Palaeoecological background of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Ságvár, Hungary: radiocarbon‐dated malacological and sedimentological studies on the Late Pleistocene environment

ABSTRACT In this paper, the authors present new palaeoecological and sedimentological results from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Ságvár, Hungary. Simple (abundance and dominance) and advanced (cluster analysis, principal component analysis, correspondence) statistical analyses of malacological resu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of quaternary science 2021-11, Vol.36 (8), p.1353-1363
Main Authors: Molnár, Dávid, Sümegi, Pál, Makó, László, Cseh, Péter, Zeeden, Christian, Nett, Janina, Lehmkuhl, Frank, Törőcsik, Tünde, Sümegi, Balázs P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
age–depth models
Bayesian analysis
Carbon 14
Climate change
Cluster analysis
Cold climates
Hunting
Loess
malacology
Mathematical models
palaeoecology
Paleoclimate
Pleistocene
Principal components analysis
Radiometric dating
Statistical analysis
Steppes
Ságvár
Upper Palaeolithic
Vegetation
Vegetation cover
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Summary:ABSTRACT In this paper, the authors present new palaeoecological and sedimentological results from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Ságvár, Hungary. Simple (abundance and dominance) and advanced (cluster analysis, principal component analysis, correspondence) statistical analyses of malacological results were carried out, determining eight malacological zones (MZs) and the key species of the fauna evolution in the sequence. Furthermore, an age–depth model was calculated via Bayesian modelling using new radiocarbon age data. The accumulation rate (AR) was calculated by deriving data from the age–depth model. The palaeoecological reconstruction indicated a cool/cold climate and chiefly steppe environment, with low loess ARs. Not only the vegetation cover but also the geographical setting of the sequence could have led to the low AR values. However, in the uppermost part of the sequence, during the GS 3 and GS 2.1c stadials, the reconstructed palaeoclimate indicated a warming period. Nevertheless, this contradiction is not unique in the Carpathian Basin. The settled Upper Palaeolithic hunters around 22 300 cal a bp lived in a progressively warming wooded steppe environment, hunting mainly for reindeer. Climate change might have forced them to migrate away, following the reindeer.
ISSN:0267-8179
1099-1417
DOI:10.1002/jqs.3306