The impact of Neolithic agriculture on the environments of south-east Europe
Recent palaeoecological research has demonstrated that the earliest discernible environmental impacts arising from Neolithic agriculture in south-east Europe occur several millenia after the earliest archaeological evidence for farming. Published archaeological records of domesticated animal and plant remains and Neolithic material culture suggest that the first agriculture in Europe occurred in the south-east of the continent from about 9 ka BP. In contrast, large-scale landscape clearance is not evident in palaeoecological records from south-east Europe until at least 6ka BP. A number of factors have been promoted to account for this discrepancy but the underlying source of temporal bias is suggested to have occurred through the selection of inappropriate palaeoecological methods. Basin size, proximity of palaeoecology sequences to archaeological sites and sampling resolution are identified as critical factors in the interpretation of Neolithic environmental impacts. This thesis presents multi-proxy palaeoecological data from six sedimentary sequences in Hungary, Slovenia and Greece using a modified approach designed to counter previous criticisms of unsuitable palaeoecological sampling strategies and to
Gardner, A. R.
The impact of Neolithic agriculture on the environments of south-east Europe. Recent palaeoecological research has demonstrated that the earliest discernible environmental impacts arising from Neolithic agriculture in south-east Europe occur several millenia after the earliest archaeological evidence for farming. Published archaeological records of domesticated animal and plant remains and Neolithic material culture suggest that the first agriculture in Europe occurred in the south-east of the continent from about 9 ka BP. In contrast, large-scale landscape clearance is not evident in palaeoecological records from south-east Europe until at least 6ka BP. A number of factors have been promoted to account for this discrepancy but the underlying source of temporal bias is suggested to have occurred through the selection of inappropriate palaeoecological methods. Basin size, proximity of palaeoecology sequences to archaeological sites and sampling resolution are identified as critical factors in the interpretation of Neolithic environmental impacts. This thesis presents multi-proxy palaeoecological data from six sedimentary sequences in Hungary, Slovenia and Greece using a modified approach designed to counter previous criticisms of unsuitable palaeoecological sampling strategies and to
impact neolithic agriculture south_east europe recent palaeoecological demonstrate early discernible environmental_impact arise neolithic agriculture south_east europe occur several early archaeological_evidence farming published archaeological_record domesticate animal plant_remain neolithic material_culture suggest first agriculture europe occur south_east continent contrast large_scale landscape clearance evident palaeoecological records south_east europe least number_factor promote account discrepancy underlie source temporal bias suggest occurred selection inappropriate palaeoecological method basin size proximity palaeoecology sequence archaeological_site sample resolution identify critical factor interpretation_neolithic environmental_impact present_multi proxy palaeoecological data sedimentary sequence hungary greece use modify design counter previous criticism unsuitable palaeoecological sampling strategy