Description: Publication date: February 2015 Source: Quaternary Geochronology, Volume 25 Author(s): Barbara Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł , Piotr Kołaczek , Adam Michczyński , Natalia Piotrowska The main aim of this paper is to present the pitfalls connected with the construction of reliable chronologies for anthropogenically disturbed peatlands over the last two millennia based on 210 Pb and 14 C dating, i.e. the period of the strongest human impact on these ecosystems. The following hypotheses have been formulated: i) parts of peatlands suspected to be affected by peat extraction may possess traces of mechanical disturbances undetectable using different analyses based on biota proxy; ii) failure to consider information included in radionuclide date inversions may contribute to the establishment of misleading chronologies. To test these hypotheses, different scenarios of chronology based on high resolution 210 Pb and 14 C dating from a peat core retrieved from the Puścizna Krauszowska bog (southern Poland) have been analysed. Nowadays, this mire is intensively exploited by humans; however, it contains remains of dome considered undisturbed, from which the core presented in this paper was collected. The set of dates revealed the presence of marked 14 C date inversions (mechanical disturbances) which, if inappropriately interpreted before the age–depth modelling process, may lead to the establishment of misleading chronologies, and thus an incorrect interpretation of biota proxy records, e.g. pollen. Those sections of peat profiles with prominent age inversions and/or strong discrepancies between the peat accumulation rate and bulk density should be rejected from age–depth modelling, even if interpretable chronologies can be obtained.