Human Response to Climate Change in the Northern Adriatic during the late pleistocene and early holocene

Abstract

Climate and sea level constrain the abundance of primary producers (plants) and habitat size. These directly affect the seasonal density and distribution of animal species, which inevitably have implications for human decisions regarding what to eat, where to live, how long to stay there, and when to move. Are diversification strategies such as the inclusion of low-ranked terrestrial resources and marine species in the diet effective coping mechanisms for climate-driven environmental change and habitat loss due to sea level rise? Is intensification of resource exploitation indicative of dietary stress? How might these adaptations affect the seasonal round? Our paper discusses these questions, spanning the transition from post-glacial foraging lifestyles at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (12,000 BP) to the introduction of pastoralism during the early Neolithic (7,000 BP), using zooarchaeological material from the upland cave site of Vela Špilja on the island of Lošinj in the Kvarner Gulf of Croatia.