The character of the Atlantic oak woods of the Great Hungarian Plain (original) (raw)
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2017_Moskal-del Hoyo et al. The character of the Atlantic oak woods of the Great Hungarian Plain
Quaternary International, 2017
The aim of this paper is to compare the wood charcoal assemblages from several archaeological sites near Polg ar (northeastern Hungary) with the pollen records of the same area in order to infer the character of forest communities that developed between 7500 and 6500 cal. yr BP. One question of particular interest is the structure of the woodlands in the mid-Holocene, particularly during the Holocene Climatic Optimum , when summer mean temperatures were higher than today. Pollen studies in this period suggest the dominance of wooded steppe with significant, naturally open, steppe-covered habitats. Hazel (Cor-ylus avellana) and oak (Quercus sp.) were the most important pollen components. On the other hand, the anthracological records suggest considerably less hazel, more oak admixed with several other woody taxa, particularly heliophilous Cornus sp. and Rosaceae trees or shrubs that still remain either invisible or are poorly represented in the pollen diagrams. The two types of data thus complement each other, and serve to better characterise this key time interval when Neolithic agriculture spread across the Great Hungarian Plain. Special attention is given to the joint occurrence of cornelian cherry (Cornus sp. cf. C. mas) and European smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria), as these commonly occur in the Sub-Mediterranean-subcontinental wooded steppe and thermophilous oak forest associations in SE Europe these days, under warmer summer conditions than those experienced in Hungary today. Their appearance and, in the case of cornelian cherry, abundance in the Atlantic wood charcoal assemblages suggest that, during the Atlantic phase, the wooded steppes of the north Great Hungarian Plain could have been of a Sub-Mediterranean character.
2018 Moskal-del Hoyo et al. The character of the Atlantic oak woods of the Great Hungarian Plain
The aim of this paper is to compare the wood charcoal assemblages from several archaeological sites near Polg ar (northeastern Hungary) with the pollen records of the same area in order to infer the character of forest communities that developed between 7500 and 6500 cal. yr BP. One question of particular interest is the structure of the woodlands in the mid-Holocene, particularly during the Holocene Climatic Optimum , when summer mean temperatures were higher than today. Pollen studies in this period suggest the dominance of wooded steppe with significant, naturally open, steppe-covered habitats. Hazel (Cor-ylus avellana) and oak (Quercus sp.) were the most important pollen components. On the other hand, the anthracological records suggest considerably less hazel, more oak admixed with several other woody taxa, particularly heliophilous Cornus sp. and Rosaceae trees or shrubs that still remain either invisible or are poorly represented in the pollen diagrams. The two types of data thus complement each other, and serve to better characterise this key time interval when Neolithic agriculture spread across the Great Hungarian Plain. Special attention is given to the joint occurrence of cornelian cherry (Cornus sp. cf. C. mas) and European smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria), as these commonly occur in the Sub-Mediterranean-subcontinental wooded steppe and thermophilous oak forest associations in SE Europe these days, under warmer summer conditions than those experienced in Hungary today. Their appearance and, in the case of cornelian cherry, abundance in the Atlantic wood charcoal assemblages suggest that, during the Atlantic phase, the wooded steppes of the north Great Hungarian Plain could have been of a Sub-Mediterranean character.
Charcoal and pollen analyses and vegetation reconstruction of the Alpine foreland in West Hungary
In the area of archaeological excavations that were performed prior to the construction of Main Road No. 86 in Vas County (West Hungary) in the Alpine foreland new geoarchaeological analyses have been conducted. We used anthracology and pollen analyses to reconstruct the former vegetation cover at the study site. Charcoal data provide site-related information about the local woodland composition, management and human impact, while pollen data provide information on the arboreal and non-arboreal vegetation on a regional or local scale. Adequate samples for anthracological analyses derive from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Imperial and Migration Periods and Middle-Ages archaeological objects. The core for pollen analyses originates from alluvial sediments of the Borzó Creek and covers the late Pleistocene and the Holocene until the Medieval Period. Charcoal analyses show the dominance of Quercus trees in the vicinity of the human settlements that might indicate a strong human selection, or the fragmentation of samples. Pollen analyses indicate thermophilous vegetation from the beginning of the Holocene, with increasing values of Fagus and Carpinus. Pollens of cereals indicate human activity, which is also demonstrated by the presence of pollen from Juglans and Vitis in the Iron Age sequence. Extensive forest clearance occurred in the Late Iron Age and the Imperial Period.
