Evidence of early human occupation of a high-altitude site in Western Central Asia during the Holocene
Abstract
Reconstructions of early human occupation of high-altitude regions and their possible migration routes across Central Asia during the Holocene are limited due to restricted archaeological sample material. Consequently, there has been growing interest in an alternative approach to investigate anthropogenic activity. In this study, fecal sterols and stanols preserved in lake sediments from Lake Chatyr Kul (Tian Shan, Kyrgyzstan) were analyzed to reconstruct the past presence of humans and pastoral animals in this low-human-impact area. Spanning the last ~11k years, this high-altitude site (3,500 m above sea level) provided a continuous record of human occupancy in Western Central Asia. The arrival and prolonged presence of humans was marked by a sharp peak of the human fecal sterol coprostanol and its epimer epicoprostanol in the sediments. An associated increase in 5β-stigmastanol, a fecal biomarker of herbivore activity, indicated a human occupancy that depended upon livestock for their livelihoods. However, down-core sterol profiles show that grazing animals had occupied the catchment area of Lake Chatyr Kul separately before and after human arrival. This study demonstrates the potential of fecal sterols for high-resolution paleoenvironmental and archaeological research to detect anthropogenic and herbivorous mammal signals. Moreover, our results help to understand migration routes across Western Central Asia during the early and mid-Holocene as part of a prehistoric Silk Road territory.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMGC51C..07S
- Keywords:
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- 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1637 Regional climate change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1879 Watershed;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 4902 Anthropogenic effects;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY