Open country species persisted in loess regions during the Atlantic and early Subboreal phases: New multidisciplinary data from southern Poland

A maximum Holocene afforestation occurred during the Atlantic phase in Central Europe and the first deforestation was human-induced by introducing Neolithic farming. However, the results of new multidisciplinary off-site and on-site investigations in southern Poland have revealed that in the loessic areas a persistence of plant and animal species of open landscape was possible throughout the mid-Holocene. The palynological and malacological data from Mozgawa (Nida Basin), from a phase preceding the human occupation and corresponding to the 5th millennium BC, show that the loessic plateau was forested with partly open pine-oak forests, but patches of open vegetation were also present. During the first half of the 4th millennium BC the first farmers related with the Funnel Beaker (= TRB) culture appeared in Mozgawa and built a long-lasted settlement extended over 35 ha site. The pollen zone related to this Neolithic settlement phase contained a record of disturbances of the forest communities and/or the reduction of forest cover at a small, local scale, accompanied by an increase of representation of herbaceous plants associated with wet and dry grasslands. The anthracological results confirm the presence of pine-oak forest near the human settlement, while malacological (Vallonia pulchella and Chondrula tridens), zooarchaeological (Equus ferus), and carpological data (Stipa sp.) indicate the continuous presence of open vegetation in the area. During the Neolithic occupation of the Mozgawa settlement, processes of slope erosion were initiated and created the thick layer of mineral diluvium at the bottom of the loessic hill. These data reveal the first intensive human impacts onthe local wooded steppe-like landscape and the beginning of the development of anthropogenic vegetation in the region.