The Full-Glacial Forests of Central and Southeastern Europe
Quaternary Research, 2000
The presence of trees in central and southern Europe during the last full-glaciation has long been a matter of debate. A low but persistent presence of fossil tree pollen in central and southern European full-glacial paleoecological sequences has been interpreted either as representing long-distance pollen transport from southerly refuges or as representing in situ refugial populations. Here we present macroscopic charcoal results from 31 sequences located throughout Hungary that provide unequivocal evidence for the presence of at least seven different tree types between approximately 32,500 and 16,500 14C yr B.P. This evidence is presented in conjunction with molluscan and pollen analyses to indicate that during the last full-glaciation, trees grew as far north as Hungary, probably in microenvironmentally favorable sites. These areas provided an important cold-stage refugium for the European flora and fauna.
2014
Using a multi-proxy analysis of a postglacial sedimentary sequence from a lowland wetland, we address the possible drivers of change in the wetland habitats and surrounding landscapes of southwestern Slovakia. A 5 m-deep core in the Parížske močiare marshes was investigated for pollen, plant macro-remains, molluscs, organic content and magnetic susceptibility. The palaeoecological record extends from the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (≥11,200 cal. BP) to the 5th millennium cal. BP and was correlated with a macrophysical climate model (MCM) and archaeological data. Our results show the transformation of an open parkland landscape with patches of coniferous forest to a temperate deciduous forest at the onset of the Holocene. The record is remarkable for an early occurrence of Quercus pollen and macro-remains around 11,200 cal. BP and its early expansion (10,390 cal. BP) in the vegetation. Such an early spread of Quercus has not previously been recorded in the region, where Corylus is usually the first to expand among temperate trees. This unusual development of forest communities was most probably triggered by a short-lived increase in precipitation and decrease in temperature, as reconstructed by the MCM model. Higher moisture availability and low temperature inhibited Corylus and favoured the spread of Quercus. Later, the climate became drier and warmer, which, together with fires, supported the expansion of Corylus. Since 7300 cal. BP, human activities became most likely the dominant influence on the landscape. Deforestation contributed to soil erosion, which halted the accumulation of organic material after 5520 cal. BP, followed by the accumulation of clay sediments.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2024
The Neolithic and Copper Age (CA) of Hungary (6000-2800 cal BC) represents a meticulous construction of settlement structure, material culture, arable farming and herding techniques with at least one, but likely several reappearing population movements that brought in innovations and possibly contributed to the societal changes in this period. The last couple of decades witnessed a considerable progress in the study of concurrent vegetation, climate and landscape management changes particularly via the increased number of high-resolution pollen records, archaeobotanical and archaeological investigations, coupled with stable isotope analyses of the charred cereal assemblages. In this review we synthetize the results of these research projects and demonstrate that the Neolithic and CA landscapes of Hungary were characterised by mixed oak forest communities, and in the territory of Hungary thermophilous steppe oak forests were present in the lowland landscape that were the principal choice of early farmers represented by the Körös-Starčevo-Criş cultures. Climate modelling and climate reconstruction from these regions indicate higher than preindustrial summer mean temperatures and higher than modern summer rainfall. We demonstrate that Linear Pottery Culture was the first culture that technologically advanced to clear larger plots of land for crop cultivation purposes. The first large scale and landscape level clearance is discernible in the Hungarian pollen records in the Late Neolithic period, when population size likely reached its Neolithic maximum, both in the lowlands and the surrounding mid-mountains.
Continuity and change in the vegetation of a Central European oakwood
The Holocene, 2012
The issue of continuity in deciduous oakwood vegetation has been in the forefront of woodland ecological studies for many decades. The two basic questions that emerge from existing research are whether or not oakwoods can be characterized by long-term stability and what may be the driving forces of the observed stability or change. To answer these questions in a well-defined case study, we examined the history of a large subcontinental oakwood (Dúbrava) in the southeastern Czech Republic with interdisciplinary methods using palaeoecological and archival sources. Palaeoecology allowed us to reconstruct the vegetation composition and fire disturbances in Dúbrava in the past 2000 years, while written sources provided information about tree composition and management from the 14th century onwards. The pollen profiles show that the present oakwood was established in the mid-14th century with an abrupt change from shrubby, hazel-dominated vegetation to oak forest. This change was most pro...