Abstract

This paper presents the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a mire sequence near the village Blatuša, with a focus on changes in vegetation composition, hydrological regime and fire history of the Banovina/Kordun area during the last two millennia. For this purpose, pollen, non-pollen and charcoal analysis were done. By the application of CONISS statistical analysis three different pollen assemblage (sub)zones could have been distinguished: a dominance of alder-beech/oaks from the 2nd to the middle of the 7th century, followed by a prevalence of grasses-beech/oaks till the end of the 13th century. Finally, an assemblage of grasses-hornbeam/oaks populated the area from the 14th to the beginning of the 20th century. The high abundance of peat mosses (Sphagnum) from the 11th to the end of the 14th century must indicate increased precipitation and higher frequencies of rainfall during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Transition from an ombrotrophic to minerotrophic phase of mire evolution during the Little Ice Age is caused by changing in moisture level, with somewhat wetter period prevailing till the middle of the 17th century followed by drier conditions till the beginning of the 20th century. Although cereal pollen grains first appear from the layers dated to the late 14th century and the proportion of secondary anthropogenic indicators were low during the entire Middle Ages, a large number of charcoal particles suggests stronger anthropogenic activity than indicated by observed changes in vegetation composition. Still, a sharp rise of non-arboreal pollen during the Migration period most likely reflect a general natural succession process on mire surface than persuable proof of Avaric-Slavic impact on vegetation. Direct anthropogenic pressure indicated by weeds and cereal pollen can be tracked from the Late Middle Ages onwards.

Highlights

  • Environmental history is the interdisciplinary study of the relations of culture, technology and nature through time (Damodaran 2015: 747–755) highlighting relationships between human societies and their natural environment (McNeill 2010: 347)

  • As paleoenvironmental data is generally lacking for the area, especially for the period of Late Antiquity, and the Middle Ages, our goal was to establish a framework for understanding vegetation dynamics, paleohydrology and changes in the trophic status of a mires for the period of the last two millennia

  • Transition from alder carr to poor fen occured during 6th century (Zone 1a) followed by succession from poor fen to bog in the 11th century (Zone 1b) and retrogression to more minerotrophic poor fen occured from the late 14th century to the beginning of 20th century (Zone 2)

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Summary

Introduction

Environmental history is the interdisciplinary study of the relations of culture, technology and nature through time (Damodaran 2015: 747–755) highlighting relationships between human societies and their natural environment (McNeill 2010: 347). As a new field of study mostly concerned with environmental problems, it emerged during the second half of the 20th century (Delort, Walter 2002; Simmons 2010; Hughest 2011) and soon became a global political agenda (Barry 2010). Povijest okoliša može se definirati kao interdisciplinarno proučavanje odnosa kulture, tehnologije i prirode kroz vrijeme (Damodaran 2015: 747–755), ističući u prvi plan odnos između ljudskoga društva i prirode u kojoj ljudi obitavaju i o kojoj ovise (McNeill 2010: 347). U Hrvatskoj se značajni napredak u promišljanju promjena prirodne sredine može uočiti početkom 21. stoljeća (Roksandić 2002; Fürst-Bjeliš et al 2011), uz značajan doprinos znanstvenika koji pripadaju

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