Impact of loess transport on the suitability of human habitats during the Last Glacial Maximum in Europe

 M. Beauviliers, J. King

The research question for this doctoral project is: how can the development of a model of sediment emission, transport and deposition help to shed light on settlement patterns in Western Europe in response to climatic and environmental changes during the LGM?

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was marked by short climatic variations, alternating between periods of intense cold and more temperate periods. In the northern hemisphere, these fluctuations are reflected in a drop in sea level, rapid changes in wind patterns and the extent of ice cover. These variables profoundly affected the habitability of the northernmost territories of northern Europe triggering a southward contraction of the human range. This phenomenon is corroborated by the concentration of archaeological remains in south-western Europe, while the north appears to have been unoccupied between 27 and 17 ka BP, e.g., in northern France.

A previous HDRG project used Habitat Suitability (HS) models to study the impact of climate conditions during the LGM in Europe based on environmental, climatic and archaeological variables. These models provide robust results on a continental scale, but reveal limitations on a regional scale, where simulations sometimes diverge from local archaeological data. To overcome these limitations, this project proposes to integrate loess deposits in a reanalysis of habitat suitability during the LGM in northern France. Loess deposits are high-resolution archives that record local climatic variations and make it possible to reconstruct past wind dynamics and analyse their impact on the habitability of territories.

The project has three objectives:

  1. Model wind patterns and their effects on sediment emission, transport and deposition in relation to the expansion and retreat of ice caps;

  2. Identify the areas of origin of loess deposits;

  3. Refine estimates of the habitability of northern territories and identify tipping points associated with climate transitions.