Abstract
The period between circa 6000–4500 BP was marked by a climate which was considerably less continental than that of today. Broad-leaved trees expanded farther to the north and east as compared to their modern limit in Eastern Europe and West Siberia. Northern treeline reached. The share of broad-leaved trees was largest in forests of Eastern Europe. Steppes and semi-desert belts of today were relatively wet then. Forested area expanded, and soils were less continental in steppes of Ukraine, Southern Russia and Kazakhstan.
Between circa 4500–3500 BP climate was colder and more continental in the boreal belt, and drier in the arid belt. Area of broad-leaved forests were reduced. Ranges of Tilia andAlnus glutinosa in West Siberia were changed. Northern limits of trees and shrubs in boreal belt retreated to the present day position. Drier climate in the steppes and desert belt of Eurasia has been reconstructed based on pollen, lake levels and soil data.
All existing data prove that serious and relatively rapid climate shift took place ca 4500–4300 BP. It was accompanied by changes in human economy, which was detected mainly in Eurasian steppes and forest-steppes. After 4500–4200 BP nomadic groups penetrated in some parts of forest belt in East Europe and Siberia. At the same time agricultural communities collapsed in south-west Ukraine and Moldova, to be replaced by nomadic cultures.
Between circa 3400/3300 and 2800/2700 BP a new phase of more favorable climate is indicated in southern regions of Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan and Siberia. The Late Holocene vegetation and climate shift was more pronounced in the northern and southern margins of forest belt than elsewhere.
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Krementski, C.V. (1997). The Late Holocene Environmental and Climate Shift in Russia and Surrounding Lands. In: Dalfes, H.N., Kukla, G., Weiss, H. (eds) Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO ASI Series, vol 49. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60616-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60616-8_13
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