Palynological data from the Northern Vosges Mountains (NVM) are very rare, unlike for the Southern and Central Vosges Mountains, where the past vegetation history is relatively well known. As a consequence, the beginning of human activities has never been clearly identified and dated in the NVM. In order to reconstruct the evolution of vegetation in this region, multiproxy studies (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, sedimentological and geochemical analyses) were conducted in two peatlands. Overall, the results, extending from about 9500 cal. BP to recent times, show a classical vegetation succession with local particularities resulting from human activities. In the La Horn peatland, a strong human impact related to pastoralism is attested from the late Bronze Age onwards. The second phase of human occupation, mainly characterized by crop cultures, begins during the Hallstatt period. The geochemical results (x-ray fluorescence) also highlight the presence of metallic elements, which, combined with significant quantities of carbonized particles, point to potential metal working. In the Kobert-Haut peatland, human occupation began much later (1500 cal. BP), but lasted from the Gallo-Roman period to the beginning of the Modern Period. Unlike for the vegetation history of the rest of the Vosges, Pinus remains a prevailing taxon throughout the Holocene in the NVM. Another particularity is the early establishment of Picea, long before the 18th to 19th century plantations.

The Northern Vosges and the Pays de Bitche (north-east France) are regions rich in recent industrial inheritance which history is well-known. On the other hand, the ancient history of these regions is not well known and the relationships between human populations and their environment remain unexplored until now for ancient times. The multidisciplinary palaeoenvironmental study that we carried out on the site of the bog-pond located below the ruins of the medieval castle of Waldeck, has made it possible to reconstruct the history of vegetation since 6 600 cal. BP.. Throughout the Holocene, the succession of forest vegetation (pine and hazelnut forests, reduced oak forest, beech forest, oak-beech forest) was largely dominated by pine. The human presence, tenuous during the Neolithic period, is well marked from the Bronze Age onwards with the introduction of crops and livestock crops in the catchment area. From the Middle Ages, anthropic pressure highly increased with the building, in the 13th century, of Waldeck Castle, which led to a major opening of the area. The Modern period is characterized by a gradual return of the forest, while anthropogenic pressure is decreasing. Over time, the occupation phases have been interspersed with abandonment phases during which human activities regress or disappear. Finally, the rarefaction analysis carried out on pollen data shows that human presence has led to a gradual increase in plant diversity, which peaked in the Middle Ages. As a result, the forest has lost some of its resilience to human disturbance over time.