The onset of islandscapes in the Balearic Islands: A study-case of Addaia (northern Minorca, Spain)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.015Get rights and content

Highlights

  • First off-site multiproxy study in Minorca island

  • Mid- and late-Holocene socio-environmental interaction

  • Causalities for the mid- to late-Holocene environmental change

  • Human activities and aridification promotes a patchy landscape.

  • Potential new scenarios for human arrival in the Balearics

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental and archaeological data show that Mediterranean landscapes result from long-term socio-environmental interactions. Mediterranean islands constitute a place of passage where the creation of cultural landscapes can be traced through colonization and anthropization histories. Palynological studies carried out in the Balearic Islands highlight a deep vegetation change from the mid- to late-Holocene, but the climate-environmental-human interactions are not fully understood yet. In this study, we aim to disentangle the causalities of landscape changes during the last six millennia using a multi-proxy approach on an off-site core for the first time in Minorca island. We find that, during the mid-Holocene, the climate was wetter than today with less rainfall seasonality than in the current Mediterranean. This climate, favoured the expansion of box formations and the predominance of forested formations with minimal anthropized conditions. First agropastoral activities appeared in the sequence between ca. 3500–2650 cal BCE in north-eastern Minorca, coinciding with other sporadic archaeological evidence (Cova dels Morts rock-shelter) which support the possibility of a pre-Chalcolithic discovery and frequentation of the island. We record deep environmental change during the third millennium cal BCE, reflected in the substitution of the former mesophytic vegetation by Mediterranean maquis formations dominated by wild olive trees, heathers, mastic and Cistaceae. We propose that maquis, garrigues and open-land vegetation were favoured by human action in a context of increasing climatic dryness and seasonality, promoting vegetation flammability and substitution of former mesic communities to more adapted termophilous vegetation. The comparison of our new record from Addaia with other pollen studies from the Balearic Islands highlights the resilience of mesic vegetation to climate change. This is shown by the survival of box formations to the increased aridification initiated at ca. sixth–fifth millennium cal BCE (ca. 7–6 cal kyr BP) in the Western Mediterranean which culminated at ca. fourth–third millennium cal BCE (ca. 5–4 cal kyr BP). Additionally, whilst sporadic human presence versus stable occupation are difficult to detect in archaeological records, the coupling with paleoenvironmental studies may offer new scenarios and information for human arrival in the Balearic Islands.

Introduction

The Mediterranean Basin constitutes a good example of a “place of passage”, and the Balearic Islands are not an exception. Therefore, insularity cannot be considered as physical and environmental conditions that directly explain cultural evolution as have been formerly interpreted by determinist approaches (Knapp, 2007). Numerous island archaeological and paleoenvironmental studies have based their epistemological approaches on the idea of “islands as laboratories for the study of cultural evolution”, influenced by the seminal work of Evans (1973). Nevertheless, it seems clear that the history of islanders is one of movement and connectivity (Knapp, 2007), which led to the creation of islandscapes (Broodbank, 2000). This concept implies a more flexible paradigm that integrates island landscapes and seascapes which allow us to understand the complex human-nature interactions in the frame of connectivity with the mainland and other islands. To take even further the idea that islands allow an all-round connectivity (Horden and Purcell, 2012), the concept aquapelagos (Hayward, 2012; Dawson, 2012) puts the emphasis in the possibilities of connection that archipelagos allow. Such approach should be related to the notion of cultural landscape in which landscapes are lands transformed by human activities which replace natural ecosystems (Mercuri, 2014). Insularity should not be seen as a geographical isolation, but rather as a dynamic interaction between islanders and their physical environment, and their relationship with the outsiders (Rainbird, 1999; Knapp, 2008; Broodbank, 2000; Rainbird, 1999; Frieman, 2008). Nevertheless, Mediterranean islands constitute fragile environments prone to record the effects of human occupation and climate variability. Paleoenvironmental studies have proved to be a suitable approach to generate new scenarios for human arrival on islands, as has been proved in the Oceanic islands and the Azores archipelago (Rull et al., 2017; Prebble and Wilmshurst, 2010). In this context, it is necessary to understand the history of such environments and the causalities of landscape changes.

