Oxygen isotope analyses of mammal bone remains from Holocene sites in European Russia: palaeoclimatic implications

A set of 27 samples of human skeletal remains, collected at 3 different sites in European Russia, was measured for the oxygen isotope composition of their phosphate (δ18Op). The age of these samples (cultural age derived from archaeological evidence) ranges from about 5000 to about 500 years BP. The samples come from the steppe Volga–Don area of southern European Russia. The δ18O values of palaeoenvironmental water (δ18Ow) were calculated from the δ18Op of fossil samples by means of the isotope equations calibrated on modern specimens. The results obtained and the results from other sets of data from European Russia reported elsewhere suggest a δ18Ow temporal pattern indicating an overall climatic improvement from about 10,500 until about 2300 years BP followed by a degradation in terms of temperature. Three cold events may be suggested at about 4.6/4.7 ka BP, 3.9/4.0 ka BP and 200 BP, respectively, as well as a warm event at about 2300 years BP. These climatic events are in good agreement with the climatic condition existing in central and northern Europe during the same periods. Markedly arid environmental conditions dominated the steppe area during the time interval covered by this work.