Of birches, smoke and reindeer dung – Tracing human-environmental interactions palynologically in sediments from the Nahe palaeolake
Sascha Krüger
Abstract
Sediments from the Nahe palaeolake in Schleswig-Holstein provided a continuous and high-resolution palynological record in the vicinity of a Lateglacial archaeological site in northern Germany. The principal objective of the study was to investigate potential reflections of Palaeolithic human-environmental interaction, which is generally regarded as challenging. Charcoal particle frequencies in different size classes and coinciding fungal spores reveal a remarkable pattern at the transition from the Dryas 3 to the Preboreal period that corresponds to the chronological attribution of parts of the archaeological record. The applied indicators of human action render it possible to define a temporally limited phase of generally elevated large charcoal particle inputs, reflecting potentially anthropogenic activity. The interpretation of the palynological record leads to the hypothesis that the climatically driven rapid change of the vegetation at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition caused temporally increased hunting activities by Late Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. The excellent age control of the record allowed to date this phase between 11,650 and 11,520 cal yr BP.