Paleoenvironmental and archaeological data have revealed that Mediterranean landscapes result from complex long-term socio-environmental interactions (Mercuri et al., 2011; Roberts et al., 2001, Roberts et al., 2011; Walsh, 2014), as environmental changes and social dynamics are co-evolutionary processes (Dearing et al., 2006). In the last decades, there have been several paleoenvironmental studies in the Mediterranean islands that have revealed long human-environment interactions during the Holocene (e.g., Beffa et al., 2015; Tinner et al., 2009, Tinner et al., 2016; Sadori et al., 2013; Burjachs et al., 2016a; Yll et al., 1997; Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000; Currás et al., 2017; Di Rita and Melis, 2013; Carroll et al., 2012; Djamali et al., 2013). Palynological studies carried out in the Gymnesics (Mallorca and Minorca) highlight an abrupt vegetation change at ca. 3200–3000 cal BCE in Mallorca (Burjachs et al., 2016a, Burjachs et al., 2016b) and between ca. 3650–2700 cal BCE in Minorca (Burjachs, 2006; Burjachs et al., 2016a, Burjachs et al., 2016b; Yll et al., 1997, Yll et al., 1999; Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000). During this change, the plant landscape dominated by Juniperus, Corylus, deciduous Quercus and Buxus was replaced by termophilous communities formed by Olea, Quercus ilex-t, Pistacia and Erica in a short lapse of time. These vegetal communities have prevailed in the Gymnesics during the last five/four millennia (Yll et al., 1999). Such environmental change has been explained by drier climate conditions and a trend towards low rainfall and seasonality (Pérez-Obiol et al., 2000; Burjachs et al., 2016a), while human impacts have barely been considered. However, the different chronologies in the studied sites of both Minorca and Mallorca islands suggests that this environmental change can be interpreted on the basis of a complex interaction between vegetation dynamics, climate and human impact. To disentangle the causality of such deep landscape change, reliable age-depth models, multi-proxy studies and multidisciplinary works are required from now on.

In this paper we propose the study of socioenvironmental interactions from prehistory to the present based on the study of a new sequence located in North-Eastern Minorca in order to determine the role of humans and climate forcing on landscape change since the mid-Holocene, paying attention to how newcomers could have generated new landscape forms.

Minorca is the northernmost island of the Mediterranean Balearic Archipelago (Fig. 1). It is a small island with a surface of 716 km2. In Minorca, the northern region (Tramuntana) is formed by limestone and siliceous bedrocks from Palaeozoic and Mesozoic while the southern part (Mitjorn) region is a platform formed by Tertiary limestone bedrock eroded by deep ravines (Bourrouilh, 1983; Fornós and Segura, 2003). The Port d'Addaia constitutes a contact zone between these two geological regions (Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003). Minorca has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by seasonal and windy regime with a four-month-long summer drought (Gil and Olcina, 2001; Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003). The mean annual temperature ranges from 16 to 18 °C and the mean annual precipitation near the coring site is 570 mm, but rainfall distribution is rather irregular throughout the year, recording most of the precipitation during autumn and winter, including convection rainfall in late summer (Franquesa i Balcells et al., 2011; Guijarro, 1986).

Holm-oak woods of Quercus ilex L. (Cyclamini balearici-Quercetum ilicis O. Bolòs) constitute the potential vegetation in the deeper soils and the inner part of the island recording higher precipitations. Human activities have perturbed and even destroyed part of these woods, promoting degradation and the penetration of heliophilous species such as Erica and Cistus species, Ampelodesmos mauritanicus (Poir.) T. Durand and Schinz and Pinus halepensis Mill., leading to mixed woods. Currently, the main forest formation of the island is the wild-olive maquis (Prasio maioris-Oleetum sylvestris O. Bolòs), a commonly dense community characterized by Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr and presence of Phillyrea species and Pistacia lentiscus L. Other mixed formations also cover perturbed and open areas with pine woods, other maquis formations with Erica species, and garrigues (Bolòs et al., 1970; Bolòs, 1996; Fraga et al., 2015; Pons and Gómez-Pujol, 2003).

