A Palaeoecological Perspective on the Environmental Impact of Prehistoric Societies in Europe with Emphasis on Greece and the Southern Balkans

Abstract

Here, we provide an overview on the environmental impact of Europe’s first farmers, focusing on the vegetation shifts that occurred in the southern Balkans during the Neolithisation. First, we draw on recent methodological developments in palaeoecology that contribute to tighten its linkages with archaeology. We start highlighting the importance of highly precise and accurate lake sediment chronologies to enhance comparison with dendrochronologically dated archaeological settlements. Then, we assess modern pollen-vegetation relationships to better interpret the fossil pollen records. The results reveal (i) an overall good match between the main vegetation types of the southern Balkans and their soil pollen assemblages, and (ii) that pollen assemblages from lake surface samples reflect reliably the surrounding vegetation. Afterwards, we summarise our latest results from the region. In Limni Zazari (Greece), continuous pollen recordsof cerealsand ruderal plants allow dating early farming activities around 6250 BC. At Ploča Mičov Grad (Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia), pollen evidence of cereals and weeds place the onset of the Neolithic at 5500–5100 BC, i.e. significantly earlier than the tree-ring inferred age of the settlement. Current efforts aim at producing new palaeoecological records, refining the available ones, and adding palaeoclimaticreconstructionsClimate that allow determining which role climate variability played in the Neolithisation.