Session Details

Mountain regions of the world are often justifiably famous for their physiographical, biological, and cultural diversity. Many regions have been occupied by humans since the beginning of the Holocene and have witnessed the rise and fall of many different cultures. However, highland environments present their 3 own problems for societal survival and it is often thought that wide-ranging climatic variability is one of the primary mechanisms responsible for the rapid turnover (development, success, ultimate failure) of many prehistoric cultures, driving transitions to agropastoralism, and other technological and social change. However, many uncertainties remain over the precise role that environmental change has played in the development in these regions, since the general lack of archival records and the rapid-scale shifts of many climatic processes (such as ENSO) challenge the resolution of most palaeoenvironmental sequences. This session therefore brings together researchers working on high-resolution montane lake sequences, with a diversity of backgrounds and approaches, in order to address some of these issues and stimulate inter-disciplinary discussion.