Holocene hydroclimate synthesis of the Aegean

<p>The Aegean region has a wealth of archaeological data originating from a long and rich human history and is frequently used as a testbed for climate-society interactions at different time scales. Here, we summarize and synthesize 31 proxy records derived from lake and wetland sediments, marine sediments, and speleothems reflecting hydroclimatic conditions over the last 10,000 years in the Aegean. To enable comparison and numerical analyses, we convert each record into z-scores and average values into centurial and decadal bins. The long-term hydroclimate is best described by the individual trends in three sub-regions that periodically converge and diverge. The results from our analyses highlight the complex long- and short-term spatio-temporal patterns of the hydroclimate with periods of wetter and drier conditions. Statistical analyses of the last 3,500 years, the most data rich period, corroborate the complex climate picture. Three periods that appear dry in the regional averages, at 7,250&ndash;6,650 BP, 3,350&ndash;2,750 BP, and 1200&ndash;700 BP, highlight spatio-temporal variability and underpin the importance of local data when comparing hydroclimate data with archaeological information. Considering the complexities and uncertainties in hydroclimate records we advocate for careful consideration when utilizing these in studies of climate-society interactions, including transparency regarding these uncertainties and the relevance of a record to a respective study site. We have produced a freely available, simplified dataset that can be used by those interested in studying the region (stored in the supplementary files of the journal article), as well as maps displaying climatic conditions during each century (here).</p> <p>The produced maps are available under the terms of the Creative Commons by License &ldquo;Attribution&rdquo; data waiver (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY 4.0</a>) and we encourage other&nbsp;researchers to use them freely in their research and publications.</p>