Potential of palaeosols, sediments and archaeological features to reconstruct Late Glacial fire...

Potential of palaeosols sediments and archaeological features to reconstruct Late Glacial fire regimes in northern Central Europe ndash case

study Grabow site and overview

Johann Friedrich Tolksdorf Falko Turner Knut Kaiser Eileen Eckmeier Felix Bittmann and Stephan Veil

with 8 figures and 1 table

Abstract Late Glacial fires in Northern Germany are well known from different geoarchives such as pal-aeosols (limnic) sediments and archaeological sites This has evoked the question if the fire regime during the Alleroslashd and Younger Dryas was driven exclusively by natural agents (temperature precipitation vegeta-tion pattern) or was ndash at least to some extent ndash a result of anthropogenic burning

We contribute to this question by examining on-site and off-site archives in the Jeetzel valley at the Late Palaeolithic site Grabow 15 (N-Germany) The spatial analysis of the charcoal distribution and biomarkers (ldquoblack carbonrdquo) in an on-site test area enabled a detailed reconstruction of human burning activities during the early Alleroslashd A determination of the charred wood taxa allowed a reconstruction of the local vegetation pattern during the time of human occupation The evidence of man-made fire was compared to the general occurrence of charcoal particles in two palaeochannels that provided archives for palynological and sedi-mentological analysis for the time span from the Alleroslashd to the early Holocene

Based on the reconstructed local vegetation patterns human occupation phases and water levels we conclude that human presence during the early Alleroslashd must have increased the input of charcoal and bio-markers into the local sediments During the Younger Dryas no human contribution to the local charcoal influx was detected We concluded that future studies must considerate the very local impact of man-made fires in much greater detail

Key words Late Palaeolithic charcoal human impact

1 Introduction

In the northern parts of Central Europe charcoal is ubiquitous in Late Glacial sediments and pal-aeosols particularly from the Alleroslashd period (eg in the so-called lsquoUsselo Finow soilsrsquo van Geel et al 1989 Hoek amp BoHncke 2002 kaiser et al 2009) Fire must have played an important role in Late Glacial ecosystems and might also have triggered geomorphologic processes in considerable extent (sHakesBy amp Doerr 2006 sankey et al 2009)

The charcoal record has aroused discussions to which extent the intensity and cyclicality of the Late Glacial fire regime has been affected by human impact (eg due to settlement activities or burning for ecosystem management) or by natural factors (natural fire regime climate change or extraterrestrial impact) (van loon 2001 van Der Hammen amp van Geel 2008)

Charred macro-remains from buried Late Glacial forest stands in northern Central Europe were detected under Laacher-See tephra (LST) in the western German Rhineland area (Baales et al 1999 Bittmann 2007) and both under peat (FrieDricH et al 2001 2003) and under aeolian

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Zeitschrift fuumlr Geomorphologie Vol 58 (2014) Suppl 1 211ndash232 ArticlePublished online November 2013B

212 Johann Friedrich Tolksdorf et al

sand (spurk et al 1999) in the eastern German Lusatia area (Fig 1A) They provide exact evidence about the forest composition the demography of the trees and the cycles of burning indicated by fire scars Moreover dendroisotopical investigations based on the changes in δ13C and δ18O isotopes within the Late Glacial tree-ring sequence of the Reichwalde site in Lusatia enabled a reconstruction of temperature and water availability (WaGner 2010)

The amounts of charcoals embedded in limnic sedimentspeat provide information about the fire regime on a more regional scale While the opportunity to obtain exact dates from samples in those environments is an advantage these sources lack from a precision in defining the area they represent and the complexity of processes which produce transport and deposit charcoal As they are often recorded in the course of palynological studies there is a broad dataset from this source available that has been used to attempt long-term fire reconstruction (poWer et al 2008 poWer et al 2010)

Some authors suggest that catastrophic events have triggered wildfires of high intensity dur-ing the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas transition The hypothesis about an extraterrestrial impact event at the onset of the Younger Dryas (Firestone et al 2007) is not supported by recent research (paquay et al 2009 scott et al 2010 pinter et al 2011 van Hoesel et al 2012 Walker et al 2012) Also the eruption of the Laacher See-volcano was related to a rise in charcoals within lake sediments and a connection between the eruption and an increase in lightning has been argued (De klerk et al 2008)

Based on recent observations it is known that periodic wildfires caused by lightning are a typ-ical feature of forests with a high share of coniferous tree taxa (eg macDonalD et al 1991) The temporal and spatial variance of wildfires is explained by climatic trends (millspauGH et al 2000) and the variance in fuel (marlon et al 2006 kennett et al 2008 marlon et al 2009 eicHler et al 2011) In central Europe these potentially fire-sensitive coniferous forest types existed espe-cially on dry sites during the Younger Dryas (lanG 1994) For the Mediterranean environments of North Africa a strong connection between climate and vegetation changes and charcoal deposi-tion during Holocene has been assumed (linstaumlDter amp ZielHoFer 2010)

Although a possible human impact by intentional burning has been suggested only few stud-ies have focussed on the detection of human impact in the vicinity (off-site situation) of Late Pal-aeolithic sites so far The results remain controversial (kloss 1987 Bos amp Janssen 1996 eDWarDs et al 2000 De klerk 2006 lataloWa amp BoroWka 2006 Bos et al 2013) While there is strong evidence of anthropogenic burning in at least local dimensions by hunter-gatherer cultures for the Mesolithic (Bos amp urZ 2003 innes et al 2010 tolksDorF et al 2013b) knowledge about possible burning practices during the Late Palaeolithic is still sparse (rittWeGer 1997 Bos et al 2013) More prevalent are on-site studies that provide information about the botanical assigna-tion of charred remains within archaeological records and the local vegetation pattern (Bittmann 2002 2007) Burning the vegetation to promote resource exploitation in the opened areas in particular hunting is not uncommon among hunter-gatherers Evidence for that is available for instance by ethnographic records from northern America New Zeeland and Australia (leWis amp FerGuson 1988 clark amp royall 1995 BoWman 1998 Delcourt et al 1998 WHitlock amp knox 2002 oGDen et al 2003 BirD et al 2005)

