Palaeoecological evidence of agricultural activity and human impact on the environment at the ancient settlement centre of Keava, Estonia

Abstract

Peat record from a very small basin, the former mire of Verevainu, in the nearest vicinity of ancient Keava settlements (8th−11th centuries) and hillforts (5th-13th centuries), was investigated by means of palaeoecological approach, namely by pollen, charcoal, and loss-on-ignition analyses and radiocarbon dating. The study aimed at ascertaining the appearance of prehistoric man in the area and reconstructing the local vegetation history and human impact on the environment around the inhabitation centre. The first sporadic cereal pollen grains appeared in the sediments in the Late Bronze Age at ca 1500 BC. Both peat ignition residue values as indicators of topsoil erosion and pollen evidence suggest forest clearance, opening of landscape, and cultivation of cereals from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Approximately at AD 350-500 the rate of human impact upon environment increased notably.

Palaeoenvironmental evidence for the impact of the crusades on the local and regional environment of medieval (13th–16th century) northern Latvia, eastern Baltic

“…The highest values of cultural indicators (Figure 3c) during prehistory date from 200 BC–AD 300, providing clear evidence, in the absence of archaeological remains, for an increase in the intensity of land use at this time. At Lake Trikāta, an agricultural-based economy clearly occurs, later reflecting the variation of practices within and between Baltic regions where at least 4000-year cultivation history is observed close to settlement centres and much later in peripheral areas (Heikkilä and Seppä, 2010; Heinsalu and Veski, 2010; Kalnina et al, 2004; Poska, 2001; Poska et al, 2004; Puusepp and Kangur, 2010; Reitalu et al, 2013; Vasks et al, 1999).…”

The environmental and cultural contexts of the late Iron Age and medieval settlement in the Mazurian Lake District, NE Poland: combined palaeobotanical and archaeological data

“…The deforestation caused by farmers led to a mosaic landscape registered in pollen records from the Roman Iron Age onwards in different countries from the Baltic region (e.g. Berglund et al 2008;Heinsalu and Veski 2010;Stančikait_ e et al 2004Stančikait_ e et al , 2009. A significant step in the formation of the cultural landscape has also been documented in Poland, for example by isopollen maps (RalskaJasiewiczowa et al 2004).…”

The Iron Age in the Mrągowo Lake District, Masuria, NE Poland: the Salęt settlement microregion as an example of long-lasting human impact on vegetation

“…When grain cultivation moved north, the importance of Secale as the most frost-resistant cereal increased until the point where it began to be cultivated as a separate crop (Behre 1992). The results of palynological research show that almost throughout Estonia, Secale came to be cultivated in about the 6th century AD (Poska et al 2004(Poska et al , 2008, but in north-western Estonia perhaps even earlier, in the Roman Iron Age (Heinsalu and Veski 2010). The relatively high frequency of S. cereale pollen noted in the Salęt profile ( Fig.…”