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

area is well-known thanks to the systematic archaeological investigations, the sediment is suitable for absolute, 14

C dating and the peat deposited in the ancient bay has, more or less, preserved the pollen precipitation of the Holocene. Geomorphology of the area The marsh areas of the Kis-Balaton and Zala valley comprise three basins. The largest of them, about 32 km long and 3 km wide in average is the middle, the main basin, which is cut into two parts by the river Zala. The western side-basin is the real valley of the river Zala, of which an 18 km long section is peat deposit and is closed to the main basin south of the village of Zalavár by a narrow headland. The eastern side-basin is the smallest, being a 8 km long narrow valley along the Marót valley channel and is closed to the main basin at the village of Főnyed. After 1946 a 100 m density core network was established in the main basin, which was widened after 1951 into the western side-basin. About twenty years later a more precise frequency (50 m) network was set up in the area (DÖMSÖD1 1977). The sampling sites were selected according these maps. Prehistoric settlement history The area of the lower Zala valley and the Kis-Balaton have been investigated archaeologically by systematic and rescue excavations since 1979, so the reconstruction of the settlement history from the beginning of the Neolithic until the Middle Ages is at our disposal (KÖLTŐ and VÁNDOR 1996). The area is settled since the very beginning of the Neolithic Period, the earliest archaeological site is Vörs-Máriaasszony island from the Starcevo culture, dated to the first half of the 6th millennium (KALICZ et aï. 1998). Based on the archaeological data from other regions, the small, short-living settlements are characteristic to this culture (KALICZ 1988). The remains of cereals, crop of Triticum sp. and imprints in the pottery and daubing from our site (Berzsenyi, B., pers. com.) and imprint of Triticum dicoccon Schrank from the nearby locality of Kéthely are unambiguous evidence of the ancient crop cultivation in the investigated area (FÜZES 1989). According to KÖLTŐ and VÁNDOR (1996) the Middle Neolithic Period (2nd part of the 6th millennium), the Transdanubian Linearband Ceramic (LBC) is represented by several localities in the area. The settlements occur mainly in the lower areas of the islands and on the shores. In the middle period of the culture the settle-