TY - CHAP
T1 - Late quaternary environmental and cultural changes in the Wollaston Forland region, Northeast Greenland
AU - Bennike, Ole
AU - Sørensen, Mikkel
AU - Fredskild, Bent
AU - Jacobsen, Bjarne H.
AU - Böcher, Jens
AU - Amsinck, Susanne L.
AU - Jeppesen, Erik
AU - Andreasen, Claus
AU - Christiansen, Hanne H.
AU - Humlum, Ole
N1 - Funding Information:
Parts of the data presented in this chapter were collected during two expeditions carried out in 2003 and 2005 by archaeologists and geographers. The GeoArk 2003 and GeoArk 2005 expeditions were funded and organised by the Royal Danish Geographical Society and included participants from the Geographical Institute, University of Copenhagen, the Greenland National Museum and Archive, and SILA—The Greenland Research Centre at the National Museum of Denmark. We are grateful to Christian Hjort and Bernd Wagner who reviewed the manuscript.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - This chapter provides a review of proxy data from a variety of natural archives sampled in the Wollaston Forland region, central Northeast Greenland. The data are used to describe long-term environmental and climatic changes. The focus is on reconstructing the Holocene conditions particularly in the Zackenberg area. In addition, this chapter provides an overview of the archaeological evidence for prehistoric occupation of the region. The Zackenberg area has been covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet several times during the Quaternary. At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, about 22,000 years BP), temperatures were much lower than at present, and only very hardy organisms may have survived in the region, even if ice-free areas existed. Marked warming at around 11,700 years BP led to ice recession, and the Zackenberg area was deglaciated in the early Holocene, prior to 10,100 years BP. Rapid early Holocene land emergence was replaced by a slight transgression in the late Holocene. During the Holocene, summer solar insolation decreased in the north. Following deglaciation of the region, summer temperatures probably peaked in the early to mid-Holocene, as indicated by the occurrence of a southern beetle species. However, the timing for the onset of the Holocene thermal maximum is rather poorly constrained because of delayed immigration of key plant species. During the thermal maximum, the mean July temperature was at least 2-3°C higher than at present. Evidence for declining summer temperatures is seen at around 5500, 4500 and 3500 years BP. The cooling culminated during the Little Ice Age that peaked about 100-200 years ago. The first plants that immigrated to the region were herbs and mosses. The first dwarf shrubs arrived in Northeast Greenland prior to 10,400 years BP, and dwarf birch arrived around 8800 years BP. The first people arrived about 4500 years BP, but the region was depopulated several times before the last people disappeared some time after 1823 AD, perhaps as a consequence of poor hunting conditions during the peak of the Little Ice Age.
AB - This chapter provides a review of proxy data from a variety of natural archives sampled in the Wollaston Forland region, central Northeast Greenland. The data are used to describe long-term environmental and climatic changes. The focus is on reconstructing the Holocene conditions particularly in the Zackenberg area. In addition, this chapter provides an overview of the archaeological evidence for prehistoric occupation of the region. The Zackenberg area has been covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet several times during the Quaternary. At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, about 22,000 years BP), temperatures were much lower than at present, and only very hardy organisms may have survived in the region, even if ice-free areas existed. Marked warming at around 11,700 years BP led to ice recession, and the Zackenberg area was deglaciated in the early Holocene, prior to 10,100 years BP. Rapid early Holocene land emergence was replaced by a slight transgression in the late Holocene. During the Holocene, summer solar insolation decreased in the north. Following deglaciation of the region, summer temperatures probably peaked in the early to mid-Holocene, as indicated by the occurrence of a southern beetle species. However, the timing for the onset of the Holocene thermal maximum is rather poorly constrained because of delayed immigration of key plant species. During the thermal maximum, the mean July temperature was at least 2-3°C higher than at present. Evidence for declining summer temperatures is seen at around 5500, 4500 and 3500 years BP. The cooling culminated during the Little Ice Age that peaked about 100-200 years ago. The first plants that immigrated to the region were herbs and mosses. The first dwarf shrubs arrived in Northeast Greenland prior to 10,400 years BP, and dwarf birch arrived around 8800 years BP. The first people arrived about 4500 years BP, but the region was depopulated several times before the last people disappeared some time after 1823 AD, perhaps as a consequence of poor hunting conditions during the peak of the Little Ice Age.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=41349084773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0065-2504(07)00003-7
DO - 10.1016/S0065-2504(07)00003-7
M3 - Chapter in book
SN - 978-0-12-373665-9
T3 - Advances in Ecological Research
SP - 45
EP - 79
BT - High-Arctic ecosystem dynamics in a changing climate
A2 - Meltofte, Hans
A2 - Christensen, Torben R.
A2 - Eberling, Bo
A2 - Forchhammer, Mads C.
A2 - Rasch, Morten
PB - Elsevier
ER -
