PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #15: Paleoecology and Climate Change.
Presiding: J. Betancourt
Monday, August 5. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Graham Meeting Room, TCC.
Human impact on vegetation and landscape during early settlements on Ljubljana Moor, Slovenia.
Jeraj, Marjeta*,1, 1 University of Wisconsin, Madison
ABSTRACT- Palynological and archaeobotanical studies of the Eneolithic pile dwelling Hocevarica, located on Ljubljana Moor in central Slovenia, were performed to detect the appearance of early inhabitants and to evaluate their impact on surrounding vegetation and landscape. The analyses of plant macroremains such as fossil fruits, seeds, wood and charcoal, found in the cultural layer of the site at Hocevarica, were accompanied by pollen analyses from the archaeological profile and from a nearby core. Pollen records show a significant decrease in arboreal pollen and a simultaneous increase in herbaceous pollen, especially pollen of Cerealia, during the settlement period. They suggest intensive forest clearance, pasturing and strong agricultural activity around 4800 14C BP. The analyses of piles and macroscopic charcoal indicate that cutting of trees resulted in open lowland areas, mainly used for fields and pasturelands, but wood was also gathered from surrounding slopes. Wood of more resistant trees like ash and oak was primarily used for construction, while wood of less resistant trees and shrubs like hazel and alder was used for making fire. Among archaeobotanical finds, numerous charred grains of cultivated wheat and barley provide further evidence for highly developed agricultural activity at Hocevarica. Together with fossil grape seeds, which mostly belong to a hybrid between wild and cultivated vine, they suggest that cleared landscape around the settlement was used for cultivation of cereals and possibly grapes. Vegetation and landscape development on and around Ljubljana Moor obviously became largely disturbed by humans soon after the arrival of first farmers, who switched from a mobile to a sedentary style of life. Since then human influence has been one of the main reasons for dissapearance of primary vegetation and for changes in the landscape of Ljubljana Moor.
KEY WORDS: palynology and archaeobotany, human impact, Mid-Holocene, Slovenia