Towards the vegetation and settlement history of the southern Dobrudza coastal region, north-eastern Bulgaria: A pollen diagram from Lake Durankulak

Palynological investigation and radiocarbon dating of a 6-m core from lake Durankulak, north-eastern Bulgaria, enables vegetation development and human occupation from ca. 5500–5300 cal. B.C. onwards to be traced. Steppe vegetation that included with groves of deciduous trees asQuercus, Ulmus, Carpinus belulus andCorylus changed to a forest-steppe after 4000 cal. B.C. The archaeopalynological record indicates three distinct phases of human activity as follows: (1) 5300–4200 cal. B.C. (late Neolithic and Eneolithic) during which farming, that included a substantial arable component, was pursued, (2) 3500–3000 cal. B.C. (transition to early Bronze Age) when stock rearing appears to have dominated, and (3) after 1300 cal. B.C. (late Bronze Age) when arable farming again assumed importance. The palynological data correlate well with the rich archaeological record for human settlement that is available for the region from late Neolithic times onwards.