From: JOHN BERRY
Message: 20166
Date: 2003-03-21
Steve Long? (99lynx) wrote:
>PS - BTW you don't know where Uralic or Altaic were located in 7500BC
>either.
>And during the mesolithic the Anatolian Plateau was Steppic -
>climatically
>identical to that of the Ukraine about 4000BC.
This doesn't sound right to me. Dan Milton, can you give a better fix on climates? I think that 7500 BC is in what used to be known as the "Atlantic" climatic regime, and 4000 BC is in what used to be known as the "Boreal" period. The Atlantic was warm and wet (at least in NW Europe, where it was defined), and the Boreal colder than today. Wish I had Flint's or Zeuner's (rather ancient now) books or something more modern handy.
Anatolia should have been a lot hotter and drier around 7500 BC (9,500 BP), but probably still with winter rain from the Med. By 4000 BC things had cooled (I think), so the Ukraine would be colder and wetter than it is today, and the northern boundary of the grasssland steppe would have been further south.
So the climates of Anatolia in 7500 BC would not have been more similar to the Ukraine in 4000 BC, but the two climates were more different than they are at any given time.
However, the actual pollen, etc., evidence may contradict that, and if it does please send me the references: I've been interested for a long time in the climate of Italy at a slightly later period, and there has been incredibly little work done there, so any documentation you know of, Steve, would help me in other, non-linguistic endeavors.
John