213Potential of palaeosols sediments and archaeological features

In this (case)study we therefore aim to strengthen the perspective of possible human impact by comparing the on- and off-site records of charcoals at the Grabow site with the local landscape and settlement histories

2 Case study Grabow site northern Germany

To obtain further information about a possible link between human occupation and fire events we present results of a multiproxy study that has been conducted at a Late Palaeolithic site (Grabow 15) dating to the early Alleroslashd (lsquoFedermessergruppenrsquo) (Fig 1A) This site is located on the bank of a Late Glacial palaeochannel of the Jeetzel river which is situated in the broadened Elbe river valley (Wendland area) In the wider area of this valley dunes mainly dating to the Late Glacial are present as well Radiocarbon ages from archaeological features of the site encompass an age interval of 14190 ndash13700 cal BP (tolksDorF et al 2013a turner et al 2013) Many other sites of the lsquoFedermessergruppenrsquo in the immediate vicinity (eg Weitsche Fig 1B) prove that this river valley was intensively settled during the Alleroslashd period (veil et al 2012)

The artefacts at the Grabow site are embedded in the sandy overbank sediments that where deposited during the early Alleroslashd by the nearby channel First 14C-ages on charcoals from the artefact scatter indicate ages of 14137ndash13815 yr cal BP and 14185 ndash13703 yr cal BP respectively (tolksDorF et al 2013a) The development of a palaeosol of Fluvisol type in these sediments together with decreasing grain sizes proves that the flooding events diminished during the later Alleroslashd Many finds of artistic amber objects indicated that the collection and processing of lo-cal amber was probably an important factor for preferring this settlement area (veil et al 2012 tolksDorF et al 2013a) In the course of the Younger Dryas sedimentation started in the channel

Fig 1 A Sites in northern central Europe providing insights into Late Glacial local vegetation patterns and fire regime B Oblique areal view on sites Grabow 15 and Weitsche and the location of records PC-1 and PC-2


and the Palaeosol was covered by overbank silts that indicate renewed flooding events and a gener-ally high water table in the area (tolksDorF et al 2013a turner et al 2013) This overbank silts protected the underlying artefacts from disturbance by modern ploughing While the sediments of the excavated site provide information as an on-site archive the core PC1 from the adjacent fluvial channel provides information about the environmental history since the Younger Dryas and postdates the human presence at the nearby site Being near to the site and closely linked to its sedimentation history it was treated like an on-site record (nelle amp Jansen 2011) A palaeochan-nel with lacustrine sediments covering the time period of human occupation at the Grabow site was detected 400 m southwest and provides an off-site archive (Figs 1B 2 core PC2)

3 Material and methods

Microscopic charcoal was counted together with the palynomorphs both in sediments from the excavation area situation the nearby palaeochannel (PC1) and the more distant palaeochannel (offsite record PC2) (tolksDorF et al 2013a turner et al 2013) Within the excavated area all charcoal particles gt 2 mm and wherever possible even smaller ones were recorded in their exact position These data were used to produce a record of the spatial and stratigraphical charcoal distribution and to compare it to the distribution of flint artefacts burnt bones and amber raw-material An area of 2 m2 including a suspected hearth was chosen within the excavation area to analyse the spatial distribution of charcoals in detail (Figs 2 4) From these charcoals a total of 90 was well enough preserved to determine the species Their determination provides an important cross-check for the palynological results as some taxa (eg Populuspoplar) are under-represented in pollen records as a result of sparse pollen production andor bad preservation Determination was based on the characteristic anatomical features identified microscopically on freshly cut trans-versal and tangential surfaces Populus and Salix belong both to the family of Salicaceae and share most anthracological features what makes it hard to distinguish between both if only small pieces are preserved as mostly the case in the present study Therefore they are grouped together in the statistical analysis That many of the charcoals derive from anthropogenic burning in hearths and that they may therefore have undergone a selective process is indicated by concentrations of charcoal particles together with burnt flint and cremated bones in thin dark grey-brown sediment lenses recorded near to the base of the fluvial overbank sediments

As an important biomarker for burning the content of charred organic matter was analysed as black carbon (BC) within the excavation area The term black carbon or pyrogenic carbon comprises a group of chemical compounds that derive from the incomplete combustion of organic material They are relatively resistant against further degradation and their concentration in sedi-ments has been used as a proxy in studies about past fire events also when macrocharcoal is visu-ally absent (scHmiDt amp noack 2000 eckmeier et al 2010 GerlacH et al 2012) As a reference to how anthropogenic burning might have contributed to the BC-content in the soil we sampled an area assumed to be the place of a hearth according to the observations described above These results were compared to the content of BC derived from a vertically sampled sediment column covering the whole stratigraphy The concentration of BC was determined as benzene polycar-boxylix acids (BPCA) according to BroDoWski et al (2005) The samples (two replicates) were first treated with trifluoracetic acid to remove polyvalent cations and then digested with HNO2 at


170 degC for eight hours The sum of BPCAs in each sample was determined after derivatisation on a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) The patterns of benzene rings is dependent on the degree of condensation of the polyaromatic carbon compounds and al-lows for qualifying and quantifying BC in soil samples (eg Hammes et al 2008 rotH et al 2011) A conversion factor of 227 was used to estimate BC contents from the BPCA-C concentration (Glaser et al 1998 BroDoWski et al 2005)

The samples (1 cm3 in volume each) of the palynological sequences from the palaeochannels were processed together with a tablet of Lycopodium spores to measure the concentration of pol-len within the sediment (stockmarr 1971) A minimum of 500 pollen grains of terrestrial plants was counted per sample and the percentages calculated on the base of the pollen sum excluding Alnus and taxa from wetland habitats according to De klerk (2002) Various detailed studies have indicated the probable climatic origin and resulting broad synchronicity of changes in Late Gla-cial pollen records from Northern Germany and adjacent areas (usinGer 1985 Hoek 1997 2001 litt et al 2001 Wolters 2002 De klerk 2008 turner et al 2013) As no independent chronol-ogy for PC2 exists for a broad estimation of the charcoal influx rate during the Late Glacial the palynological record of PC2 was parallelised to records from annually laminated sediments from lakes Haumlmelsee (merkt amp muumlller 1999) Rehwiese (neuGeBauer et al 2012) and Meerfelder Maar (litt amp steBicH 1999) and the mean duration of biostratigraphical periods was transferred to PC2 (Fig 3) Numerical calculation of the charcoal influx was made with R version 2152 (r core team 2012) and the program clam (BlaauW 2010) using linear interpolation between bi-ostratigraphical zone boundaries and adding larger uncertainties (plusmn 100 a) compared to the above named varved records

