The project will investigate the complex interface between the environmental, anthropogenic, climatic, and cultural factors that shaped the decline of Neolithic Civilizations (NC) in Eastern-Central and South-Eastern Europe. That process started in Europe from East to West and North to South. The DOMINO-CLIMATE project aims to track the decline and fall of NC from a multi-proxy perspective to identify the causes of the tell site abandonments at 4250-4550 cal yr BC in the region, which was followed by the NC decline over 1200 years (4550-3300 BC). The geographical distribution of the decline at different times suggests a ‘Domino Effect’, one collapse triggering a second and so on. Our aim is to examine whether rapid climate change events and consequent ecosystem changes show a similar time-transient pattern along the examined N-S (from the North Carpathian Basin to Southern Serbia and Bulgaria) and E-W transect (from the Pontic steppe to the Iron Gates). Even though a deterministic approach is unlikely to explain the NC decline, it serves as a basis for understanding better the proposed explanations that involve both external and internal stimuli. To reach this aim, we will analyse wood charcoal, seed and bone assemblages in addition to eDNA samples from Late Neolithic and Copper Age archaeological sites. We will also study the best terrestrial climate archives from the region (alpine and lowland lake sediments) and apply well established (pollen, chironomid and d18O based climate reconstruction) and novel methods (lipid biomarker, brGDGT) based annual temperature reconstruction in order to shed light on the course of climate change during the NC decline. In scope of this project the postdoctoral fellow will have to analyze fossil chironomid assemblages from 2-3 Holocene alpine lake sediment cores (South Carpathians, Pirin Mts, Durmitor Mts) and carry out quantitative July and summer temperature reconstructions with high resolution over the 4000-8500 cal yr BP interval. He will work in a team, whose other members work on the same sediment cores using other methods.
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