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

LPAZ IVc. 80-60 cm. The separation of this short period is based on the sudden rise of Fagus curve and the decrease of Quercus. High, about 3% of the value of cereals and we observe an extremely high number of the spores of Filicales. Anthropogenic signs In order to investigate the taxa and palynological phenomena connected to the human presence we had to make a special diagram where pollen of non-arboreal plants is separately and more detailed figured. To compare the ratio of indicator taxa related to the overall changes in the vegetation the curve of arboreal pollen is closed. All curves are related to the total pollen count, AP+NAP as 100% (Fig. 5). The primary indicator taxa, the cereals, occur constantly in the LPAZ lib. This subzone was dated by calibrated I4

C to 5500-4900 BC, which implies the middle part of the Neolithic. The peak of Poaceae with pollen grains bigger than 40 um, the Triticum group (except Triticum monococcum), occurs at a depth of 220 cm, and the Triticum monococcum-Hordeum group (37-40 um) is also observed in this layer. The earliest settlements in the source area of pollen rain could be dated to the period of the Transdanubien LBC, to the 2nd half of the 6th millennium. As stated by some references, in the agriculture of LBC the animal husbandry and the slash and burn method was applied (VIRÁG 1996, H. SIMON 2003). In our area of investigation we could not find a clear evidence of this, but maybe the small decrease of Quercus, the strong decrease of Ulmus, the emerging of Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae with a peak of Artemisia indicate, in part, human disturbance. From the beginning of the Late Neolithic (4900 BC) until the top of the profile at 1650 BC (Middle Bronze Age) the curve of the cereals is continuous. The continuous presence of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia, the occurrence of Plantago lanceolata also refers to human disturbance. These results are supported by mathematical methods, the palynological richness diagram refers to anthropogenic signs by increasing values in the LPAZ III and in the first part of the LPAZ IV, but the PCA analysis only shows a very sharp climatic change at 280 cm depth, that is about 6700 BC (Fig. 6). Főnyed The study area is situated south of the river Zala, in the middle part of the swamp basin of the Kis-Balaton, in 104 and 104.5 m above sea level, from which the islands rise about 1 to 7 m (lat.: 46°38'22"N; long.: 17°14'40"E). The sampling point is west from the village of Főnyed, between the railway and the Cölömpös-