Late Holocene climatic history of northern Germany and Denmark: peat macrofossil investigations at Dosenmoor, Schleswig-Holstein, and Svanemose, Jutland

Barber, K.E., Chambers, F.M. and Maddy, D. (2004) Late Holocene climatic history of northern Germany and Denmark: peat macrofossil investigations at Dosenmoor, Schleswig-Holstein, and Svanemose, Jutland. Boreas, 33 (2), 132-144. (doi:10.1080/03009480410001082).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Plant macrofossil remains have been analysed from two raised peat bogs in northern Germany and Denmark. The quantified vegetation reconstructions of each profile were subjected to multivariate analyses to extract records of changing bog surface wetness (BSW), which are interpreted in these rain-fed bogs as being proxy climate signals. Age/depth models were constructed using radiocarbon dates and a number of drier and wetter phases were defined. The records both register cooler/wetter conditions around 2700, 1800 and 1400 cal. yr BP, and at the beginning of the Little Ice Age around AD 1250-1350. These rising bog water tables must have been reflected in poorer conditions for agriculture, and in particular near Dosenmoor where the profile records a catastrophic change to such conditions culminating at 2750-2600 cal. yr BP.

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Published date: 2004

Additional Information: First records from northern Europe using method of Barber et al. (1994). Demonstrates spatial coherence of bog-derived climate records across 1300 km from Atlantic Ireland. Dramatic climate change at Dosenmoor coincides with archaeological evidence for the ‘Hallstatt disaster’ and at both sites c. 1400 cal. BP with the Migration Period.