Reconstructing paleoenvironments of highland societies in Iran from sedimentary records of Holocene climate change and landscape evolution

气候变化是影响伊朗旱地前现代社会生活条件和土地利用的全新世地貌演变的一个主要因素。中部扎格罗斯山脉和内陆高原之间的过渡带的特点是明显的气候梯度，平均年降水量为c。山区500毫米到终端洼地小于100毫米。这种半干旱到干旱的过渡区可能对气候变化有敏感的反应，从而为探测过去的气候和环境变化提供了有希望的地区。我们以前的调查在较低的Zayandeh-Rud盆地表明，明显的古环境变化发生在全新世。此外，现在有新的证据表明，人类曾在这一沙漠边缘地区居住。由此产生的问题是，人们为什么在那里定居，以及他们如何获得水和其他资源。我们的伊朗/德国项目和SPP 2176为开展此类主题的合作研究提供了一个优秀的跨学科框架。因此，我们认为有很大的潜力继续和扩大我们在第一阶段开始的工作，并对伊朗高地的人与环境的相互作用进行详细的区域分析。在第一阶段的继续，我们将收集更多的沉积物陷阱（Damaneh平原和Golpayegan Playa）的沉积物岩心，并使用多代理（粒度测定，地球化学，花粉）和地质年代学（放射性碳，发光）方法分析这些岩心。这将有助于检测指标并推断气候和环境变化的阶段。比较研究将在两个合作项目的SPP 2176的研究领域进行。因此，从新的和以前的结果推断出的气候变化的幅度和时间可以在不同的考古背景下进行讨论。一个新的目标是分析下Zayandeh-Rud盆地的环境变化。为此，我们将调查前湿地的形成和干燥，Zayandeh-Rud课程的可能变化，沙丘场的过去活动以及Gavkhuni湖的水位变化。所获得的数据将提供关于资源（主要是水和植被）可利用性的历时变化以及关于考古遗址形成过程的信息。总的来说，该项目将提高我们对伊朗高地全新世气候和环境变化的理解。与考古学家的密切合作将使我们能够清楚地了解伊朗旱地人类与环境的相互作用。

Climate change is a major factor of Holocene landscape evolution affecting the living conditions and land use of premodern societies in the drylands of Iran. The transition zone between the Central Zagros Mountains and the Interior Plateau is characterized by a pronounced climate gradient with mean annual precipitation ranging from c. 500 mm in the mountains to less than 100 mm in terminal depressions. Such semi-arid to arid transition zones may sensitively react on climate change and thus provide promising areas to detect past climate and environmental changes. Our previous investigations in the lower Zayandeh-Rud basin show that pronounced paleoenvironmental changes occurred during the Holocene. In addition, new evidence for human occupation in this desert fringe area is now available. From this, questions emerge on why people settled there and on how they had access to water and other resources. Our Iranian/German project and the SPP 2176 provide an excellent interdisciplinary framework for conducting collaborative research on such topics. We thus see a strong potential to continue and extent our work started during the first phase and elaborate regional analyses of men-environment interactions in the Iranian Highlands. In continuation of the first phase we will collect sediment cores of additional sediment traps (Damaneh Plain and Golpayegan Playa) and analyse these cores using a multi-proxy (granulometry, geochemistry, pollen) and geochronometric (radiocarbon, luminescence) approach. This will allow to detect indicators and deduce phases of climate and environmental change. Comparative investigations will be conducted in the study areas of two collaborating projects of the SPP2176. The magnitudes and timing of climate change deduced from the new and previous results can thus be discussed in different archaeological contexts. A new objective is to analyse environmental change in the Lower Zayandeh-Rud basin. For this purpose, we will investigate the formation and drying of former wetlands, possible shifts of Zayandeh-Rud course, the past activity of the dune field and possible water level changes of Gavkhuni lake. The data obtained will provide information about diachronic changes in the availability of resources (mainly water and vegetation) and about the formation processes of archaeological sites. Overall, the project will improve our understanding of Holocene climate and environmental change in the Iranian Highlands. The close collaboration with archaeologists will allow to draw a clear picture of man-environment interactions in Iranian drylands.