4 Results

The vertical and horizontal distribution of microscopic charcoal in the fluvial overbank deposits of Alleroslashd age is illustrated by the projection of artefact positions into profiles in the excavation area that were assumed to contain a hearth feature (Fig 4) It shows that the absolute amount of charcoal is very low in the upper part of these sediments compared to the lower part A very good correlation of charcoal with the vertical distribution of the artefacts was observed on the whole site during the excavation which corroborated the assumption that at least a share of the char-coals derived from Late Palaeolithic human activity and not from local wildfires Although char-coal particles were ubiquitous in the whole excavated area some local concentrations are evident Within our test area of 2 m2 the analysis of spatial distribution showed that charcoals were mostly deposited over an initial thin layer of burnt bones both filling a very shallow oval depression with a maximum diameter of 04 m Flint artefacts and amber fragments were scattered above this con-centration and may derive from activities taking place after bone and charcoal have been burnt From an archaeological point of view this is a typical hearth situated on a surface

The BC results showed that the share of charred organic matter at the total organic carbon (OC) in the sediment was higher in the samples from the supposed hearth than in the sediments recorded in a general profile (Figs 2 5 see below) with a maximum in the observed basal layer of burnt bones We conclude that campfires were present which were stoked up with wood and bones


As a result of these anthropogenic human burning activities and of secondary relocation (eg by human trampling or natural processes) charcoal was scattered over the whole excavated area

An analysis of macroscopic charcoal from the fluvial sand and silt of the excavation area reveals a dominance of Salixwillow (and eventually Populus) and Betulabirch in this unit (Fig 6) The occurrence of Alnusalder and Fraxinusash in these units is most probably a result of second-ary downward relocation as indicated by the occurrence of both taxa in the overlying fluvial silt

To investigate the intensity of burning in the immediate vicinity of the site BC concentrations were analysed in samples taken from the fluvial sand and silt together with a reference sample each from the overlying fluvial silt and the underlying fluvial sands in a sequence nearby the excavation area (Figs 2 5) Here the absolute values were rising continuously upwards in the Alleroslashd sedi-ment and showed no peak in the lower part that is assumed to correlate with the layer of human occupation The proportion of BC at the content of organic carbon (OC) remains more or less constant over the whole sequence This means that the contribution of BC to the OC content re-mained constant during the Alleroslashd being comparable both to the values from the underlying and overlying sediments of the Older Dryas and Younger Dryas respectively That the absolute values of BC increase towards the top is most likely a result from a declining intensity of fluvial overbank sedimentation ie the lowermost samples cover a shorter time period than the uppermost ones In general the BPCA patterns of all BC samplers were typical for charcoal (rotH et al 2011) but in contrast to BPCA patterns from single charcoal particles it is not possible to obtain more specific qualitative information from soil samples especially when derived from a fluvial context where material from various burning events could have been accumulated and mixed

The accumulation rate of microscopic charcoals in the off-site record of palaeochannel core PC2 (400 m distance to archaeological site Fig 1B) showed a distinct maximum of charcoal in-flux during the early Alleroslashd which is the time of occupation of the area by the people of the Federmesser groups (Fig 7) The following Younger Dryas interval is represented by palynological records from the nearest palaeochannel (PC1 record) where the lowermost samples cover the time when this channel became inactive and organic sedimentation started If the sum of terrestrial pol-len is used as a reference base for the charcoal count it would indicate a trend of upwards declining

Fig 2 Geological cross-section joining the excavation site with the areas of detailed analysis with the aban-doned palaeochannel of river Jeetzel containing the PC-1 sequence


Fig 3 Relative age-depth model for the sequence PC2 based on the average duration of pollen zones derived from varved sediments including in Germany (litt amp steBicH 1999) An additional uncertainty of plusmn 100 years was added for each transition between two zones

Fig 4 Spatial distribution of macro-charcoals burnt bone artefacts in a 2 m2 test area within the site and position of two soil samples for the analysis of black carbon within this artefact scatter (see Fig 5)


charcoal sedimentation in both off-site records Only when using the pollen density as reference base it becomes obvious that this may be misleading and that most of the charcoal peaks are more likely caused by variations in pollen density as a result of changes in vegetation environmental conditions and sedimentation rates Using the standardisation on particle count per g sediment (concentration) a more cyclic pattern of charcoal sedimentation becomes visible (Fig 7) Taking into account the calculated influx rates of charcoal into the palaeochannel during the Late Glacial it becomes obvious that there was increased charcoal sedimentation during the early Alleroslashd During the Younger Dryas the influx rates are in generally lower than during the Alleroslashd with the exception of one peak in the upper part of the PC2 record

5 Discussion

51 Fire regime in the area of the Grabow 15 site

The archaeological results prove that humans settled on the banks of an active river channel that regularly flooded the site area covering artefacts left behind with sediments Based both on the spatial analysis of the artefacts and the high share of BC compared to the total OC a surface hearth

Fig 5 Comparison of the total black carbon (BC) content and BCorganic carbon (OC) ratio in samples from the artefact scatter (see Fig 4 for sample position) and within the nearby overbank sediments (see Fig 2 for position cf tolksDorF et al 2013 for sedimentological details)


was identified in the test area within the site which proves intentional burning The dominance of Populus and Salix among the charcoals on the site is in good accordance to other wet-site assem-blages of that period (kaiser et al 2006 Bittmann 2007) Considering the occurrence of Alnus and Fraxinus in the upper parts of the site stratigraphy it is more likely that its occurrence in layers ascribed to the Alleroslashd is due to younger bioturbation and relocation downwards However the presence of Alnus viridis on the former river bank cannot be ruled out completely (caspers 1993) If we presume that the use of fire-wood was not too selective during the human presence we can de-duce that human occupation must have taken place on a river bank with a partly open Populus-Salix tall shrubland or forest from which wood was taken as fuel for the hearth The complete absence of wood from plants that have been proved for the adjacent dry areas by pollen analysis such as Juniperus communisjuniper or Hippophae rhamnoidessea buckthorn corroborates this scenario of lo-cal firewood collection (turner et al 2013)

