Data

The paleoclimate of the southern Levant, especially during the last interglacial (LIG), is still under debate. Reliable paleovegetation information for this period, as independent evidence to the paleoenvironment, was still missing. In this study, we present a high-resolution pollen record encompassing 147-89 ka from the Dead Sea deep drilling core 5017-1A. The sediment profile is marked by alternations of laminated marl deposits and thick massive halite, indicating lake-level fluctuations. The pollen...

Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee and Lake Tiberias, is located in the northeast of Israel. At a lake level of 211 m b.s.l. (below mean sea level), the central basin is 43 m deep. The maximum length of the lake is 21 km (N–S) and its maximum width is 12 km (W–E). Lake Kinneret’s surface area is 166 km². A new 17.8 m long sedimentary core was drilled in 2010. Here, we present the entire palynological record from it, which covers the last ~ 9,000 years. Special emphasis is given to the natural...

The Marmara region in northwestern Turkey provides a unique opportunity for studying the vegetation history in response to climate changes and anthropogenic impacts because of its location between different climate and vegetation zones and its long settlement history. Geochemical and mineralogical investigations of the largest lake in the region, Lake Iznik, already registered climate-related changes of the lake level and the lake mixing. However, a palynological investigation encompassing the Late...

Upper Pleistocene sediments at Wadi Sabra (Ma’an District, Jordan) were geoarcheologically investigated from 2008–2010. The Wadi Sabra valley system, situated east of the Dead Sea Rift and south of the ancient Nabataean capital of Petra, has preserved sedimentary deposits which are connected with several Upper Paleolithic sites. First results from sedimentological and geochemical analysis supported by archeological and radiometric dating provide evidence of fluvial and fluvio-eolian sedimentation during...

A Late Glacial to Holocene sediment sequence (Co1260, 717 cm) from Lake Dojran, located at the boarder of the F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Greece, has been investigated to provide information on climate variability in the Balkan region. A robust age-model was established from 13 radiocarbon ages, and indicates that the base of the sequence was deposited at ca. 12 500 cal yr BP, when the lake-level was low. Variations in sedimentological (TOC, CaCO3, TC, N, S, grain-size, XRF, δ18Ocarb, δ13Ccarb, δ13Corg) data...

The Dead Sea, located at the deepest place on continent and between the subtropical Mediterranean zone and the desert, reflects in its water composition and levels, and sedimentary records the hydrological conditions in the southern Levant region. Temporal variations in rainfall and temperatures of the Holocene Levant are reconstructed here from pollen data recovered from a sediment core drilled at the Ein Gedi shore, applying a novel biome model based on Bayesian statistics. Our results suggest that the...

The transboundary Lake Prespa (Albania/former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Greece) has been recognized as a conservation priority wetland. The high biodiversity encountered in the catchment at present points to the refugial character of this mountainous region in the southwestern Balkans. A lake sediment core retrieved from a coring location in the northern part of the lake was investigated through sedimentological, geochemical, and palynological analyses. Based on tephrochronology, radiocarbon and...

This paper presents sedimentological, geochemical, and biological data from Lake Prespa (Albania/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Greece). The 320 cm core sequence (Co1215) covers the last 17 ka calBP and reveals significant change in climate and environmental conditions on a local and regional scale. The sediment record suggests typical stadial conditions from 17.1 to 15.7 ka calBP, documented through low lake productivity, well-mixed conditions, and cold-resistant steppe catchment vegetation. Warming...

Pollen assemblages of a sediment sequence (Co1215) from Lake Prespa reveal substantial vegetational and environmental changes on a regional scale for the Lateglacial and Holocene. The age-depth model, based on radiocarbon dating and tephrochronology, indicates continuous sedimentation for the last c. 17 000 cal BP. An open landscape with prominent cold-resistant steppe vegetation and isolated tree patches (mainly Pinus) is inferred for the Lateglacial. The pollen data suggest the survival of numerous...