The vegetation of the Addaia area is representative of the northern Minorca landscape, characterized by a mosaic structure with crop fields and pastures alternating with dense silicicolous maquis (Oleo sylvestris-Ceratonion siliquae Br.–Bl. alliance) and pine woodlands. Close to the coast, cushy spiny shrubs expand including Limonietum caprariensis O. Bolòs and Molinier and Launaeetum cervicornis O. Bolòs and Molinier, and the coastal maquis of Aro picti-Phillyreetum rodriguezii O. Bolòs, Molinier and P. Montserrat. Inland, a high maquis of the Prasio-Oleetum have a major coverage of wild olive and pine trees. The vegetation of the saltmarsh is mainly formed by communities of Salicornion fruticosae Br.-Bl. and Arthronecmion glauci Rivas-Martínez and Costa, with small woodlands of saltcedar (Tamaricion africanae Br.-Bl.) and patches dominated by sea-lavenders included in the Limonion confusi (Br.-Bl.) Rivas-Martínez and Costa.

Archaeological evidences of first human arrival to the Balearic Islands occurred relatively latter compared to other Mediterranean insular territories such as Corsica or Sardinia where Neolithic human occupation is recorded, and earlier frequentations/occupations seem probable (Dawson, 2014), while the archaeological records of the Balearics lack of clear evidences from the Neolithic period (Micó, 2005, Micó, 2006). Nevertheless, the human colonization of the Balearic Islands is a slippery question in the archaeological literature. Although the timing of the first stable settlements is still debated, available dates from archaeological sites suggest their arrival to the island between 2900/2500 cal BCE (Guerrero et al., 2007; Guerrero and Calvo, 2008) and 2350/2150 cal BCE (Alcover, 2008; Lull et al., 2004; Sintes, 2015). An extended overview of the early colonization of the archipelago is out of the scope of this article, but we would like to remark that some sparse archaeological data could suggest sporadic frequentations of the island (e.g., Calvo et al., 2001; Gornés, 2016). In the case of Minorca, evidence of pre-Chalcolithic human presence can be deduced from isolated findings of lithic industry of presumably pre-Neolithic tradition (Fullola et al., 2005; Guerrero and Calvo, 2008; Guerrero et al., 2007) and from a stabling sequence of the rock-shelter of Cova dels Morts (Guerrero and Calvo, 2008; Mestres and de Nicolás, 1997; Guerrero et al., 2007; Bergadà and de Nicolàs, 2005). Later on, Chalcolithic settlements are developed in all the islands, but the remains of this period are still rare, with the exception of Biniai Nou and Ses Roques Llises archaeological sites (Sintes, 2015; Gornés, 2016).

At 1700/1600 cal BCE, a sedentary population and a demographic continuity throughout the archipelago was established, which corresponds to the Middle and Late Bronze Age (naviform period). From this moment onwards, megalithic monumental architecture appears in domestic structures (the so-called navetiforms). Around 1000–850 cal BCE Bronze Age societies experienced structural changes that culminate in the birth of the Early Iron Age Talayotic Culture characterized by megalithic buildings (Lull et al., 2008). From 550 cal BCE the destruction of some Talayotic villages is detected as well as the diversification of funeral rituals and the emergence of new religious monuments. These changes lead to the birth of Postalayotic Culture (Late Iron Age), which extended until the Roman conquest of the Balearic Islands at 123 BCE (Guerrero et al., 2007). In the case of Minorca, the three main urban foundations are Iamo, Mago and Sanisera, the three located in the main anchorages of the island (Zucca, 1998; Riera Rullan, 2003). Roman domination lasted until 455 CE, when the Vandal conquest opened a period of instability with the domination and/or the relationship with Byzantium. This period ends with the conquest and domination of the archipelago by Muslims at 903 CE and later (1229 CE in Majorca and 1287 CE in Minorca) with the Christian conquest, which annexed the Balearic archipelago to the Catalano-Aragonese Crown. During the 18th century Minorca was annexed to Great Britain sovereignty, to be incorporated anew to the Spanish crown in the 19th century.