That fire must have been a present agent during the whole Alleroslashd in the Jeetzel river valley is indicated by both the constant BCOC ratio in the fluvial overbank deposits and the charcoal influx rates in the PC2 core Considering the richness of archaeological material from the early Alleroslashd in this area it might be possible that the peak of charcoal influx seen during this period is connected to human presence and burning activities (veil et al 2012 tolksDorF et al 2013a) Moreover it predates the charcoals in sandy soils of the European plain that are typically dating to the later Alleroslashd period and may be connected to climatic and hydrological changes (van Der Hammen amp van Geel 2008 kaiser et al 2009) The charcoal record in uppermost PC2 and low-ermost PC1 covering the Younger Dryas indicates that fire must still have occurred in the valley but in lower frequency or intensity than during the preceding Alleroslashd High peaks of charcoal concentration in some samples dating to the Younger Dryas may result from short-timed burn-ing events in the area causing an increased charcoal input into the abandoned river channel As no settlement traces from the Younger Dryas (that in archaeological terms would be ascribed to the Ahrensburg culture) have been found in the valley so far and the silty overbank sediments

Fig 6 Results of palaeobotanical determination of charcoals uncovered during excavation in the sediment layer with artefacts (overbank sands with Fluvisol)


within the site stratigraphy indicate a rising water level in the river valley it may be more likely to attribute these peaks to wildfires on dry sandy soils (dunes) in the vicinity than to human influ-ence The presence of open pine stands during the Younger Dryas in the vicinity which is proved by macrofossil findings (turner et al 2013) and is also indicated by other palynological studies (tHeuerkauF amp Joosten 2012) may have provided fuel for wildfires during this period The shift

Fig 7 Record of charcoal and calculated influx rates in the palynological sequences PC-1 and PC-2 and chronological position of Weitsche 1 and Grabow 15 sites with amber jewellery and art (veil et al 2012)


to more dense Betula-dominated forests a typical succession during the onset of the Holocene (usinGer 1985 2004 Hoek 1997) did not influence the charcoal concentration in the sediments

52 Reconstruction and comparability of local vegetation patterns and charcoal records

Much research has been dedicated to the general reliability of charcoal as proxy of fire occur-rence and frequency (macDonalD et al 1991 WHitlock amp millspauGH 1996 asouti amp austin 2005 coneDera et al 2009) A general conclusion is that the complexity of charcoal production transport and deposition is far beyond a simple source-sink-model A proper quantification of fire frequency and charcoal deposition rates has thus been impossible up to now We used a more qualitative approach and discuss sites that provided data on the local vegetation patterns and on probable fire regime

Data about Late Glacial charcoal deposition have been acquired from palynological sequences archaeological sites and palaeosols Pollen diagrams containing counts of microscopic charcoals from the Late Glacial are generally rare and have the disadvantage that no standardised procedure has been established for charcoal counting (eDWarDs et al 2000) As shown in the Grabow site case study above plotting the absolute charcoal counts in relation to the pollen count may hide the influence of varying sedimentation rates or pollen density which is why the establishment of a standardisation using Lycopodium marker seems more promising for future research Another prob-lem is the often missing differentiation of the charcoal particle sizes in palynological sequences that potentially provide further information about the transport distances and the local origin of charcoal particles (niemann et al 2010 Walker et al 2012)

Focussing on potential human burning activities investigations on charcoals from archaeo-logical records are promising While charcoals from archaeological features like hearths are doubtlessly related to human activity and may represent preferences in the fuel used (kooistra amp Haumlnninen 1997) charcoal spectra from the artefact bearing sediments may also contain char-coals deriving from wildfires and older or younger charcoals relocated by bioturbation (kaiser amp clausen 2005 Bittmann 2007) A comparison between the charcoals analysed in the different sediment layers of Grabow site underlines the effect of charcoal relocation even in seemingly little disturbed archaeological sites

Very promising are analyses of charred and waterlogged materials from palaeosol catenas (Bittmann amp pasDa 1999 spurk et al 1999 kaiser et al 2006 Bittmann 2007) that provide in-formation about small-scale variances in vegetation pattern especially around lake shores or river banks and about the deposition of charcoal within the specific local vegetation zones The results from site Miesenheim 4Rhineland indicate that charcoal peaks occur in the zone of the reed veg-etation at the shoreline and in the more distant and drier parts with Populus trees That Pinuspine was present on the drier sandy soils is proven by the records from Altdarss siteBaltic Sea coast (kaiser et al 2006) and Groszlig LieskowLusatia (Bittmann amp pasDa 1999)

Data on forest composition and fire cycles has been provided only by a time series of water-logged Pinus trunks of the Reichwalde site where fire scars indicate short fire cycles (FrieDricH et al 2001 2003) Contrastingly the remains of Populus- and Salix-dominated stands covered by the Laacher See tephra in the Rhineland only represent a snap-shot record of vegetation history and but no further information about the fire affinity or frequency of this forest type (Bittmann 2007)


53 General trends of Late Glacial fire regime

Although there are considerable methodological problems concerning the comparability of the different data sources on fire dynamics some general trends can be outlined for different vegeta-tion types of the Late Glacial (Fig 8) While supra-regional studies indicate a generally increasing trend of vegetation burning during the Late Glacial (poWer et al 2008) local and regional studies provide a more detailed picture

The vegetation along the shorelines of lakes and rivers during Alleroslashd and Younger Dryas was recorded at several sites It can be reconstructed as reed vegetation together with open for-est vegetation (Salix Populus Betula) and heliophilous herbs (kaiser et al 2006 Bittmann 2007 Bos et al 2013) Some sources indicate that the water level rose during the first half of the Al-leroslashd (eg Bos et al 2006) and also the Grabow site provides evidence for periodic flooding Several archaeological sites along former lakes rivers and ponds indicate that Late Palaeolithic hunters of the Federmesser groups were attracted by the rich resources in these areas The pres-ence of charcoals in these environments indicates that fires have occurred along the banks and shorelines But there is a dispute if this was a result of local human burning activity (Bos amp

