Johan Bakker

The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project

Modern pollen samples provide an invaluable research tool for helping to interpret the quaternary fossil pollen record, allowing investigation of the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) is a new initiative within the European Pollen Database (EPD) to establish a publicly accessible repository of modern (surface sample) pollen data. This new database will complement the EPD, which at present holds only fossil sedimentary pollen data. The EMPD is freely available online to the scientific community and currently has information on almost 5,000 pollen samples from throughout the Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean regions, contributed by over 40 individuals and research groups. Here we describe how the EMPD was constructed, the various tables and their fields, problems and errors, quality controls, and continuing efforts to improve the available data.

Man, vegetation and climate during the Holocene in the territory of Sagalassos, Western Taurus Mountains, SW Turkey

Past vegetation change and the influence of climate change and anthropogenic pressure during the Holocene is constructed from a series of palynological records sampled from three locations within the territory of the antique site of Sagalassos. The disappearance of the original deciduous oak woodlands and increases in anthropogenic indicator species around 5300 and 4300 b.c. correspond with an increase in settlements in the region. A period of drought following the deforestation may have hampered the recovery of deciduous oak. The timing of the onset of the Beyşehir Occupation Phase (BO-Phase) in the territory differs between locations, estimates ranging from ca. 1000–800 b.c. to the start of the Hellenistic period (334 b.c.). The most intense period of arboriculture coincides with the Roman and late-Roman periods. Increases in human pressure on the landscape as reflected in the pollen record correspond with an increased rate of sedimentation and fire activity. The timing of the end of the BO-Phase again differs between locations. Estimates range from the 4th century a.d. to the mid 7th century a.d., when a region-wide shift to dry environmental conditions is observed. Numerical analyses show that post BO-Phase vegetation change is largely driven by climate and displays a succession of dry and wet periods that coincided with well-defined European climate shifts, including the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. Current agricultural activities in the region are of a very recent (20th century) origin.

Numerically derived evidence for late-Holocene climate change and its impact on human presence in the southwest Taurus Mountains, Turkey

A well-dated pollen diagram from Gravgaz marsh, near the archaeological site of Sagalassos (western Taurus Mountains, Turkey), provides the first detailed record of vegetation change in southwest Turkey during the last two millennia. A newly developed numerical analysis disentangles the climatic and anthropogenic influences on vegetation and reveals for the first time for southwest Turkey the timing and influence of late-Holocene climate change. Results show that sudden vegetation changes, driven by changes in moisture availability, co-occurred with well-defined European climate shifts. A trend towards dry conditions, from c. ad 640 to 940, coincides with the cold early Middle Ages in Europe. During this period, human presence in the region diminished and agricultural activity switched focus from crop cultivation to pastoralism while signs of cereal cultivation temporarily ceased. This period was followed by a return to moister conditions from ad 940 to 1280, coinciding with the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’. During this period there was a resurgence of human activity in the basin. Another trend towards dry conditions occurred at c. ad 1280, corresponding with the start of the ‘Little Ice Age’ in Europe and another disappearance of cereal pollen until the present day. The numerical analyses suggest that human impact around Gravgaz during the last two millennia is primarily driven by climatic changes.

Wild or cultivated Olea europaea L. in the eastern Mediterranean during the middle-late Holocene? A pollen-numerical approach

Assessment of the wild or cultivated origin of Olea europaea L. during the middle to late Holocene according to pollen analyses is of palaeoecological and evolutionary interest as olive is thought to be one of the earliest cultivated trees and is still one of the most important fruit trees of the eastern Mediterranean. This paper considers data from the Bronze—Iron Age harbour-town, Tell Tweini, of the Ugarit Kingdom, in the Syrian coastal lowland near Jableh (17 m a.s.l.) and from the Hellenistic—Roman Moatra-Bereket (1410 m a.s.l.), in the territory of Sagalassos, in Turkey’s western Taurus Mountains. Both of these sites have recorded the rise and collapse of early eastern Mediterranean urban systems from 4200 to 1600 cal. yr BP. The Syrian data suggest that the Olea pollen-type originated from wild varieties during the Bronze and Iron Ages despite archaeological evidence for olive cultivation in the northern Levant. For Turkey, the results of the pollen-numerical analyses support the existing archaeological evidence of a wealthy oleoculture in Hellenistic and Roman Anatolia and suggest important anthropogenic pressures on local ecosystems.

