Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland

摘要: West Greenland has had multiple episodes of human colonization and cultural transitions over the past 4,500 y. However, explanations for these large-scale migrations are varied, including climatic factors, resistance to adaptation, economic marginalization, mercantile exploration, hostile neighborhood interactions. Evaluating potential role climate change is complicated by lack quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions near settlement areas relative stability Holocene temperature derived from ice cores atop sheet. Here we present high-resolution records 5,600 y based on alkenone unsaturation in sediments two lakes Greenland. We find that major changes 4,500 y occurred abruptly (within decades), were coeval timing with archaeological abandonment Saqqaq, Dorset, Norse cultures, which suggests abrupt profoundly impacted civilization region. Temperature variations display an antiphased relationship Ireland centennial millennial timescales, resembling interannual multidecadal seesaw associated North Atlantic Oscillation.