Mid-Late Holocene Vegetational History and Land-Use Dynamics in County Monaghan, Northeastern Ireland—The Palynological Record of Lough Muckno

Abstract

We conducted high-resolution palynological analysis on a sediment core obtained from Lough Muckno, County Monaghan, Ireland. The results presented represent the first paleoecological account of Mid-Late Holocene vegetational change and land-use dynamics in the study region. Human activity and agriculture is first recorded during the Early Neolithic (ca. 3870–3500 B.C.). After a period of undiscernible human activity of ∼900 years, farming resumes during the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2600 B.C.). Henceforth, human presence on the landscape is constant with fluctuating levels of intensity. During the Bronze Age, anthropogenic activity is most pronounced during ca. 2000–1750 B.C. and ca. 1500–1300 B.C. followed by a phase of reduced intensity in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1000–650 B.C.). Farming activity increases during the Iron Age and is disrupted with the onset of a period of rapid woodland regeneration from ca. 200 B.C. to A.D. 200. During the prehistorical period agriculture has a strong focus on pastoral grazing with a limited arable component. An upsurge in agricultural activity is recorded in the historical period from ca. A.D. 400 in which a mixed agricultural economy placing more emphasis on cereal-crop cultivation is adopted. Arable farming attains its maximum levels ca. A.D. 990–1140. Evidence of farming disruptions in the pollen record may reflect of a period of local “conflict” during the Viking Age/Medieval period (ca. A.D. 800–1190). We explore the characterizing features of the pollen assemblage of this large lake system and its use in reconstructing past cultural landscape change.