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)

• Applicant: Dr. Andreas Koutsodendris
• Subject Area: Geology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 515402717

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.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants