Deciphering natural versus anthropogenic environmental change in the SW Aegean Sea during the Holocene based on marine sediment cores from the Argolikos and Myrtoon Basins (Greece)

在整个全新世，地中海社会与他们的环境密切互动，但气候和环境变化在多大程度上影响了社会文化转型，反过来，早期社会如何以及在多大程度上改变了他们的环境，这一点仍然不清楚。在此背景下，本研究旨在重建全新世期间的短期气候和环境变化，并确定爱琴海地区污染的起源。这将通过对Argolikos和Myrtoon盆地选定的海洋沉积物岩心建立高分辨率的放射性碳年代学来实现，这将允许：(1)解码陆源输入海洋领域的特征，从而深入了解全新世期间Argolikos和Myrtoon盆地腹地自然与人为变化的时间和程度；(2)确定铅污染是爱琴海地区最早采矿活动的副产品，从而建立了海相和陆相沉积物序列直接排列的区域等时线。拟议中的项目对于解决爱琴海西南边境地区早期文化兴衰期间的气候和环境条件至关重要。

Throughout the Holocene, Mediterranean societies have closely inter¬acted with their environment, but it is still unclear to what extent climatic and environmental changes have influenced sociocultural transitions and, conversely, how and to what extent early societies have altered their environment. Against this background, the here proposed study aims to reconstruct short-term climate and environmental changes during the Holocene and identify the onset of pollution in the Aegean Sea region. This will be achieved by the establishment of highly resolved radiocarbon chronologies for selected marine sediment cores from the Argolikos and Myrtoon Basins, which will allow to: (1) decipher the characteristics of terrigenous input into the marine realm, providing insight into the timing and extent of natural versus anthropogenic change in the hinterland of the Argolikos and Myrtoon Basins over the course of the Holocene; (2) determine the onset of Pb pollution as a by-product of the earliest mining activities in the Aegean region, and hence establish a regional isochron for the direct alignment of marine and terrestrial sediment sequences. The proposed project will be essential in resolving the climatic and environmental conditions during the rise and fall of early cultures in the borderlands of the SW Aegean Sea.