Fig 8 Late Glacial fire traces in palaeosols environmental conditions and archaeological cultures 1 Cul-tural development in northern central Europe and chronological position of the Grabow 15 site (tolksDorF et al 2012) 2 δ18O values as temperature proxy (NGRIP GICC05 20yr mean) 3 Growth conditions of trees from Reichwalde siteLusatia as reconstructed by changes in δ13C and δ18O values (WaGner 2010) 4 a Pollen zonation in northern Germany (turner 2012) 4 b Vegetation in northern central Europe (litt et al 2001) 5 Probability density function of radiocarbon dates from charcoals from sandy buried palaeosols (kaiser et al 2009)


Janssen 1996 Bos et al 2013) as indicated for the Mesolithic period (mellars amp Dark 1998) or a result of seasonal dryness of these sites causing a high vulnerability to wildfires (Bittmann 2007) The continuous occurrence of BC recorded in the overbank deposits of Grabow site may be seen as a background signal proving the continuous presence of fire in the vicinity of Late Glacial lakes and rivers

The dry sandy sites were mostly covered by Pinus during the Alleroslashd Conifer-dominated forests of (zonal) boreal type were proven by modern observations to be very sensitive to natural wildfires It has therefore been suggested that cooling during the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas transi-tion led to an increase of Pinus deadwood on sandy soils thus increasing wildfire intensity during this period (van Der Hammen amp van Geel 2008) This may be reflected by the cluster of 14C ages from buried palaeosols in aeolian stratigraphies dating into this transition (kaiser et al 2009) Results from the Alleroslashd pine forest at the Reichwalde site indicate that remarkably short fire cy-cles (15 ndash 20 years) were present here already before the transition to the Younger Dryas (FrieDricH et al 2003) Although there are numerous sites of the Federmesser groups especially on dunes and the potential of human caused fires is high (Bittmann amp pasDa 1999) the human occupation during the Late Glacial was often of ephemeral nature (von BerG 1994 Baales amp street 1996) On the other hand intentional vegetation burning is not always accompanied by artefact deposi-tion therefore the absence of artefacts in the immediate vicinity of some charcoal records can not be taken as a sure disprove of human burning (Bittmann 2007) Therefore it remains unclear to which extent human activity may have contributed (intendedly or unintendedly) to the occurrence of fire

According to results from northeastern Germany the Younger Dryas (at least in parts) is characterised by very high water levels in river valleys and lake basins (kaiser et al 2012) Fur-thermore there is a decline of the Pinus forests on sandy soils (tHeuerkauF amp Joosten 2012) accompanied by a remobilisation of aeolian sands as a result from vegetation opening (scHirmer 1999 kasse 2002 HilGers 2008 tolksDorF amp kaiser 2012) and slope instability (DreiBroDt et al 2010) Evidence from palynological sequences covering this period (speier 1994 this study) indicates that episodes of fire have occurred A number of 14C-ages from macroscopic charcoal within aeolian sands postdates the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas transition (kaiser et al 2009 van Hoesel et al 2012) and may be connected to the increase of deadwood during the Younger Dryas caused by dying of Pinus trees as a reaction to colder climate and increased wind-throw (Brauer et al 2008 van Der Hammen amp van Geel 2008) If the fire frequency during the Younger Dryas was generally coupled with climate as controversially discussed for northern America (kennett et al 2008 marlon et al 2009) or was more dependent from the local vegetation pattern could not be evaluated so far

The possible contribution of human activity to fire events during the Younger Dryas is dif-ficult to estimate While the hunter-gatherers of the Federmesser groups had exploited a broad range of mainly forest-based game during the Alleroslashd (Baales amp street 1996 Bosinski 2008) the Ahrensburgian groups of the Younger Dryas became heavily dependent on the hunt of seasonally migrating reindeer herds in the European Plain (BratlunD 1996 Baales 1996 WeBer et al 2011) Some models proposed that intentional burning provides advantages for human economy in forest ecosystems (eg for the Federmesser groups of the Alleroslashd) by promoting the number of game and other resources (mellars 1976) the economy of the Younger Dryas reindeer hunters (living in a


Table 1 Late Glacial sites in northern central Europe with waterlogged or charred plant macro-remains and their implication for the reconstruction of fire regimes For location confer Fig 1A

Site [No refers to Fig 1]

Time period Context investigated Results Reference

Alt Duvenstedt [1]

Alleroslashdearly Younger Dryas

Charcoal scattered in archaeological site (Federmesser Ahrenburg)

Pinus sylvestris Betula specPopulus tremula

kaiser amp clausen 2005

Altdarss [2] late Alleroslashd Catena of palaeosols with uncharred and charred botanical macro-remains

Pinus on dryer (higher) topography Pinus and Betula pubescens at slope with Sphagnum growth Salix (and Betula nana) at the lake shore

kaiser et al 2006

Tagebau Cottbus-Nord [3]


Charcoal from palaeolithic fireplaces trunks preserved in organic sediment from Younger Dryas

Fireplaces Pinus spec Populus spec Betula spec Sambucus spec preserved trunks Pinus sylvestris Betula spec

kooistra amp Haumlnninen 1997 spurk et al 1999

Tagebau Reichwalde [4]

Alleroslashd 1565 trunks preserved under peat

Pinus sylestris (age up to 250 a) and Betula spec fire scars indicate fire frequency of 10 ndash15a

FrieDricH et al 2001 2003 kaiser et al 2012

Oldendorf [5] AlleroslashdYounger Dryas

Charcoal concentrations in sediment sequences from mires in the vicinity of a Federmesser site

Charcoal concentrations in AlleroslashdYounger Dryas sediments low compared to Boreal sediment

niemann et al 2010

Miesenheim 4 [6] Alleroslashd (older than Laacher-See-eruption)

17 m long catena of waterlogged botanical macro-remains from the shoreline of a small lake towards the dryer distal area

Charcaol peaks in the zone of the lake shore (reed vegetation) and the most distant drier parts (Populus tremula Salix spec Betula spec)

Bittmann 2007

Miesenheim 2 [7] Alleroslashd Botanical macro-remains on valley slope covered by LST

