Description
Current climate change has an important impact on human populations and the environment worldwide. These effects are also visible in Belgium, such as the recurring heat waves in 2022 or the devastating floods in Wallonia during the summer of 2021. However, this is not the first time we faced abrupt climate changes. Our ancestors also experienced rapid climate changes with temperature fluctuations and climate worsening. However, due to the short duration of these events (lasting only 100 to 200 years) and the absence of written sources, it is challenging to assess their impact on society and the environment.The LEAP (Learning from the past: The impact of abrupt climate changes on society and environment in Belgium) project studies the impact of the 9.3, 4.2, and 3.2 ka cal. BP rapid climate changes on past societies and ecosystems in Belgium, with a particular focus on the Meuse basin. This is done using a transdisciplinary approach which combines high precision 14C and U/Th dating with different proxies, such as palaeoclimatic records from cave deposits (speleothems), palaeoenvironmental data based on the analysis of subfossil pollen, spores and charcoal from peat bogs, palaeomobility information resulting from oxygen and strontium isotope analyses of prehistoric human remains, and palaeodemographic reconstructions derived from statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates and raw counts of archaeological sites.
By improving our understanding of the climatic effects on the environment and populations in pre-complex and early-complex societies during the Early and Middle-Late Holocene in the Meuse basin of Belgium, we can better address the challenges we face today in this region. This includes extreme weather events like droughts, floods and forest fires, as well as population movements and adaptations.
| Periode | 5 jun 2024 → 8 jun 2024 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | Climate of the Past and Societal Responses to Environmental Changes (ClimPast2024) |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Locatie | Bern, Switzerland |
| Mate van erkenning | International |