Section snippets

Material and methods

In September 2008, a 286-cm-long core was obtained with a 50 cm × 5 cm hand-operated Russian corer. The studied core was extracted from the central part of the Addaia lagoon (north of Minorca island, 39°59′23.4″N–4°12′21.6″E), where the highest sedimentary accumulation above the bedrock was achieved.

The methodology lies on a multi-proxy study combining off-site data including pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), stomata, lithostratigraphy, charcoal particles, radiocarbon analyses and juniper

Lithology and age-depth model

The 286 cm sedimentary sequence of Addaia is formed by six lithozones, presented in Table 3 and Fig. 2. Radiocarbon and calibrated dates are shown in Table 1. The age–depth model relies on four 14C AMS measurements. The model incorporates the date 2008 CE for the modern surface of the sequence. Radiocarbon dates indicate that lagoon sedimentation started at the end of the 5th millennium cal BCE and have supported a continuous sedimentation over the last 6100 years (Fig. 2).

Pollen, NPP, and charcoal particles zones

Cluster analysis

Vegetation dynamics before clear human impact (ca. 4100–3500 cal BCE)

Mesophytic vegetation was rather important during the mid-Holocene in the Addaia area (Fig. 4). The Addaia palaeobotanical (ADD1a) data concerning this period reflects the dominance of apparently closed forests in a context of low or absent human activity. Furthermore, the positive values of samples from this zone in axis 1 and 2 in the PCA (Fig. 5) indicate the prevalence of a woody environment with dominance of natural coastal plant communities and a rather mesophytic tree cover. The relevant

Conclusions

The multi-proxy study of the sequence of Addaia reveals the complex history of human-climate-vegetation interactions during the mid- and late-Holocene in a Mediterranean island environment, reflecting how newcomers induce new landscapes under changing climate conditions. Addaia sequence agrees with other paleoenvironmental studies carried out in the Gymnesics, indicating that a forested environment prevails during the mid-Holocene with widespread mesic communities favoured by moister-than-today

Acknowledgments

Gabriel Servera-Vives was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government (Juan de La Cierva Program: FJCI-2014-22498) and the “Programa Vicenç Mut d'Incorporació de Personal R + D + I (Pla de Ciència, Tecnologia, Innovació i Emprenedoria 2013-2017) de la Vicepresidència i Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme del Govern de les Illes Balears i el Fons Social Europeu (PD-018-2017)”. The work of Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert has been funded by a Beatriu de Pinós

References (140)

  • B. van Geel et al.

    Environmental reconstruction of a Roman Period settlement site in Uitgeest (6 e Netherlands), with special reference to coprophilous fungi

    J. Archaeol. Sci.

    (2003)
  • F.J. Jiménez-Espejo et al.

    Saharan aeolian input and effective humidity variations over western Europe during the Holocene from a high-altitude record

    Chem. Geol.

    (2014)
  • N. Montès et al.

    A comparative study of aboveground biomass of three Mediterranean species in a post-fire succession

    Acta Oecol.

    (2004)
  • J.A. Alcover

    The first Mallorcans: prehistoric colonization in the western Mediterranean

    J. World Prehist.

    (2008)
  • G. Beffa et al.

    Vegetation and fire history of coastal north-eastern Sardinia (Italy) under changing Holocene climates and land use

    Veg. Hist. Archaeobotany

    (2015)
  • K.E. Behre

    The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams

    Pollen Spores

    (1981)
  • M. Bergadà et al.

    Aportación de la micromorfología al cnocimiento de prácticas pastoriles de finales de la Edad del Bronce del yacimiento de la Cova des Morts (Mongofre, Maó, Menorca)

    Mayurqa

    (2005)
  • H.-J. Beug

    Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiet

    (2004)
  • H.J.B. Birks et al.

    The use of rarefaction analysis for estimating palynological richness from Quaternary pollen analytical data

    The Holocene

    (1992)
  • O. Bolòs

    La vegetació de les Illes Balears. Comunitats de plantes. IEC, Arx. Secc. Ciències, CXIV. Barcelona

    (1996)
  • O. Bolòs et al.

    Observations phytosociologiques dans l'ille de Minorque

    Acta Geobot. Barcinon.

    (1970)
  • S. Bottema et al.