Populus and Salix with few Betula on the upper slope Betula and Salix at the lower slope

street 1986 Bittmann 2007

Andernach-Martinsberg [8]

Alleroslashd Charcoal scattered in archaeological site (Federmesser)

Mainly Populus and Betula with low share of Salix and Pinus

Bittmann 2007

Niederbiber [9] Alleroslashd Charcoal scattered in archaeological site (Federmesser)

Mainly Betula Populus and Salix

Bittmann 2007

Kettig [10] Alleroslashd Charcoal scattered in archaeological site (Federmesser)

Populus and Betula dominated

Bittmann 2002 2007

Brohltal 1 [11] Alleroslashd Populus trunks and macro-remains in valley filled with Laacher See ash

Populus-Prunus woodland with Betula and heliophilous shrubs

Bittmann 2007


Fraukirch [12] Alleroslashd Botanical macro-remains covered by LST

Populus-Betula woodland Bittmann 2007

Kruft [13] Alleroslashd Seven trunks preserved in LST

4times Populus 3times Betula Baales et al 1999 Bittmann 2007

Weidelbach [14] Younger Dryas Charcoal counts in palynological sequence from Younger Dryas to Boreal

Short-timed peaks of absolute number of charcoal particles during the Youger Dryas

speyer 1994

Amoumlneburger Becken [15]

Alleroslashd Layers with burned organic material in varved lake sediments

Burned Carex spec charred tracheids from coniferous wood (mostly Pinus spec) and Salix spec

rittWeGer 1997

Groszlig Lieskow (Tagebau Cottbus-Nord [16]

Late Alleroslashdearly Younger Dryas

Charcoal scattered in dune sands together with artefacts (Federmesser) and waterlogged macroremains in organic sediments at the base of the dune

During the Alleroslashd Pinus is dominant on the dune The adjacent depression at the dune base is (temporary) flooded Macro-reamins prove Populus Salix and Betula in this moister location During the Alleroslashd Pinus declines in favour of Betula sect alba

Bittmann amp pasDa 1999

Helvoirt [17] Alleroslashd Charred macro-remains covered by aeolian sand

Pinus forest with fire traces

polak 1963

Altenrath [18] Younger Dryas Charcoal scattered in archaeological layer in aeolian sands (Ahrensburg)

Charred remains of Pinus

Floss 1987

Wolin [19] AlleroslashdYounger Dryas

Layer of charred macro-remains within aeolian stratigraphy

During the Alleroslashd Pinus together with Betula and Populus formed and open forest on the aeolian sands Continuous high values of Epilobium pollen are suggested to derive from post-fire pioneer vegetation indicating periodic fire cycles During the Younger Dryas the forest is replaced by open grassland with Betula sect alba and charcaols indicate fire during the early Younger Dryas

lataloWa amp BoroWka 2005


open tundra landscape) would probably not have benefited from intentional burning Nonetheless some of the Pinus charcoals scattered together with Ahrensburgian artefacts at certain sites (Tab 1) surely derive from human settlement activity

4 Conclusions

Our results illustrate the problem to identify human-induced fire during the Late Glacial even in a well-suited archive which is investigated by a multi-proxy approach In summary the occurrence of microscopic and macroscopic charcoals and very local rise of BC content within the excavated area can be related to the human presence This presence did not result in a significant rise of fire related biomarkers in the stratigraphy of overbank deposits at the site that seem to reflect a con-tinuous input of fire related BC together with other organic matter as part of fluvial transported material as a background signal from the wider area Concerning the charcoal input in the channel sediments of PC1 (on-site) and PC2 (off-site) only application of careful standardisation provides the opportunity to identify increased charcoal influx in the record during the phase of intensive human occupation in the area

During the Alleroslashd fire occurred both along the lakes and rivers (with reed vegetation and nearby Salix-Populus forest) and on dry sandy soils (with Pinus- forest) The contribution of human activity to the fire regime is difficult to separate Nonetheless we were able to show a connection between settlement intensity during the early Alleroslashd in the area and the abundance of charcoal both in the on-site and the off-site records It is therefore likely that human burning and fire wood extraction had an impact on the landscape at least on a local scale

While the occurrence of fire in the more open landscape of the Younger Dryas is beyond doubt proper quantification was prevented by the sparseness of suitable records In our study area we could reconstruct a rising water level and the hiatus of local settlement during this time period It is therefore more likely that the recorded charcoals derive from natural wildfires on the dry sandy soils of the dunes than from human burning or wildfires on the river banks of the val-ley floor

Acknowledgments

Fieldwork and analyses at Grabow site were generously founded by the Federal state of Lower Saxony A Limbacher who helped to sort out the macroscopic charcoal from the excavated mate-rial should be named as a representative for the large number of volunteers who assisted in this project The contribution of K Kaiser was enabled by the projects ICLEA and TERENO of the Helmholtz Association E Eckmeier was funded by DFG-project EC4011-1 We are indebted to two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript in many details

References

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Baales m amp street m (1996) Hunter-gatherer behaviour in a changing Late Glacial Landscape Alleroslashd Archaeology in Central Rhineland Germany ndash J Anthropol Res 52 281ndash 316

Baales m Bittmann F amp kromer B (1999) Verkohlte Baumlume im Trass der Laacher See-Tephra bei Kruft (Neuwieder Becken) Ein Beitrag zur Datierung des Laacher See-Ereignisses und zur Vegetation der Alleroslashd-Zeit am Mittelrhein ndash Archaumlol Korrespondenzbl 28 191ndash 204

BirD D BlieGe BirD r amp parker c (2005) Aboriginal burning regimes and hunting strategies in Aus-traliarsquos western desert ndash Hum Ecol 33 443 ndash 464

Bittmann F (2002) Ergebnisse der palaumlobotanischen Untersuchungen am alleroslashdzeitlichen Fundplatz Kettig ndash In Baales m (ed) Der spaumltpalaumlolithische Fundplatz Kettig Untersuchungen zur Siedlungs-archaumlologie der Federmesser-Gruppen am Mittelrhein 73 ndash77 Roumlmisch-Germanisches Zentralmu-seum Mainz

