Description: The Kiso-hinoki (Kiso-Japanese cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa ) woodland underwent severe deforestation in the early 17th century, then regenerated through conservation during the Edo period. Now, a suitable management strategy is sought in order to maintain its ecological function in the forest. To understand the vegetation changes and human impact, sediment cores were recovered from Lake Tadachi in the Kiso-hinoki cypress woodland in the central uphill region of Honshu island. In addition, stratigraphic pollen analysis on two cores (Nos. 6 and 10) and phytolith analysis on three strata of one core (No. 6) was conducted. The age-depth models were constructed based on 14 C dating, greyscale analysis on the sediments, and the increasing level of Cryptomeria pollen (about a.d . 1960) from the pollen profiles. In all periods, the dominant pollen taxa were Cupressaceae and Quercus subgen. Lepidobalanus type. Our analysis indicates that after the commencement of Shikinen - sengu, which is the rebuilding of the Ise Grand Shrine every 20 years, Cupressaceae pollen decreased and the woodland was gradually replaced by Quercus subgen. Lepidobalanus . The percentages of Cupressaceae pollen decreased dramatically and the expansion of secondary woodlands was accompanied by an increase of Quercus subgen. Lepidobalanus in the early 17th century cal. a.d . However, depletion of the woodland was determined from a decrease in concentration of Quercus pollen. The conservation activity during the Edo period and after the Meiji Restoration brought about woodland recovery. However, based on our pollen and phytolith analysis, significant changes to the woodland habitats can be detected. These were probably due to human impacts, most notably in the years after World War II. Four major turning points as the result of human influence were identified: the 10th century, the late 16th century, the Meiji restoration ( a.d . 1863), and the end of World War II. The original cypress woodland mixed with deciduous broad-leaved elements has been greatly reduced, preventing future cypress woodland regeneration after World War II.

Description: The main drivers of fire regimes in southern Europe are climate, vegetation and land-use changes that interact at different spatio-temporal scales. These complex interplays between “natural” and anthropogenic forcings hinder the identification of fire-climate linkages on the long time scale. In this paper, we focused on the Last Glacial–Holocene transition, which is the last time Europe experienced rapid warming of similar magnitude and rate of change as predicted for the future, and with minimal human impact (no agricultural activities). We derived fire activity from two neighbouring lacustrine macrocharcoal records, Ech paleolake and Lake Lourdes, located 3 km apart. To understand the effect of external forcings, we reconstructed summer T° changes and vegetation dynamics from two independent proxies. We then compared both paleofire records with chironomid-inferred summer air temperature reconstruction from Ech paleolake. We discuss the role of vegetation type, structure and biomass availability using pollen analysis from Ech paleolake and Lourdes. Fire activity is strongly modulated by summer T° oscillations as shown by the highly contrasted responses between the Oldest Dryas/Interstadial and Younger Dryas/Holocene transitions. However, vegetation type and biomass availability act as limiting factors: the slight increase in fire activity at the onset of the Interstadial is triggered by a 7 °C summer T° increase but remains limited by low availability of woody biomass in a steppe environment. On the contrary, the onset of the Holocene is characterised by a 2 °C summer T° increase and an unprecedented increase in fire activity, conditioned by the establishment of dense deciduous forests.

Description: In Near Eastern archaeology, studies on crop management during the early stages of civilisation have been based on cuneiform texts and only recently have geoarchaeological surveys and archaeobotanical studies tried to identify agricultural practices. Nevertheless, direct evidence for irrigation and water management is very rare and difficult to interpret. New possibilities for analysing these ways of management have been provided by stable carbon isotope analysis of ancient crops. In this study carbon isotope discrimination (Δ 13 C) was performed to assess the growing conditions of fossil cereal grains. Charred grains of emmer and barley recovered from the same site, Arslantepe in eastern Anatolia, over a 1,000 years long continuous sequence during the third millennium b . c . have been analysed and compared. The variation in water availability during grain filling, estimated by Δ 13 C, can be attributed to climate change and/or human practices. Distinguishing exactly which is to blame is complex but essential in reconstructing specific management practices. Variations in the 13 C/ 12 C ratio suggest that barley and emmer grew under different water regimes. In particular, a different management system was adopted between 3000 and 2800 cal. b . c . when emmer was sustained by human-induced water supply, whereas the more resistant barley was rain-fed and possibly assigned to more marginal terrains. Our results are compared with the stable carbon isotope data available for other Near Eastern sites. Emmer and barley records are also compared with deciduous oak Δ 13 C from Arslantepe in order to better understand the influence of environmental factors, climate and human impact.

