Bølling Oscillation
Encyclopedia
The Bølling oscillation was a warm interstadial period between the Oldest Dryas
and Older Dryas
stadial
s, at the end of the last glacial period. It is named after a peat sequence discovered at Bølling lake
, central Jutland
. It is used to describe a period of time in relation to Pollen zone
Ib—in regions where the Older Dryas is not not detected in climatological evidence, the Bølling-Allerød
is considered a single interstadial period.
. Roberts (1998) uses 15,000. A range of 14,650-14,000 BP calibrated has been assigned to the Bølling layer of the excavation at Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland
, 1992-1993. The Oxygen isotope record from Greenland
ice includes the Bølling warm peak between 14,600 and 14,100 BP. Most of the recent dates available fall within a few hundred years of these.
, Bølling is the warmer and came on more suddenly. During it sea level rose more than 100 m due to glacial melt. Ice uncovered large parts of north Europe and temperate forests covered Europe from 29 deg. to 41 deg. north latitude
. After some pioneer vegetation, such as Salix polaris and Dryas octopetala
, hardwoods, such as Quercus, and softwoods, Betula and Pinus, spread northward for a brief few hundred years.
animals spread northward from refugia in the three peninsulas, Spain, Italy and the Balkans
. Geneticists can identify the general location by studying degrees of consanguinity in the modern animals of Europe. The hunting camps of ancient humans remain a major source of faunal fossil
s.
Animals hunted by man are predominantly the big-game mammals: reindeer
, horse
, saiga, antelope
, bison
, woolly mammoth
and wooly rhinoceros. In the alpine regions ibex and chamois
were hunted. Throughout the forest were red deer
. Smaller animals, such as fox
, wolf, hare
and squirrel
also appear. Salmon
was fished. For more details, see also the references to fauna under Oldest Dryas
and Older Dryas
.
hunters moved up the Loire
into the Paris Basin
. In the drainage basin of the Dordogne
, the Perigordian
prevailed. The Epigravettian dominated Italy. In the north, the Hamburgian and Federmesser cultures are found. In the middle east, the pre-agricultural Natufian settled around the east coast of the Mediterranean to exploit wild cereals, such as emmer
and two-row barley
. In the Allerød they would begin to domesticate these plants.
Oldest Dryas
The Oldest Dryas was a climatic period, which occurred during the coldest stadial after the Weichselian glaciation in north Europe. In the Alps, the Oldest Dryas corresponds to the Gschnitz stadial of the Würm glaciation. The three “Dryas” periods are named for a marker species, Dryas octopetala,...
and Older Dryas
Older Dryas
The Older Dryas was a stadial period between the Bølling and Allerød oscillations during the Pleistocene glacial period of ~11,700—12,000 uncalibrated years ago...
stadial
Stadial
A stadial is a period of lower temperatures during an interglacial separating the glacial periods of an ice age. Such periods are of insufficient duration or intensity to be considered glacial periods...
s, at the end of the last glacial period. It is named after a peat sequence discovered at Bølling lake
Bølling lake
Bølling lake , is a shallow lake of central Jutland in Denmark, slightly west of Silkeborg, between Kragelund and Engesvang.The lake is geologically important because it has been at the edge of the Pleistocene glacier...
, central Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
. It is used to describe a period of time in relation to Pollen zone
Pollen zone
Pollen zones are a system of subdividing the last glacial period and Holocene paleoclimate using the data from pollen cores. The sequence provides a global chronological structure to a wide variety of scientists, such as geologists, climatologisists, geographists and archaeologists, who study the...
Ib—in regions where the Older Dryas is not not detected in climatological evidence, the Bølling-Allerød
Bølling-Allerød
The Bølling-Allerød interstadial was a warm and moist interstadial period that occurred during the final stages of the last glacial period. This warm period ran from c. 14,700 to 12,700 years before the present...
is considered a single interstadial period.
Dates
The beginning of the Bølling is also the high-resolution date for the sharp temperature rise marking the end of the Oldest Dryas at 14,670 BPBefore Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
. Roberts (1998) uses 15,000. A range of 14,650-14,000 BP calibrated has been assigned to the Bølling layer of the excavation at Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 1992-1993. The Oxygen isotope record from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
ice includes the Bølling warm peak between 14,600 and 14,100 BP. Most of the recent dates available fall within a few hundred years of these.
Flora
Of the two periods, Bølling and AllerødAllerød Oscillation
The Allerød period was a warm and moist global interstadial that occurred at the end of the last glacial period. The Allerød oscillation raised temperatures , before they declined again in the succeeding Younger Dryas period, which was followed by the present interglacial period.In some regions,...
, Bølling is the warmer and came on more suddenly. During it sea level rose more than 100 m due to glacial melt. Ice uncovered large parts of north Europe and temperate forests covered Europe from 29 deg. to 41 deg. north latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
. After some pioneer vegetation, such as Salix polaris and Dryas octopetala
Dryas octopetala
Dryas octopetala is an arctic-alpine flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is a small prostrate evergreen subshrub forming large colonies, and is a popular flower in rock gardens...
, hardwoods, such as Quercus, and softwoods, Betula and Pinus, spread northward for a brief few hundred years.
Fauna
During this time late PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
animals spread northward from refugia in the three peninsulas, Spain, Italy and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. Geneticists can identify the general location by studying degrees of consanguinity in the modern animals of Europe. The hunting camps of ancient humans remain a major source of faunal fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s.
Animals hunted by man are predominantly the big-game mammals: reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
, horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
, saiga, antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
and wooly rhinoceros. In the alpine regions ibex and chamois
Chamois
The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...
were hunted. Throughout the forest were red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
. Smaller animals, such as fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, wolf, hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
and squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
also appear. Salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
was fished. For more details, see also the references to fauna under Oldest Dryas
Oldest Dryas
The Oldest Dryas was a climatic period, which occurred during the coldest stadial after the Weichselian glaciation in north Europe. In the Alps, the Oldest Dryas corresponds to the Gschnitz stadial of the Würm glaciation. The three “Dryas” periods are named for a marker species, Dryas octopetala,...
and Older Dryas
Older Dryas
The Older Dryas was a stadial period between the Bølling and Allerød oscillations during the Pleistocene glacial period of ~11,700—12,000 uncalibrated years ago...
.
Human cultures
Humans reentered the forests of Europe in search of big game, which they were beginning to hunt relentlessly, many to extinction. Their cultures were the last of the Late Upper Palaeolithic. MagdalenianMagdalenian
The Magdalenian , refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 BP to 9,000 BP...
hunters moved up the Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
into the Paris Basin
Paris Basin
Paris Basin may refer to:*As a hydrological basin, it is largely the basin of the River Seine* Paris Basin , the geological basin...
. In the drainage basin of the Dordogne
Dordogne
Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...
, the Perigordian
Périgordian
Périgordian is a term for several distinct but related Upper Upper Palaeolithic cultures which are thought by some archaeologists to represent a contiguous tradition. It existed between c.35,000 BP and c.20,000 BP....
prevailed. The Epigravettian dominated Italy. In the north, the Hamburgian and Federmesser cultures are found. In the middle east, the pre-agricultural Natufian settled around the east coast of the Mediterranean to exploit wild cereals, such as emmer
Emmer
Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...
and two-row barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
. In the Allerød they would begin to domesticate these plants.