Exploring Prehistoric Land Use and Climate Adaptations in the Southern Balkans

Hostettler, Marco (21 September 2023). Exploring Prehistoric Land Use and Climate Adaptations in the Southern Balkans. In: Climate, Environment and Food Connections – Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Societal Resilience. International Workshop 19–21 September 2023, Uppsala University. Uppsala University. September 19 – September 21, 2023.

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The Southern Balkans include today’s territories of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece and are one of the geographically most diverse regions of Europe. The rugged landscape, created by tectonic activity and limestone weathering, spreads from high altitude plains and lake systems to the Aegean Sea with its Mediterranean climate.
Around 7000–8000 years ago farming practises reached the Aegean Coast and subsequently spread into the European mainland in the millennia to follow. The Southern Balkans are on the cross-roads where farming and the involved societies underwent the adaptations needed for the further spread into the continent.
Radiocarbon data show that after an initial phase, Neolithic sites can be found in a range of diverse environmental zones on different elevations, where climatic conditions differ from each other. Radiocarbon dates from archaeological settlements suggest prevalence of human activities in the Balkans for at least two millennia until ca. 4000 BC, when the evidence for human activities sharply decreases. The phase coincides with maxima in forestation at least in parts of the region and with the transition from the Holocene optimum to the cooler phase with lower summer insolation. Only after 3500 BC there is stronger evidence for growing human presence connected to the Onset of the Early Bronze Age. During this time several backlashes in human activities can be observed which have been discussed to be connected to climate events, such as the 8.2 ka BP event at the onset of the Neolithic on the European mainland or the 4.2 ka event at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The aim is to shed light on how the temporally distinct food systems might have been affected by these climatic impacts and how the involved societies reacted. By exploring common traits and differences in the respective subsistence economies and land use systems of the Neolithic and Bronze Age societies, the talk will give insights on their probable resilience strategies or vulnerabilities facing climatic variability.

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