H O L O C E N E

Holocene means entirely recent as it dates back to approximately 11,700 years BP, though the term “Recent” as an alternative to Holocene is invalid and should not be used. The Holocene epoch was the second series of Quaternary System or Period which consists of Pleistocene and Holocene epoch. The name comes from Greek words which are holos (whole/entire) and kainos (new). The Holocene epoch is also known as Anthropogene, The Age of Man, the last ice age and current time. It is characterized by warm temperature and major ice sheets covering parts of land surface which are retreating back to the Arctic, which also known as interglacial interval. When Holocene was taking place, the temperature became higher which causes the ice to melt; thus making wet areas became dry. Therefore, the desiccation of pluvial lakes occurred as temperature rises, drying up the water and disappearing said lakes. Sahara has witnessed this occurrence where pluvial lakes dried up due to higher temperature.

Pluvial Lake

 During this epoch, there are many phenomena that occurred such as climate change, geomorphological or geophysical processes, sea-level rise, vegetational developments, faunal migration, human evolution and activity etc. The Holocene also witnessed a lot of cultures such as Hamburgian culture, Federmesser culture and the most significant culture, Natufian. In this precious blog post, I will only elaborate about two cultures : Natufian and Hamburgian, because why not? LET’S GO!

Natufian Culture

The Natufian Culture witnessed the emergence of farming community as one of its significance. Natufians were the earliest farmers, as old as the original discovery of their cultural remains. Several early farming sites are in Jordan Valley and east and west side of Rift Valley; thus making it clear that the origins of wheat and barley agriculture were in the southern Levant. The largest Natufians’ settlements were found in Jericho, Ain Mallaha and Wadi Hammeh. They lived in today’s Israel, Lebanon and Syria or as it is called, the Levant. Before they were agriculturist, they were hunter-gatherers and very systematic collectors. Natufian artifacts includes grinding stones which were used to process seeds, dried meats, fish and to process ochre for ritual practices. Besides that, flint and bone tools, dentalium shell ornaments and 1000 pierced marine shells were also archaeological evidence of this culture. The hallmark of Natufians’ assemblages is stone sickles which was typically used to harvest cereal crops and cutting grass. 

Natufian Culture

Hamburgian Culture

Hamburgian Culture was in Northern Germany. In 1950s, there were two important sites discovered. One : Gromitz near Lubek, and two : Ahrenshoft. Besides those two sites, Deimen and Heber were also discovered as the Hamburgian Culture sites located in the Lower Saxony. In 1980s, archaeologists derived another two important sites at Jels which consisted of lithic inventories. Hamburgians main attribute is shouldered points which categorized into two types, the classic shouldered point and the Havelte shouldered points. They used mineral hammer technique to detach blades from its core. As hunter-gatheres, they depended on the reindeers. The reduced snow cover in northern Lowland during the autumn and winter season creates favourable conditions for reindeers.

(1) Classic shouldered point
(2) Havelte shouldered point

Animals during Holocene Epoch
Holocene epoch did not show much evolution of animals and plant, but there have been major changes in the distributions of plants and animals. Examples of animals that existed during this epoch includes mammoths and mastodons, saber-toothed cats like Smilodon and Homotherium. Exactly like the movie Ice Age!

Mammoths


Saber-toothed cat

Holocene Epoch – Holocene Calendar
These are important dates of events that occurred in history during the Holocene Epoch.

• ·         Earliest walled-city of Jericho was found in c. 1000 HE
• ·         Early Jomon period started c. 2500 HE
• ·         First copper found in Middle East, starting of Copper Age c. 4000 HE
• ·         Indus Valley civilization started c. 7000 HE
• ·         The first Egyptian Pyramid was completed c. 7390 HE
• ·         Dynasty of Xia was founded c. 7900 HE
• ·         Foundation of Rome c. 9248 HE
• ·         Empire of Asoka c. 9728 HE
• ·         Qin Dynasty c. 9780 HE
• ·         Lat year of BC era c. 10000 HE
• ·         First year of Anno Domini era c. 10001 HE
• ·         Migration Period Begins which leads to the Fall of Rome c. 10300/10476 HE
• ·         Muslim Conquests began c. 10632 HE
• ·         Black Death decimated Europe and Asia c. 11340 HE
• ·         European expansion c. 11419 HE
• ·         European discovered the New World c. 11492 HE
• ·         Fall of Inca Empire c. 11572 HE
• ·         Industrial Revolution II c. 11850 HE
• ·         World War II and nuclear fission c. 11939 – 11945 HE
• ·         Human Landing on the Moon c. 11969 HE