Palaeoecological assessment of prehistoric and historic human impact in the high elevation areas of the Northern Carpathians, Romania

Abstract

This paper presents a high resolution, multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (pollen, dung fungal spores, micro and macro-charcoal, mineral magnetic properties and geochemistry) in three sedimentary sequences located at different elevations across the Northern Carpathians (Romania) over the Late Holocene (i.e. the last 4000 years). We aim to: i) determine what aspects of prehistoric and historic human activity (e.g. burning, clearing, grazing) have shaped the landscapes of today, and ii) use this information to facilitate their environmental management and conservation strategies to maintain the ecological and economic sustainability of extant habitats in the currently changing environment