Abstract
Annually laminated lake sediments provide high-resolution and accurate timescales for reliable paleoenvironmental reconstructions. We investigated human activity in a low-human-impact region of Poland, taking advantage of varved sediments from Lake Szurpiły, which span the last 8200 years. Multiple sediment variables indicated that catchment evolution and lacustrine responses, mainly to changes in forest cover, were divided into four phases. Because of sparse or only seasonal occupation of settlements in NE Poland, human impact in the region was insignificant until ca. 939 ± 55 BC (lacustrine phase I). During Phase II (939 ± 55 BC–AD 1392 ± 38), we recorded an increase in human indicators, reflecting the direct influence of a Yatvingian community. Afterwards, between AD 1392 ± 38 and 1770 ± 30 (phase III), permanent settlements and agricultural land use stabilized. The beginning of the last period (phase IV) was clearly identified by all sediment variables, which responded simultaneously to local human activities. Disappearance of laminae from AD 1858 ± 22 until about AD 1997 indicated disturbance of pre-existing, stable depositional conditions, followed by environmental recovery in the last 20 years. Such recovery may have been related to recent socio-economic changes and establishment of a park that reduced human influence on the lake.
Highlights
Lake sediments are valuable sources of information about human impacts on the Earth system during the Anthropocene (Berglund 2003; Messerli et al 2000)
Natural fluctuations and insignificant anthropogenic influence prevailed until 939 ± 55 BC, when the region was sparsely populated and sedimentation was relatively stable
Human impacts became more important, mainly a consequence of deforestation connected to the prosperity of the Yatvings around AD 1000–1100
Summary
Lake sediments are valuable sources of information about human impacts on the Earth system during the Anthropocene (Berglund 2003; Messerli et al 2000). Lacustrine sediments reflect processes both within and outside the lake, including local and regional human activities. Laminated (varved) lake sediments are of special interest because they represent annual cycles of deposition and possess multiple variables that can be used as proxies of past climate and environmental conditions (Zolitschka et al 2015). Varved lake sediments can be used to track human-induced disturbances in ecosystems, such as the history of lead pollution (Stanton et al 2010), fluctuations in lacustrine productivity (Dreibrodt and Wiethold 2015) or changes in erosion intensity (Augustsson et al 2013), at high resolution, i.e. at annual or even seasonal timescales
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