Abstract
In a continuous, perfectly stratified sedimentary sequence which was discovered under a large sandstone overhang in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic, we analysed multiple biological remains, archaeological features and artefacts. This multi-proxy record has allowed us to examine the interactions between woodland and humans in a permanently wooded environment throughout almost the entire Holocene. We paid most attention to massive finds of dung pellets from sheep, goats or pigs and bedding layers which show that the site was used as a pen and shelter for livestock which grazed in the woods. Our results imply that such practices have occurred since the Neolithic, but the most robust evidence of these is for the Iron Age and early Middle Ages. Detailed analyses of the dung indicate woodland grazing and foddering with branches, acorns, beechnuts and crop processing remains. In addition, the wide palaeoenvironmental range of this detailed investigation provides evidence of the impact of wood pasturing on ecological functions, taxon composition and diversity of the local woodland ecosystem in the Holocene.
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The authors thank Lenka Kovačiková, associate editor Ferran Antolín and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. We also thank James Greig for his suggestions and improving the English. This work was supported by the Grantová Agentury České republiky (Czech Science Foundation), Grant No. 17-07851S “Late Holocene retrogression of forest ecosystems: Causes, processes and consequences for biodiversity”.
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Ptáková, M., Pokorný, P., Šída, P. et al. From Mesolithic hunters to Iron Age herders: a unique record of woodland use from eastern central Europe (Czech Republic). Veget Hist Archaeobot 30, 269–286 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00784-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00784-0