Fresh investigations into the natural and anthropogenically influenced vegetation of the earlier Holocene in the Elbe-Saale Region,Central Germany

At present the central part of the Elbe-Saale area is characterized by subcontinental climatic conditions. Palynological investigations at Zöschen show that, even in pre-Neolithic times, the composition of the primeval forest in this part of Germany had its own distinctive features. On the basis of the palynological results, the existence of natural steppe Holocene is improbable, the region being covered by forests since ca. 9 500 B.P., i.e. the Preboreal. The appearance of anthropochores or culture dependent plants and the beginning of flood loam sedimentation as a result of soil erosion indicate human impact from ca. 6 000 B.P., i.e. the end of the older Atlantic. At Eilsleben changes of tree and shrub frequencies are combined with the occurrence of anthropogenic indicator herb species. These palynological features suggest agricultural expansion phases that are interrupted by regression phases in the early and middle Neolithic (ca. 6 500-2 500 B.P.).