Preliminary environmental historical results to reconstruct prehistoric human-environmental interactions in Eastern Hungary

Abstract

Palaeoenvironmental research is playing an important role in recent archaeological investigations. We present preliminary results of geoarchaeological analyses conducted at a palaeochannel located between two prehistoric archaeological sites in eastern Hungary. The study area lies within the Körös River Basin in Békés County, a region of intensive human occupation beginning in the Neolithic, ca. 7550 BP, and represents only the second palynological analysis done in conjunction with archaeological investigations and adjacent to an archaeological site in the Körös region. Pollen from an environmental monolith was used to reconstruct the local vegetation composition and the human impact on arboreal and non-arboreal vegetation near the archaeological sites. Sediment analyses helped to reconstruct hydrological activity and human impact on the local palaeochannel. Results indicate that activity from the Neolithic onwards played an important role in local environmental change, including increasing sedimentation and deposition of organic matter in the local waterway, some forest clearance and a shift from primarily arboreal vegetation to more grasses on elevated surfaces. The trophic status of the local channel changed several times during the Holocene. In addition, indications that groundwater levels may have been fluctuating during the period of human occupation, when combined with the other changes in the area, provide a possible partial explanation for changing settlement patterns.