Early and middle Holocene ecosystem changes at the Western Carpathian/Pannonian border driven by climate and Neolithic impact

Abstract

a, P., Pet r ık, J., T oth, P., Rohovec, J., B atora, J. & Hors ak, M. 2018 (July): Early and middle Holocene ecosystem changes at the Western Carpathian/Pannonian border driven by climate and Neolithic impact. Boreas, Vol. 47, pp.897-909. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12309. ISSN 0300-9483. Travertine deposits are unique archives for multidisciplinary studies of past climate changes, associated vegetation development and the evolution of human societies. Despite their high potential in palaeoecological and palaeoclimate reconstructions, investigations of travertines are rather scarce in central Europe and particularly in Slovakia. Therefore, this study focused on a travertine deposit situated on the border between the Pannonian Basin and the Western Carpathians in a small valley in Santovka village (SW Slovakia), which is unique due to the presence of archaeological artefacts with known radiocarbon ages in the palaeoecological profile. Using a multidisciplinary approach combining macrofossil, pollen, mollusc, lithological and geochemical analyses, this study investigated climate-human-vegetation interactions. The Holocene onset was marked by the early arrival of oak trees; however, forest-steppe with a high representation of pine predominated until 9880 cal. a BP, followed by an expansion of temperate trees. The local ecosystem changed around 8600 cal. a BP when the valley was probably dammed by a travertine accumulation, probably resulting in the existence of a small travertine lake. This was associated with wetter climatic conditions, which were also documented in other sites in the Western Carpathians at that time. Surrounding temperate forest possibly retained a certain degree of openness, or local steppe habitat may have persisted on adjacent loess terraces until the neolithization of the area. Archaeological evidence represented by a ceramic shard dated to 7339 cal. a BP suggests the first appearance of humans at the site, yet pollen analysis records a significant change in vegetation first at 6650 cal. a BP. The local ecosystem records an abrupt change linked with human settlement earlier, at c. 7000 cal. a BP. Deforestation activities of the Neolithics resulted in the formation of an open calcareous fen occupied by numerous light-demanding mollusc species. The present study provides new important data about the spread of temperate trees at the onset of the Holocene, about further vegetation changes caused by activities of the first Neolithic farmers and about climate changes in the region of southwestern Slovakia. Numerous thermal springs rich in calcium, CO 2 and bicarbonates, where calcium carbonates (travertine, tufa, CaCO 3 ) precipitate, are found in the Western Carpathians and Pannonian Basin. These thermal springs are known to have attracted prehistoric peoples ( Z ak et al.

Soil charcoal elucidates the role of humans in the development of landscape of extreme biodiversity

“…In the north‐eastern part of the White Carpathians, a conspicuous moisture increase and spread of moisture‐demanding broad‐leaved trees have been documented for the period since ca 6,600 bc , using both biotic (Hájek et al, ) and abiotic (Dabkowski et al, ) proxies. Such an increase seems to be common for the entire Western Carpathians between 6,600 and 6,400 bc , as also indicated by high tufa accumulation in southern Slovakia (Šolcová et al, ), initiation of high deposition of speleothems and calcareous tufa in Poland (Starkel et al, ), and abrupt decrease in tufa δ13C in the Malá Fatra Mts (Juřičková et al, ). Our additional dating of the reference peat profile from the lowland region adjacent to the study area (Vracov, Lower Morava Basin; Kuneš et al, ) supports the view that the expansion of Quercus , Ulmus , Corylus , Tilia , Alnus , and Picea took place between 7,000 and 6,500 bc also there.…”

Wooden Well at the First Farmers’ Settlement Area in Uničov, Czech Republic

“…This corresponds to evidence from the Mohelnice well (Opravil 1979a;1979b). Corylus exhibits higher abundance also in the pollen record, but it depends on the individual site and region (Jamrichová et al 2017;Šolcová et al 2018). Interesting is the contrast between the abundance of Pinus in the natural pollen record and the scarce occurrence of Pinus charcoals in the anthracological record from LBK settlements in the Czech lowlands.…”

“…Some species of the Pomoideae subfamily were also part of open-canopy woodland edges. This structure of vegetation (Petr et al 2013;Kuneš et al 2015;Šolcová et al 2018) allows for the occurrence of light-demanding species and an absence of typical forest species dependant on a closed canopy. It could have preserved the richness of grassland habitats throughout the Middle Holocene (Jamrichová et al 2017;Divíšek et al 2020) until a later period of agricultural prehistory (Pokorný et al 2015).…”

“…The assemblage of Carpinus macro-residues we found is the first undisputed evidence of this species in eastern Central Europe. Likewise, Fagus has rarely been identified in the pollen record of the northern Pannonian Basin from the LBK period (Petr et al 2013;Šolcová et al 2018). Its expansion and vegetation dominance at higher elevations, together with fir (Abies), have been dated to around 2000 BC (Jamrichová et al 2017;Dudová et al 2018).…”

Current state and vegetation history of spring-fed fens in Western Pomerania (Northern Poland): a case study of the Chociel River valley

“…Both forestation and deforestation, and also agricultural activities in the catchment area are closely related to CaCO 3 precipitation in calcareous fens. At many Central-European locations, the onset of CaCO 3 deposition has been shown to coincide with settlement and deforestation (Hájková et al 2012), as well as with moistening of climate (Hájek et al 2016;Š olcová et al 2018). Because of the unique nature of spring-fed fens, both from the point of view of the contemporary values of these ecosystems and their significant paleoecological value, preserving still existing and untouched calcareous mires should have priority.…”