Palaeogeographic Changes at L ake C hokrak on the K erch P eninsula, U kraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐ H olocene

This project has reconstructed the palaeogeographic and environmental evolution of L ake C hokrak on the K erch P eninsula, U kraine, during the mid‐ and late‐Holocene. This record has been evaluated in association with a regional archaeological data set to explore human–environment interactions over this period. The results show major changes in the palaeogeographic setting of L ake C hokrak since the 3rd millennium B . C ., when the postglacial marine transgression had started to fill the study area. Microfaunal analyses reveal the long persistence of an open marine embayment that only became separated from the S ea of A zov when a sand barrier developed during the late 2nd millennium B . C . When colonizing the B lack S ea region after the 8th century B.C., the G reek settlers erected a fortification with a small settlement on a promontory that was by then a peninsula‐like headland extending into the lake. The colonists abandoned their settlement at the end of the 1st millennium B . C . when the depth of the surrounding lake decreased from 1.5 m to less than 1 m. Today, L ake C hokrak dries up completely during summer. A detailed relative sea level ( RSL ) curve for the northern coast of K erch has been established. Sea level reached its highest position at the present day. Since the 3rd millennium B . C ., sea level continuously rose, without any of the previously postulated regression/transgression cycles. The RSL curve indicates differential subsidence rates within short distances in relatively stable areas, exceeding 40 cm per 1000 years. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.