Climate and environmental dynamics mid to late Holocene settlement in the Tobol-Ishim forest-steppe region, West Siberia

Abstract

Environmental multi-proxy records provide evidence on climate dynamics and related natural transformations in the forest-steppe / parkland zone of SW West Siberia during the last. 8 500 years from the late Boreal to Sub-Atlantic Period, chronologically encompassing the regional cultural evolution time span from the Mesolithic to the historical times. Pollen spectra from the investigated stratified sites indicate large-scale landscape restructurings related to both the natural as well as intensified anthropogenic activities in the forest-steppe and taiga parkland zones at several stages during the Holocene and migrations of cultural communities in response to climate variations and progressing aridity. These climatically-triggered vegetation zone shifts and territorial population movements are well manifested in the material culture.