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A set of 121 radiocarbon and OSL dates has been compiled from the Upper Dnieper River and tributary valleys, Western European Russia. Each date was attributed according to geomorphic/sedimentological events and classes of fluvial activity. Summed probability density functions for each class were used to establish phases of increasing and reducing fluvial activity. The oldest detected reduction of fluvial activity was probably due to glacial damming at LGM. Within the Holocene three palaeohydrological epochs of millennial-scale were found: (1) high activity at 12,000-8,000 cal BP marked by large river palaeochannels; (2) low activity at 8,000-3,000 cal BP marked by formation of zonal-type soils on -floodplains; short episodes of high floods occurred between 6,500-4,400 cal BP; (3) contrasting hydrological oscillations since 3,000 cal BP with periods of high floods between 3,000-2,300 (2,000) and 900-100 cal BP separated by long interval of low floods 2,300 (2,000)-900 cal BP when floodplains were not inundated -zonal-type soils were developing and permanent settlements existed on floodplains. In the last millennium, four centennialscale intervals were found: high flooding intervals are mid-11-mid-15 th century and mid-17-mid-20 th century. Intervals of flood activity similar to the present-day were: mid-15-mid-17 th century and since mid-19 th century till present. In the context of palaeohydrological changes, discussed are selected palaeogeographic issues such as: position of the glacial boundary at LGM, role of changing amounts of river runoff in the Black Sea level changes, floodplain occupation by Early Medieval population.

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ABSTRACT. Radiocarbon dating is widely used when studying recent volcanic activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula due to the abundance of organic matter that is associated with the volcanic deposits. Here, we present the results of 14 C dating of major volcanic events within the active South Kamchatka volcanic zone. South Kamchatka includes 8 recently active volcanic centers (stratovolcanoes, calderas, and large craters) that have been erupting during the Holocene. Their tephras represent useful markers for both the southern part of the peninsula and the Northern Kurile Islands. Since these marker tephra layers facilitate stratigraphie and tephrochronological studies in this area, it was important to determine their ages. We have obtained 73 new individual l4 C dates on paleosol, peat, charcoal, and wood associated with the marker tephra layers, then complemented these data with 37 earlier published dates and analyzed the resulting data set. We selected the reliable dates and then obtained average l4 C ages of marker tephra layers. The details of these procedures, as well as brief descriptions of South Kamchatka Holocene eruptions and their tephra beds, are presented in the paper.

ABSTRACT. Two well-known archaeological sites, the peat bogs of Shigir and Gorbunovo (Middle Urals, Russia), have been radiocarbon dated (61 conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry [AMS] dates from various natural and artifact samples). For the first time, a detailed chronology of Early to Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic occupation for this region has been obtained, and a paleoenvironmental history reconstructed. Based on these results, we propose that the Mesolithic settlement of the Middle Urals region started in the early Holocene, at the same time as in central and eastern Europe.

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