    Environmental change in Crete: a 9000-year record of Holocene vegetation history and the effect of the Santorini eruption

    The Holocene

    (2003)
  • R. Bourrouilh

    Estratigrafía, sedimentología i tectónica de la isla de Menorca y del noreste de Mallorca

    (1983)
  • P. Bover et al.

    Understanding Late Quaternary extinctions: the case of Myotragus balearicus (Bate, 1909)

    J. Biogeogr.

    (2003)
  • P. Bover et al.

    Closing the gap: new data on the last documented Myotragus and the first human evidence on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean Sea)

    The Holocene

    (2016)
  • C. Broodbank

    An Island Archaeology of the Early Cyclades

    (2000)
  • F. Burjachs

    Palinología y restitución paleoecológica

    Revista Ecosistemas

    (2006)
  • F. Burjachs et al.

    Dinámica de la vegetación durante el Holocenos en la isla de Mallorca

  • F. Burjachs et al.

    Environmental changes and human colonization in the Balearic Islands and their impacts on vegetation: a review

    J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep.

    (2016)
  • F. Burjachs et al.

    Changements environnementaux et histoire de la colonisation humaine des Îles Baléares (Méditerranée occidentale): conséquences sur l'évolution de la végétation

  • M. Calvo

    Reflexiones en torno a los esquemas de racionalidad espacial reflejados en el paisaje durante la prehistoria de Mallorca

    Pyrenae

    (2009)
  • M. Calvo et al.

    De islas e isleños. Movilidad, conectividad y generación de identidades en las IB durante el bronce medio y final. Nuevas líneas de reflexión

    (2018)
  • M. Calvo et al.

    Los orígenes del poblamiento balear. Una discusión no acabada. Complutum

    (2001)
  • M. Calvo Trias et al.

    Rethinking social hierarchization and stratification in the Bronze Age of the Balearic Islands

  • J.S. Carrión et al.

    Fire and grazing are contingent on the Holocene vegetation dynamics of Sierra de Gádor, southern Spain

    The Holocene

    (2003)
  • M. Celma et al.

    Paleoecologia de l'Edat del Ferro a l'illa de Menorca. Les restes antracològiques i carpológiques procedents del poblat de Biniparratx Petit (Sant Lluís). Technical Report

    (2011)
  • M. Cremaschi et al.

    Climate change versus land management in the Po Plain (Northern Italy) during the Bronze Age: new insights from the VP/VG sequence of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio

    Quat. Sci. Rev.

    (2015)
  • H. Dawson

    Archaeology, aquapelagos and island studies

    Shima

    (2012)
  • H. Dawson

    Mediterranean Voyages. The Archaeology of Island Colonization and Abandonment

    (2014)
  • J. Dearing et al.

    Human-environment interactions: towards synthesis and simulation

    Reg. Environ. Chang.

    (2006)
  • P. Dixon

    VEGAN, a package of R functions for community ecology

    J. Veg. Sci.

    (2003)
  • M. Djamali et al.

    Vegetation dynamics during the early to midHolocene transition in NW Malta, human impact versus climatic forcing

    Veg. Hist. Archaeobotany

    (2013)
  • I. Euba

    Informe del análisis antracológico del yacimiento talaiótico de Torre d'en Galmés (Menorca). Technical report. Tarragona

    (2005)
  • J.D. Evans

    Islands as laboratories of culture change

  • K. Faegri et al.

    Textbook of Pollen Analysis by Knut Faegri and Johs. Iversen

    (1989)
  • A. Florenzano et al.

    Economy and environment of the Greek colonial system in southern Italy: pollen and NPPs evidence of grazing from the rural site of Fattoria Fabrizio (VI-IV cent. BC; Metaponto, Basilicata)

    Ann. Bot. (Roma)

    (2013)
  • A. Florenzano et al.

    Are Cichorieae an indicator of open habitats and pastoralism in current and past vegetation studies?

    Plant Biosyst.

    (2015)
  • J.J. Fornós et al.

    El relleno de los fondos de los barrancos del Migjorn de Menorca

  • P. Fraga et al.

    Guia de les plantes de Menorca

    (2015)
  • Cited by (0)

    1

    Independent researcher.

    View full text