Holocene Rapid Climate Change (RCC) in the Eastern Mediterranean. Detection of an Early Iron Age RCC-event at 820 BCE.

Abstract We review recent palaeoclimate and archaeological research on Rapid Climate Change (RCC) in the Eastern Mediterranean (eMed). For this region, palaeoclimatologists have inferred the existence of six periods with distinct climatic anomalies, the most recent of which is the Little Ice Age (LIA). RCC conditions are characterized by strongly increased climatic variability, including rapid cooling, severe winters, prolonged droughts, and flash floods. The GISP2-non-sea-salt K+-based RCC forecasting identifies the following periods as having the most extreme RCC conditions (all ages calBP): 12.9–11.7 ka (Younger Dryas); 10.3–10.1 ka; 8.6–8.0 ka (this RCC-interval covers the 8.2–8.0 ka Hudson Bay event); 6.0–5.0 ka; 3.0–2.9 ka; and 0.6–0.15 ka (LIA). Our primary focus in this review is to assess the reliability of RCC forecasting. We then apply the resulting multi-proxy approach to establish a precise date for the abandonment of Zagora (Andros) at the end of Late Geometric II, for which archaeological evidence identifies drought as a major contributing factor.