Bittmann F amp pasDa c (1999) Die Entwicklung einer Duumlne waumlhrend der letzten 12000 Jahre ndash Unter-suchungsergebnisse von Groszlig Lieskow (Stadt Cottbus) in der Niederlausitz ndash Quartaumlr 4950 39 ndash 54

Bittmann F (2007) Reconstruction of the Alleroslashd vegetation of the Neuwied Basin western Germany and its surroundings at 12900 cal BP ndash J Veget Hist Archaeobot 16 139 ndash156

BlaauW m (2010) Methods and code for ldquoclassicalrdquo age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences ndash Quatern Geochronol 5 512 ndash 518

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Bos J a a BoHncke s J amp Janssen c r (2006) Lake-level fluctuations and small-scale vegetation pat-terns during the late glacial in The Netherlands ndash J Paleolimnol 35 211ndash 238

Bos J a a verBruGGen F enGels s amp cromBeacute p (2013) The influence of environmental changes on local and regional vegetation patterns at Rieme (NW Belgium) implications for Final Palaeolithic habi-tation ndash Veget Hist Archaeobot 22 17ndash38

BoWman D (1998) The Impact of Aboriginal Landscape Burning on the Australian biota ndash New Phytolo-gist 140 385 ndash 410

Bosinski G (2008) Urgeschichte am Rhein ndash Kerns Tuumlbingen 534 ppBrauer a HauG G Dulski p siGman D amp neGenDank J (2008) An abrupt wind shift in western

Europe at the onset of the Younger Dryas cold period ndash Nat Geosci 1 520 ndash 523BratlunD B (1996) Hunting Strategies in the Late Glacial of Northern Europe A Survey of the Faunal

Evidence ndash J World Prehist 10 1ndash 48BroDoWski s roDionov a Haumaier l Glaser B amp amelunG W (2005) Revised black carbon as-

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Spaumltglazial und Holozaumln ndash Abh Westfaumll Mus Naturk 55 1ndash101clark J amp royall p (1995) Transformation of a northern hardwood forest by aboriginal (Iroquois) fire

charcoal evidence from Crawford Lake Ontario Canada ndash The Holocene 5 1ndash 9coneDera m tinner W neFF c meurer m Dickens a F amp kreBs p (2009) Reconstructing past

fire regimes methods applications and relevance to fire management and conservation ndash Quatern Sci Rev 28 555 ndash 576

De klerk p (2002) Changing vegetation patterns in the Endinger Bruch area (Vorpommern NE Ger-many) during the Weichselian Laterglaical and early Holocene ndash Rev Palaeobot Palynol 119 275 ndash 309

De klerk p (2006) Lateglacial and Early Holocene vegetation history near Henningsdorf (C Brandenburg NE Germany) a new interpretation of palynological data of Klaus Kloss ndash Arch Natursch Land-schaftsforsch 45 37ndash 52

De klerk P (2008) Patterns in vegetation and sedimentation during the Weichselian Late-glacial in north-eastern Germany ndash J Biogeogr 35 1308 ndash1322

De klerk p Janke W kuumlHn p amp tHeuerkauF m (2008) Environmental impact of the Laacher See eruption at a large distance from the volcano Integrated palaeoecological studies from Vorpommern (NE Germany) ndash Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 270 196 ndash 214


Delcourt p a Delcourt H a ison c r sHarp W e amp Gremillion k J (1998) Prehistoric human use of fire the Eastern Agricultural Complex and Appalachian oak-chestnut forests Paleoecology of Cliff Palace Pond Kentucky ndash Amer Antiquity 63 263 ndash 278

DreiBroDt S lomax J nelle O luBos C FiscHer P mitusov A reiss S raDtke U naDeau M Grootes P M amp Bork H (2010) Are mid-latitude slopes sensitive to climatic oscillations Im-plications from an Early Holocene sequence of slope deposits and buried soils from eastern Germany ndash Geomorphology 122 351ndash 369

eckmeier e eGli m scHmiDt m W i scHlumpF n noumltZli m minikus-stary n amp HaGeDorn F (2010) Preservation of fire-derived carbon compounds and sorptive stabilisation promote the accumu-lation of organic matter in black soils of the Southern Alps ndash Geoderma 159 147ndash155

eDWarDs k J WHittinGton G amp tippinG r (2000) The incidence of microscopic charcoal in late glacial deposits ndash Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 164 247ndash 262

eicHler a tinner W BruumltscH s olivier s papina t amp scHWikoWski m (2011) An ice-core based history of Siberian forest fires since AD 1250 ndash Quatern Sci Rev 30 1027ndash1034

Firestone r West a kennett J Becker l BuncH t revay Z scHultZ p BelGya t kennett D erlanDson J Dickenson o GooDyear a Harris r HoWarD G kloosterman J lecHler p amp mayeWski p (2007) Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling ndash Proc Nat Acad Sci 104 16016 ndash16021

FrieDricH m knippinG m van Der kroFt p renno a scHmiDt s ullricH o amp vollBrecHt J (2001) Ein Wald am Ende der letzten Eiszeit Untersuchungen zur Besiedlungs- Landschafts- und Vegetationsentwicklung an einem verlandeten See im Tagebau Reichwalde Niederschlesischer Ober-lausitzkreis ndash Arbeits- und Forschungsber Saumlchs Bodendenkmalpfl 43 21ndash 94

FrieDricH m Boeren i remmele s kuumlppers m escHenBacH c knippinG m stika H Boumltt-Ger t vollBrecHt J renno a amp ullricH o (2003) A Late-Glacial forest in the lignite mine of Reichwalde ndash An interdisciplinary project ndash In scHleser G WiniGer m BraumluninG a Gaumlrtner H Helle G Jansma e neuWirtH B amp treyDte k (eds) TRACE ndash Tree Rings in Archaeology Climatology and Ecology Vol 1 Proc Dendrosymp 2002 ndash Schrift Forschungsz Juumllich 33 90 ndash 91

GerlacH r FiscHer p eckmeier e amp HilGers a (2012) Buried dark soil horizons and archaeological features in the Neolithic settlement region of the Lower Rhine area NW Germany Formation geo-chemistry and chronostratigraphy ndash Quatern Int 265 191ndash 204

Glaser B Haumaier l GuGGenBerGer G amp ZecH W (1998) Black carbon in soils the use of benzen-ecarboxylic acids as specific markers ndash Organ Geochem 29 811ndash 819

