Lipid Biomarkers as Footprints of Past Climate-Human-Environment Nexus in Lake Sediments

Abstract:

The human past is traditionally studied by archeologists through the recovery and analysis of material culture. However, lake sediments have since proven a valuable complementary archive to investigate human activities. Of particular interest is the fact that sediments integrate both anthropogenic and climatic signals. This co-occurrence is crucial for a better appreciation of the role of climate on past societies but can also complicate the identification of the main driver of environmental changes.

Organic biomarkers and their stable and radio-isotopic composition provide some means to disentangle the climatic from the anthropogenic signal. This study will present examples from the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere where these tools have been applied over the last two millennia, with a focus on the impacts of the establishment of agriculture or on changes in land-use in a context of human migrations.