Description: Human coprolites from Birka, Sweden and Dürrnberg, Austria, have been found, dated and palynologically analysed as a part of interdisciplinary studies. All their pollen spectra are dominated by insect-pollinated taxa well-known as nectar producing flowers, suggesting some consumption of honey. Among those spectra, some show significantly high values of Filipendula ulmaria (meadowsweet) pollen, which was historically used as flavouring in mead production, and which together with other indicators for honey, suggest that mead was part of the historic and prehistoric diet both in Birka and Dürrnberg. An evaluation of the background pollen suggests for the Birka specimen that honey was imported to the site from southern Baltic areas. The use of mead based on written sources is known at least from the Roman period. Archaeological studies demonstrate mead as an old crust residue on the inside of pots and other earthenware used as important funeral gifts from at least the 27th–25th centuries b . c . in Georgia. A comparison of the pollen records of European honey/mead samples strongly suggests that Filipendula is indicative of mead.

Description: The dynamics of mangrove forest on the island of Marajó (Ilha de Marajó) at the mouth of the river Amazon during the past ~7,500 cal. b.p. were studied using multiple proxies, including sedimentary facies, pollen, δ 13 C, δ 15 N and C/N ratio, related to 15 sediment samples by 14 C dating. The results allow us to propose a scheme of palaeogeographical development, with changes in vegetation, hydrology and organic matter dynamics. Today, the interior of the island is occupied by várzea freshwater herbaceous vegetation, but during the early to middle Holocene, mangroves with accumulations of estuarine organic matter colonized the tidal mud flats. This spread of mangroves was caused by post-glacial sea-level rise, which combined with tectonic subsidence, produced a marine transgression. It is likely that the relatively greater marine influence at the studied area was favoured by reduced discharge from the river Amazon, which was itself caused by a dry period that occurred during the early and mid Holocene. During the late Holocene, there was a reduction of mangrove vegetation and the contribution of freshwater organic matter to the area was higher than during the early and mid Holocene. This suggests a decrease in marine influence during the late Holocene which led to a gradual migration of mangrove vegetation from the central region to the northeastern littoral zone of the island, and, consequently, its isolation since at least ~1,150 cal. b.p. This was probably a result of lower tidal water salinity caused by a wet period that resulted in greater river discharge during the late Holocene. This work details the contraction of mangrove forest from the northeastern part of the island of Marajó under the influence of Amazon climatic changes, chronologically and spatially. This allows us to propose a model of successive phases of sediment accumulation and vegetation change, according to the marine-freshwater influence gradient. As demonstrated by this work, the use of a combination of proxies is efficient for establishing a relationship between the changes in estuarine salinity gradient and depositional environment/vegetation.

Description: As a part of the ELSA-project (Eifel Laminated Sediment Archive) new pollen and plant macro-remain analyses have been carried out on a series of Holocene lacustrine sediments from three open maar lakes of the Quaternary Westeifel Volcanic Field. In combination with already existing pollen analyses, the archaeological record and written sources, the present study casts new light on settlement activities and henceforth the development of agriculture from the prehistoric to historic times in this region. While there are clues that wood pasturing was practised in the Eifel region from the Michelsberg Culture onwards (c. 4300 cal. b.c. ), the Vulkaneifel is a remote area with relatively poor soils and a humid climate and was not constantly settled until the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, when cereal pollen was found regularly in the deposits. Plant macro-remains (chaff), which give us direct evidence for arable agriculture in the surroundings of the maars, were also found in layers belonging to the Early Bronze Age (c. 1900 cal. b.c. ). At the same time we can observe the massive spread of Fagus sylvatica (beech) in all pollen diagrams, which was most probably caused by a combination of climatic, anthropogenic and competitive factors. Later impacts of agriculture were an abundance of crop weeds and pollen in the following Middle Bronze Age. Nevertheless human impact remained discontinuous until the Urnfield Culture (1200–800 cal. b.c. ). A layer of weeds dating at the end of the Urnfield Culture was found and also flax ( Linum usitatissimum ) cultivation first becomes apparent. However, the subsequent Iron Age and Roman Period reveal only crop weeds and cereal pollen in slightly higher concentrations, but the abundance of Poaceae pollen at this time is most probably consistent with grazing activities. There follows compelling evidence of the importance of flax cultivation and processing at the maars from the Merovingian Period (5th century a.d. ) onwards. A detailed insight into the agriculture of the High Medieval comes from flash flood layers of the 14th century a.d. , where remains of Secale cereale (rye) and crop weeds reflect winter-sown cultivation of rye. Cannabis sativa (hemp) was also cultivated and processed during the medieval. Finally we can trace the Prussian reforestation in the 19th century a.d. , with an increase in Pinus sylvestris (pine) and Picea abies (fir), by both pollen and plant macro-remains.

