B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 36. 2005 (Budapest, 2005)

Medzihradszky, Zsófia: Holocene vegetation history and human activity in the Kis-Balaton area, Western Hungary

10500/10300 BC and 6900/6700 BC Pinus and Betula are characteristic, but the broad-leaved trees, Quercus, Ulmus, Fraxinus and Tilia occur as well. From 6900/6700 BC until 4900 BC, during the Early and Middle Neolithic the deciduous trees are dominant; closed forests covered the surroundings and the islands of the ancient bay. 4900-3200/3100 BC is the time of the first significant settlement network (Late Neolithic and Copper Age), whose traces, the occurrence of cereals are detectable in the pollen diagrams. From 3200/3100 BC to the top of the sequences, about to the middle of the 2nd millennium (end of the Copper Age, Early and Middle Bronze Age), along with the primary indicator taxa, the cereals, another human impact, the decrease of trees and increase of the herbs is evident. However, ruderals as anthropogenic markers are not significantly present and the woodland appears to have been untouched for most of this period of time although there were repeated declines and recoveries of the principal tree taxa. No significant change in the pollen ratio of the trees and shrubs and herbs was observed during the prehistoric times in the region of Lake Kis-Balaton. However, the role of plant cultivation may have been limited for the ancient inhabitants of the Kis-Balaton area compared to other areas in Hungary, due to the limited amount of available land suitable for agriculture and the presence of the lake. REFERENCES ANDERSEN, S. TH. (1970): The relative pollen productivity and pollen representation of north European trees, and correction factors for tree pollen spectra. - Danmarks Geol. Undersogelse 11/96: 1-99. ANDERSEN, S. TH. (1979): Identification of wild grass and cereal pollen. - Danmarks Geol, Undersogelse, Árbog 1978: 69-92. BEHRE, K.-E. (1981): The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. - Pollen et Spores 23: 225-245. BEHRE, K.-E. (ed.) (1986): Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. - Balkema, Rotterdam, 232 pp. BEHRE, K.-E. (1988): The role of man in European vegetation history.-In: HUNTLEY, B. and WEBB, T. III. (eds): Vegetation History. Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 633-672. BERGLUND, B. E. (1986): Palaeoecological reference areas and reference sites. - In: BERGLUND, B. E. (ed.): Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 111-126. BERGLUND, B. E. (ed.) (1991): The cultural landscape during 6000 years in southern Sweden - the Ystad project. - Ecol. Bull. 41: 1-485. BERGLUND, B. E. and RALSKA-JASIEWICZOWA, M. (1986): Pollen analysis and pollen diagrams. In: BERGLUND, B. E. (ed.): Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 455-484. BEUG, H.-J. (1961): Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 63 pp.