Composition of Atlantic forest in northern
Carpathian foothills, from a charcoal record from
a Neolithic domestic site at Żerków (Poland):
The relevance of oak and hazel
1 | W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Poland |
Online publication date: 2016-06-22
Publication date: 2016-06-22
Acta Palaeobotanica 2016; 56(1): 91–109
ABSTRACT
A study of firewood remains from the foothills of the Western Carpathians in Poland yielded information
about the history of forest communities growing in the vicinity of human settlements in the Atlantic
period. The anthracological material was collected at Żerków, a Neolithic site of the Linear Band Pottery culture,
situated on the highest parts of a hill covered by fertile soil. The anthracological assemblage was dominated by
Quercus and Corylus avellana, followed by Acer and Maloideae, suggesting that those taxa probably were significant
constituents of the local forest during the Atlantic period. Based on the ecological requirements of the
identified taxa, such communities occupied areas of more open canopy, but it is unclear whether the material
reflects the composition of the primeval forest or rather the presence of open canopy created by human impacts
on local ecosystems during the period of settlement.