Abstract
Lacustrine deposits of the crater lake Birkat Ram located in the northern Golan Heights have been used as a paleoecological archive. Preliminary sedimentological and palynological investigations based on a composite profile allow the reconstruction of the environmental history of the last 6500 years. Fluctuations of the pollen composition (trees and shrubs versus herbs, values of oak and olive tree) correspond to changes in different sediment parameters (total organic carbon, magnetic susceptibility) which can be interpreted as the effects of human impact on the geo-biosphere. Four phases with strong settlement activities can be identified for the Northern Golan Heights: (1) during the Chalcolithic period/Early Bronze Age, (2) during the Hellenistic–Roman–Byzantine periods, (3) during the Crusader period, and finally during modern time. These periods were interrupted by wooded regeneration phases with low anthropogenic activities.
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