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Response to the „Comment on ’Geoarchaeological and chronometrical evidence …’ ” by J.C. Carracedo et al.
(2004)
- This paper is a reply to the comments made by Carracedo et al. (Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 2045-2049) to the original paper by Zöller, L., Suchodoletz, H.von & N. Küster (2003): Geoarchaeological and chronometrical evidence of early human occupation on Lanzarote (Canary Islands), Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1299-1307. The reply copes with comments concerning chronometrical dating, the origin of investigated material and geomorphologic and geoarchaeologic problems.
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Geoarchaeological and chronometrical evidence of early human occupation on Lanzarote (Canary Islands)
(2003)
- Two desert loess–paleosol sequences in sediment traps were investigated using (pedo-) stratigraphy, sedimentology, soil mineralogy and IRSL dating. So far we cannot recognise significant IRSL age-underestimates from the polymineral fine-grain fraction of our samples. We establish a first palaeoclimatic sequence spanning the past ca 200 ka which can be compared to data from other Canary Islands and surrounding areas, including terrestrial and deep sea records. More humid phases on Lanzarote are apparently triggered by Milankovich forcing, but the climate remained semi-arid to arid all over the past 200 ka. The onset of human occupation of the island during a slightly moister period is bracketed between 5 and 10 ka, based on the occurrence of archaeosediments containing bones of ovicaprid. This is the first proof of much earlier occupation than witnessed so far from archaeological records. The early subsidiary economy had a strong impact on soil stability and landscape shaping of the island.
