HIGH-RESOLUTION PALEOCLIMATIC TRENDS FOR THE HOLOCENE IDENTIFIED USING MAGNETIC-SUSCEPTIBILITY DATA FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN CAVES

A proxy paleoclimatic curve has been produced for the Holocene, c. 900 0-3500 BP, from magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements of sediment samples collected from two dated archaeological excavation trenches in Konispol Cave, Albania. The resulting MS data provide paleoclimate es timates that are in excellent agreement with independently published p aleoclimatic trends for early-middle Holocene time. Basically, MS vari ations are attributed to variations in climate-controlled pedogenesis and the production of magnetic mineral phases, including maghemite, ou tside the cave. These soils are then washed, blown or tracked into the cave where they accumulate, creating the MS changes observed in the s amples recovered. Low MS magnitudes indicate times of cooler/drier cli mate resulting from reduced pedogenesis, while warmer/wetter times yie ld higher pedogenetic rates and thus higher MS magnitudes. It is clear from the Konispol Cave results that some caves provide ideal, protect ed environments from which high-resolution, paleoclimatic records can be extracted. Composite sections from excavations within a single regi on can yield a relatively continuous, long-term climatic proxy that ca n be routinely correlated to artefacts recovered from these or other p rotected excavations within the same region. (C) 1997 Academic Press L imited.