Reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental variability based on an inter-comparison of four lacustrine archives on the Peloponnese (Greece) for the last 5000 years

Abstract

A high quantity of well-dated, high-resolution, continuous geoarchives is needed to connect palaeoenvironmental reconstructions with socio-environmental and cultural transformations in a geographically heterogeneous region such as southern Greece. However, detailed and continuous palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental archives from the NE Peloponnese are still sparse. Here, we present two new palaeolake archives of Pheneos and Kaisari covering the last 10 500 and 6500 years, respectively. For the last 5000 years, we compare them with sediment records from adjacent Lake Stymphalia and the Asea valley by applying the same set of sedimentological, geochemical, and statistical analyses to all four lacustrine archives. Continuous geochemical X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning records provide evidence for hydrological variations and environmental changes since the Early Helladic period (5050 BP), the beginning of the Bronze Age in Greece. We hereby focus on different spatial scales to estimate the validity range of the proxy signals. Ten elements were selected (Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Rb, Sr, Zr) for a principal component analysis. The clr(Ca∕Ti) was chosen as the most meaningful proxy, reflecting varying input of carbonaceous vs. clastic input, which may be linked to changes in the hydrological conditions. Our results show phases when permanent lake water bodies existed (ca. 5000–3600 cal BP) as well as phases with periodic desiccation of the lakes during younger times. While Pheneos and Kaisari show a drying trend during the transition phase from the Late Helladic period to the Proto-Geometric period (ca. 3200–2800 cal BP), Stymphalia and Asea show a rather short dry peak around 3200 cal BP followed by a wetter phase. Although all our geoarchives show evidence for drier phases, their timing and duration display considerable site-to-site differences which may be explained by site-specific responses in individual ecosystems. Age uncertainties, however, may likewise explain some deviations, as the dating is based on bulk sediment samples including potential unknown reservoir effects. The high regional geographical diversity within the Peloponnese combined with the dating challenges in the limestone-rich area and the variation in our data testify that any hypothetical mono-causal connection between palaeoenvironmental changes in a single geoarchive and contemporaneous societal transformations across the Peloponnese would be an oversimplification.