Description: Studies of the modern relationship between pollen, vegetation and land-use are essential to infer past human impact on vegetation from pollen records. Nevertheless, such investigations are relatively few in China. We present here a study of pollen assemblages from sediment samples collected from irrigation pools in the Tuoliang and Qipanshan catchments in northern China. Pollen and spores from natural vegetation such as Artemisia , Chenopodiaceae, Pinus and Selaginella sinensis dominate the pollen assemblages, while pollen types which could be from crops such as cereals, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Solanaceae, Apiaceae and Cucurbitaceae are common but not abundant. Pollen percentages of Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae become less with decreasing altitude, while Pinus and S. sinensis percentages increase, indicating that saccate Pinus pollen and S. sinensis spores are transported further than non-saccate Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen, and differential sorting of pollen is occurring during transport in river water. Proportions of pollen from farmland and crops increase with decreasing altitude, showing that pollen percentages of crops might be a good indicator of the extent of farmland. A linear correlation analysis between pollen percentages and vegetation proportions shows that pollen percentages of crops are positively correlated with proportions of farmland, while correlation between pollen percentages of trees, shrubs and herbs and proportions of woodland, scrubland and grassland respectively is poor. This study indicates that the relationship between pollen percentages and vegetation proportions can be explained by the differences of pollen productivity, dispersal and deposition, and might be the basis for a modelling approach to infer past vegetation cover in northern China.

Description: This paper has two primary aims. Firstly, we review new data demonstrating interactions between people, plants, animals and woodlands in Mesolithic Ireland (ca. 8000–4000 cal. b.c. ). This includes a synthesis of evidence from archaeological fishtraps, plant macrofossils, palynological indications of disturbance, and large mammal records. Secondly, we suggest that the potential role of humans in structuring the wooded landscape of the island of Ireland has been underestimated and is a key area for future research; Ireland may be an important case study for understanding the role of hunter-gatherers in influencing ecological relationships at the landscape scale. The new data demonstrate that existing models of the role of humans in structuring the wooded landscapes of Ireland are inadequate, and we suggest that new models are required.

Description: Analysis of charcoal from an archaeological assemblage near the Lukula community located at the southernmost boundary of the Mayombe forest (Bas-Congo, DRC) yielded 30 taxa used as firewood between 1,200 and 700 cal. b . p . Local people mentioned 71 taxa preferred for use nowadays. The identified taxa belong either to mature rainforest, pioneer forest, regenerating forest or woodland savanna, indicating that ancient and current local populations gathered firewood in several different forest types. Modern firewood preferences do not seem to agree with the archaeobotanical composition. Also, linguistic evidence does not indicate a long exploitation history for all of the recorded taxa. Furthermore, no particular wood qualities such as wood density, calorific value or magical or medicinal properties seem to determine the Lukula assemblage, which was probably composed of waste material from various activities which required different specific firewood characteristics. As such, taxa composition is not biased by human selection, suggesting that it reflects the surrounding environment, which was characterised by mature rainforest with patches of regenerating forest and open vegetation types. Unlike the origin of present-day forest-savanna mosaics from human activity, fragmentation around 1,000 cal. b . p . may have been provoked by a well-known climatic event coinciding with the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which undoubtedly had a significant impact on Central African forest composition.

Description: This paper presents an assessment of Holocene tree cover densities and forest disturbance in European Russia using the best-modern-analogue (BMA) technique of quantitative reconstruction and an innovative approach, which combines modern pollen datasets with remotely sensed data from moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer satellite images. The test of the accuracy of the applied method using a database of 450 sets of surface pollen assemblages shows that it can reproduce present day characteristics of woody cover in Europe correctly ( R 2  = 0.57, standard error = 10.8 %), and it is sufficient for reconstruction of major changes of woodland vegetation in the past. Application of the BMA technique to fossil pollen data from two key regions in the central part of European Russia demonstrates that changes in regional woody cover are useful for the reconstruction of prehistoric human disturbance.