Societal changes in the Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine periods. Results from the Sagalassos Territorial Archaeological Survey 2008 (southwest Turkey)

Abstract This contribution discusses the Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine pottery collected during archaeological survey in the Bereket valley (territory of ancient Sagalassos, southwest Turkey). This collection contains both pottery imported from as yet unknown production centres and wares produced in the Potters’ Quarter of Sagalassos. Changes in the proportions of pottery produced at Sagalassos and those produced at other locations become visible in the fourthcentury AD material and reflect the evolving relationship between the peripheral valley of Bereket and the regional centre of Sagalassos. Yet, the undiminished quantity of pottery collected suggests that human activity continued without significant changes in habitation density. However, pollen cores from the same valley show that at more or less the same time crop cultivation diminished and was largely replaced by pastoralism. This shift occured at a time when climatic conditions had become more favourable for crop cultivation. A somewhat similar decrease in crop cultivation is also observed in Gravgaz marsh. In both valleys, this shift occured about 300 years earlier than in the rest of the territory of Sagalassos. Although the reasons for these changes cannot be determined on the basis of the study of survey pottery alone, the results presented show the importance of intensive survey and the study of peripheral areas for understanding inter-regional interaction patterns. Özet Bu çalışma, Bereket Vadisi’nde (antik Sagalassos’un teritoryumu, Türkiye’nin güneybatısı) yapılan yüzey araştırması sırasında toplanan Hellenistik, Roma ve Erken Bizans seramiklerini ele almaktadır. Bu koleksiyon hem şuan için yeri bilinmeyen seramik merkezlerinden ithal edilen, hem de Sagalassos’daki Çömlekçiler Mahallesi’nde üretilen seramikleri kapsamaktadır. Sagalassos’da üretilenler ile diğer merkezlerde üretilen seramiklerin oranlarındaki değişiklikler M.S. 4. yy’daki materyalde belirginleşmektedir ve Bereket Vadisi’nin çevresi ile Sagalassos’un bölgesel merkezindeki gelişen bağlantıyı yansıtmaktadır. Zira, az olmayan miktarda toplanan seramikler, insan aktivitesinin yerleşim yoğunluğunda belirgin bir değişiklik olmadan devam ettiğini göstermektedir. Yine de, aynı vadideki polen çekirdekleri neredeyse aynı zamanda tarımın azaldığını ve yerini büyük oranda hayvancılığa bıraktığını göstermektedir. Söz konusu geçiş, iklimsel koşulların tarım için daha elverişli olduğu bir zamanda meydana gelmiştir. Tarımda görülen kısmen benzer bir azalma Gravgaz bataklığında da gözlemlenmiştir. Her iki vadide bu geçiş, Sagalassos’un geri kalan teritoryumundan 300 yıl kadar daha önce gerçekleşmiştir. Her ne kadar bu değişikliklerin nedenleri sadece yüzey araştırmasından elde edilen seramiklere ait çalışmalar üzerinden belirlenemese de, ileri sürülen sonuçlar yoğun yüzey araştırmalarının ve çevresel alanlardaki çalışmaların, bölgelerarası etkileşim modelinin anlaşılmasındaki önemini göstermektedir.

Medieval coastal Syrian vegetation patterns in the principality of Antioch

The coastal area of Jableh, in the vicinity of the Saladin and Al-Marquab castles, is a fertile alluvial plain located on the northwestern part of Syria, in what was once the crusader Principality of Antioch. In order to detail the coastal environment during the crusader period in the Middle East, palynological analyses have been conducted on the underlying coastal-alluvial deposits. The recovered sediments represent a continuous record of the environmental history of the area spanning a c. AD 850—1850 cal. yr period, from the Muslim Era up to and including the late Ottoman times. During the local crusader period (AD 1100—1270), the area was dominated by an arborescent mattoral mixed with a xerophytic shrub-steppe. The alluvial plain was slightly waterlogged and colonized by a wetland meadow with an open vegetation of steppe-like character on bare surfaces and fresh arable soils. The riparian and open deciduous riverine forests were weakly developed. Signs of agricultural activities are mainly recorded for the High Medieval period (AD 1000—1300), with an increase of vineyards in the coastal area. Since c. AD 1250 cal. yr until the end of the crusader period, agricultural activities never reached the same intensity as during the Mameluke Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire.

Erratum to: The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) project

Unfortunately, the list of authors contains a number of duplications, omissions and other errors in the original publication of the article. The correct list appears in this erratum.