Mid-late Holocene environmental and cultural dynamics at the south-west tip of Europe (Doñana National Park, SW Iberia, Spain)

A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal particles, mollusk macrofauna) of coastal marshland in Doñana National Park (southwestern Iberian Peninsula) was undertaken to trace environmental change, human activities related to woodland clearance, and past land-use during the mid-late Holocene (~5000–2800 cal BP). The results of this study are combined with archaeological data from the Copper and Bronze Ages and are subsequently compared with those of similar research carried out at the south-westernmost part of Europe with the aim of discerning regional differences or similarities. Our research has allowed us to recognize climate changes and four extreme wave events in the Guadalquivir paleoestuary, which might have contributed to both the cultural change that is observed in the archaeological record at the end of the Chalcolithic and the subsequent population decline during much of the Bronze Age.This work was funded by the project Relictflora-P11-RNM-7033 (Excellence Research Projects Program from the Andalusian Government). We are indebted to Fundación Caja de Madrid, Fundación Doñana 21, Ayuntamiento de Hinojos, Fundación FUHEM, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), Espacio Natural de Doñana (END), Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico (IAPH), Delegación de Cultura of Junta de Andalucía in Huelva, and Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales of Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. Without their encouragement and support, the Hinojos Project would never have started. The present paper is a contribution to IGCP 588, “Preparing for coastal change,” and to the INQUA Coastal and Marine Processes Commission. RLL is funded by a FPU grant (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, Spain); JNPA is member of the research groups RNM-190 (Junta de Andalucía) and GRC Geociències Marines (2017 SGR 315, Generalitat de Catalunya). Additional support by Junta de Andalucía to the Research Group RNM276 is also acknowledged.Peer Reviewe