University of Birmingham Mid-to late-Holocene paleovegetation change in vicinity of Lake Tuzla (Kayseri), Central Anatolia, Turkey enkul, Çetin; Memi, Türkan; Eastwood, Warren; Doan, Uur DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.026 License: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) Document Version Peer reviewed version Citation for published version (Harvard): enkul, Ç, Memi, T, Eastwood, W & Doan, U 2018, 'Mid-to late-Holocene paleovegetation change in vicinity of Lake Tuzla (Kayseri), Central Anatolia, Turkey', Quaternary International, vol. 486, pp. 98-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.026 Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. 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Eastwood, Uğur Doğan PII: S1040-6182(17)31604-X DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.026 Reference: JQI 7436 To appear in: Quaternary International Received Date: 21 December 2017 Revised Date: 14 May 2018 Accepted Date: 19 May 2018 Please cite this article as: Şenkul, Ç., Memiş, Tü., Eastwood, W.J., Doğan, Uğ., Mid-to late-Holocene paleovegetation change in vicinity of Lake Tuzla (Kayseri), Central Anatolia, Turkey, Quaternary International (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.026. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. 1 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Mid- to late-Holocene paleovegetation change in vicinity of Lake Tuzla (Kayseri), Central Anatolia, Turkey 1 1 2 3 Çetin Şenkul , Türkan Memi ş , Warren J. Eastwood , Uğur Do ğan 1 Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Geography, 32260, Çünür-Isparta, Turkey 2 School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom 3 Ankara University, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, 06100, Sıhhiye-Ankara, Turkey Corresponding author: (Çetin Şenkul). E-mail address : [email protected] ABSTRACT This study carried out in Lake Tuzla in northeast Cappadocia (Central Anatolia- Kayseri-Palas Plain) aimed primarily to determine changes in paleovegetation of mid- to late- Holocene in the vicinity of Lake Tuzla and factors affecting these changes. A secondary objective was to determine paleoenvironmental conditions during the settlement period of Kültepe (Karum-Kanis), an important archaeological site in the region. Fossil pollen analysis was carried out on a sediment core 337 cm long representing the period from the present day extending back to 5080 ± 30 years. Changes in paleoclimatic conditions and paleovegetation were identified. From changes in the vegetation, thMANUSCRIPTe climatic changes determined were dry in the periods 3200-3000 BP, 2050-1450 BP, and 1120-850 BP; and humidity in the periods 1400-1115 BP and 1400-1700 BP. Alterations to the vegetation structure between 3230 and 1155 BP reveal the effects of the Bey şehir Occupation Phase (BOP). According to Lake Tuzla data, the effect of BOP was relatively less than that of Lake Nar. After the end of BOP, pine forests grew in the area around Lake Tuzla. The vegetation consisted of Pinus and Quercus in AP (arboreal pollen) and Artemisia , Amaranthaceae and Poaceae in NAP (non-arboreal pollen). The density of Artemisia , Amaranthaceae and Poaceae taxa suggests that steppe vegetation was dominant in the surroundings of Lake Tuzla. Keywords: LakeACCEPTED Tuzla, Cappadocia, Kültepe, fossil pollen, vegetation and climate change. 2 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1. Introduction Anatolia is characterized by human-induced vegetation change and a complex climatic history (Bottema and Woldring, 1990; Kaniewski, 2007; Riehl and Marinova, 2008; Bakker et al., 2013). Pollen analysis is the most useful method for evaluating human-induced vegetation change and the climatic history of Anatolia from the temporal perspective and on a spatial scale (Behre, 1990; Eastwood, 1997; Vermoere, 2004; England, 2006; Şenkul, 2014). The formation of vegetation in Anatolia revealed by pollen analysis, and factors such as human impact and climate affecting these changes, enable the reinterpretation of environmental conditions (Bakker et al., 2011). Furthermore, the climatic and human impacts effective on vegetation also help us to understand