire long use people manage manipulate landscape hypothesise play_role delay employ micro charcoal less remain reconstruct late quaternary fire history central turkey levant examine possible role fire may_play retard woodland development region analyse core take site central turkey site israel lake cover vary time interval order develop standardise analytical procedure series publish extraction quantification technique along new use heavy liquid separation rigorously test