Environmental changes in the Crimean mountains during the Last Interglacial-middle pleniglacial as recorded by pollen and lithopedology

Lithopedological and pollen successions of multilayered Paleolithic sites have been studied in the foothills of the Crimean mountains (the Kabazi II and Buran-Kaya III sites), and they demonstrate multiple environmental changes in the area during the Late Pleistocene. The late-temperate and post-temperate stages of the Last Interglacial are palynologically recorded in the Kaydaky chernozem (mollisol) at the base of the Upper Pleistocene sequence. Two Early Glacial interstadials are indicated by pollen data in the overlying Pryluky pedocomplex, which is separated from the Kaydaky soil by colluvial sediments of the Tyasmyn cold unit. The first interstadial represented by a luvisol derivative, had a warmer and wetter climate. The second interstadial, identified by a rendzina soil and dated by ESR between 74 and 85,000 yr, was drier and cooler. Boreal environments existed during the stadial, detected between the two Early Glacial soils. The climate became much colder during the Early Pleniglacial (Uday non-soil unit, overlying the Pryluky pedocomplex). The Middle Pleniglacial is represented by the Vytachiv pedocomplex. It consists of three warm interstadials (cambisols and their derivatives), and two stadials (non-soil beds). The upper cambisol yielded radiocarbon ages of 28-30,000 14C yr BP, and the middle interstadial was ESR dated at 44,000 yr ago. A cooler interstadial (38-36,000 yr) occurred between them. The elements of broad-leaved vegetation spread from refugia during the Middle Pleniglacial interstadials, whereas the stadials had dry boreal climates, particularly during the second stadial (35-31,000 yr BP).