changes occurring in the socio-cultural structure (Allcock, 2017). The extent, nature and duration of climatic changes affecting natural environmental conditions vary from region to region (Miebach, 2016). Notably, the 4200, 2800, 1400 BP Cold Climate periods and the Little Ice Age (Bond et al., 1997) occurring in Holocene, together with the climatic cycles termed the Roman and Medieval Warm periods (Free and Robock, 1999; Crowley and Lowery, 2000; Luterbacher et al., 2001; Mann, 2002; Bradley, 2003; Cronin et al., 2003; Bakker et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2012), were all effective on the natural environment, inhabitants and human activityMANUSCRIPT. Kültepe (Kani ş Karum), the most important ancient settlement in Cappadocia, is the largest Early Bronze Age settlement in Anatolia (Kulako ğlu et al., 2013). This settlement became an important trade and cultural center in the period of the Assyrian Trade Colonies (1950-1700 BC), during which commercial and cultural relations with Mesopotamia developed (U ğuryol and Kulako ğlu, 2013). Kültepe, important historically and for its strategic location in Cappadocia, is of particular significance since it is situated close to the Lake Tuzla (23 km to the northeast). Regarding Cappadocia as a whole, several fossil pollen studies have included Lake Tuzla (Bottema et al., 1993-1994; Woldring, 2001; Roberts et al., 2001; England, 2006; Roberts et al., 2016;ACCEPTED Do ğan, 2017). However, the exact age-based chronology of fossil pollen data from Lake Tuzla, representing the northeast of the region, has not yet been revealed in detail (Bottema et al., 1993-1994). In order to gain a holistic view of the fossil pollen record of Cappadocia region, it is difficult to use data from Lake Tuzla due to the lack of information about its age. Therefore, this study aimed to solve the problem of chronology by examining the record of Lake Tuzla in the north-east of Kayseri-Palas Plain (Memi ş, 2017). Thus, a data 3 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT set was compiled reflecting the Holocene paleoenvironmental history of the Cappadocia region. This study is important in terms of perceiving the effect of changes in paleovegetation and palaeoclimate on human activity during the settlement period of Kültepe and the influence of mankind on the environment. For this reason, the aim of this study was to determine the paleovegetation changes of the Lake Tuzla environment and the factors affecting these changes in the light of fossil pollen analysis. Fossil pollen data were used as the data record, making a significant contribution to the construction of paleoecology in Cappadocia and revealing the environmental factors affecting the paleoenvironment of the Kültepe settlement. 2. Study Area Lake Tuzla (1130 masl) is included in a closed basin located to the southeast of Kızılırmak valley between Mt. Akda ğlar to the north and Mt. Korumaz (1907 masl) to the south in Central Anatolia (Fig. 1). The rocks exposed around Lake Tuzla, from oldest to youngest, are metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic age, ophiolitic mélange, sedimentary (clastic, carbonate) and plutonic rocks of Mesozoic age, lacustrine carbonate and volcanic rocks of Cenozoic age, and alluvial deposits of Quaternary age (Fig. 2). Most of these rock groups (except the Paleozoic metamorphics) are exposed MANUSCRIPTin the catchment area of Lake Tuzla. The closed basin developed in the Central Anatolian Fault System (Koçyi ğit and Beyhan, 1998). The Central Anatolian Fault System is approximately 730 km long and 2–80 km wide, a northeast–trending neotectonic structure in the nature of sinistral strike-slip faulting (Koçyi ğit and Beyhan, 1998; Koçyi ğit and Erol, 2001; Koçyi ğit and Do ğan, 2016). It resulted from the reactivation and propagation of an older paleotectonic structure, the so- called “Ecemi ş corridor” (Blumenthal, 1941), running both north-northeast and southwest across the Inner Tauride Suture during Quaternary (Koçyi ğit and Do ğan, 2016). Therefore, the study area has been affected by a strike-slip neotectonic regime during Quaternary (Koçyi ğit and Beyhan, 1998; Koçyi ğit and Erol, 2001; Koçyi ğit and Do ğan, 2016).