Late Holocene Environmental Changes and Human Subsistence in an Alluvial Landscape: A Case Study from the Pohansko Site on the Dyje (Thaya) River in Czechia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Human Ecology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00584-y |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-025-00584-y |
| Keywords | Late holocene; Alluvium; Human impact; Subsistence; Settlement history; Pohansko; Czechia |
| Description | We examined the data from the floodplain settlement at Pohansko to uncover environmental changes, vegetation development, and floodplain dynamics that influenced the settlement's history and subsistence strategies. Most of the landscape was deforested during the Middle Holocene, while woodlands primarily limited to the alluvium were not significantly affected by human occupation. Human impact gradually increased from the Late Iron Age, peaking in the Early Middle Ages. The questions examined focused on the subsistence strategy and food sources. The archaeobotanical and palynological results suggest that supplies were brought from the hinterland, where chernozem soils were better suited for agricultural production. Woodland vegetation returned after the settlement's decline in the early tenth century CE. Archaeological evidence indicates that human settlement impacted the area from prehistoric times through the Early Middle Ages but not afterward. This finding starkly contrasts with the documented High Medieval regional expansion of settlements and population growth linked to the region's deforestation of uplands and alluvial aggradation. |
| Related projects: |