Hammes k smernik r J skJemstaD J o scHmiDt m W i (2008) Characterisation and evaluation of reference materials for blackcarbon analysis using elemental composition colour BET surface area and 13C NMR spectroscopy ndash Appl Geochem 23 2113 ndash 2122

Hoek W Z (1997) Late-Glacial and early Holocene climatic events and chronology of vegetation develop-ment in the Netherlands ndash Vegetat Hist Archaeobot 6 197ndash 213

Hoek W Z (2001) Vegetation response to the ~147 and ~115 ka cal BP climate transitions is vegetation lagging climate ndash Glob Planet Change 30 103 ndash115

Hoek W Z amp BoHncke s (2002) Climatic and environmental events over the Last Termination as re-corded in The Netherlands a review ndash Netherl J Geosci 81 123 ndash137

HilGers a (2007) The chronology of Late Glacial and Holocene dune development in the northern Central European lowland reconstructed by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating ndash PhD thesis Univ Cologne 353 pp

innes J BlackForD J amp simmons i (2010) Woodland disturbance and possible land-use regimes during the Late Mesolithic in the English uplands pollen charcoal and non-pollen palynomorph evidence from Bluewath Beck North York Moors UK ndash Vegetat Hist Archaeobot 19 439 ndash 452

kaiser k amp clausen i (2005) Palaeopedology and Stratigraphy of the Late Palaeolithic Alt Duvenstedt Site Schleswig-Holstein (Northwest Germany) ndash Archaumlol Korrespondenzbl 35 447ndash 466

kaiser k BartHelmes a cZakoacute pap s HilGers a Janke W kuumlHn p amp tHeuerkauF m (2006) A Lateglacial palaeosol cover in the Altdarss area southern Baltic Sea coast (northeast Germany) investi-gations on pedology geochronology and botany ndash Netherl J Geosci 85 197ndash 220


kaiser k HilGers a scHlaak n JankoWski m kuumlHn p Bussemer s amp prZeGieltka k (2009) Palaeopedological marker horizons in northern central Europe characteristics of Lateglacial Usselo and Finow soils ndash Boreas 38 591ndash 609

kaiser k lorenZ s Germer s JuscHus o kuumlster m liBra J Bens o amp Huumlttl r F (2012) Late Quaternary evolution of rivers lakes and peatlands in northeast Germany reflecting past climatic and human impact ndash an overview ndash E amp G Quatern Sci J 61 103 ndash132

kasse c (2002) Sandy aeolian deposits and environments and their relation to climate during the Last Glacial Maximum and Late-glacial in northwest and central Europe ndash Progr Phys Geogr 26 507ndash 532

kennett D kennett J West G erlanDson J JoHnson J HenDy i West a culleton B Jones t amp staFForD t (2008) Wildfire and abrupt ecosystem disruption on Californiarsquos Northern Channel Islands at the AlleroslashdYounger Dryas boundary (130 ndash129 ka) ndash Proc Nat Acad Sci 27 2530 ndash 2545

kloss k (1987) Federmesserfundplatz und anthropogene Einfluumlsse in einem Pollendiagramm zum Spaumlt-glazial bein Henningsdorf Kr Oranienburg ndash Ausgrabungen und Funde 32 54 ndash 62

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lanG G (1994) Quartaumlre Vegetationsgeschichte Europas Methoden und Ergebnisse ndash Fischer 462 pp Jena

lataloWa m amp BoroWka r k (2006) The AlleroslashdYounger Dryas transition in Wolin Island northwest Poland as reflected by pollen macrofossils and chemical content of an organic layer separating two aeolian series ndash Vegetat Hist Archaeobot 15 321ndash 331

leWis H amp FerGuson t (1988) Yards Corridors and Mosaics How to Burn a Boreal Forest ndash Human Ecol 16 57ndash77

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litt t amp steBicH m (1999) Bio- and chronostratigraphy of the Lateglacial in the Eifel region Germany ndash Quatern Int 61 5 ndash16

litt t Brauer a Goslar t merkt J BalaGa k muumlller H ralska-JasieWicZoWa m steBicH m amp neGenDank J F W (2001) Correlation and synchronisation of Lateglacial continental sequences in northern Central Europe based on annually laminated lacustrine sediments ndash Quatern Sci Rev 20 1233 ndash1249

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marlon J Bartlein p J amp WHitlock c (2006) Fire-fuel-climate linkages in the northwestern USA dur-ing the Holocene ndash The Holocene 16 1059 ndash1071

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mellars p (1976) Fire ecology animal populations and man a study of some ecological relationships in prehistory ndash Proc Prehist Soc 4215 ndash 45

mellars p amp Dark p (eds) (1998) Star Carr in context new archaeological and palaeological investiga-tions at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr North Yorkshire ndash Oxbow 250 pp Oxford

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neuGeBauer i Brauer a DraumlGer n Dulski p WulF s plessen B minGram J HerZscHuH u amp BranDe a (2012) A Younger Dryas varve chronology from the Rehwiese palaeolake record in NE-Germany ndash Quatern Sci Rev 36 91ndash102


nelle o amp Jansen D (2011) Botanische Groszligrestanalyse ndash Rekonstruktion von Vegetation und pflanzli-cher Ressourcennutzung ndash In Bork H-r meller H amp GerlacH r (eds) Umweltarchaumlologie ndash Na-turkatastrophen und Umweltwandel im archaumlologischen Befund ndash 3 Mitteldeutscher Archaumlologentag vom 7 bis 9 Oktober 2019 HalleSaale 97ndash109

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pinter n scott a c Daulton t l poDoll a koeBerl c anDerson r s amp isHman s e (2011) The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis A requiem ndash Earth Sci Rev 106 247ndash 264

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r core team (2012) R A language and environment for statistical computing ndash R Foundation for Statisti-cal Computing Vienna Austria wwwR-projectorg

rittWeGer H (1997) Spaumltquartaumlre Sedimente im Amoumlneburger Becken Archive der Umweltgeschichte einer mittelhessischen Altsiedellandschaft ndash Landesamt fuumlr Denkmalpflege Hessen 242 pp Wies-baden

rotH p J leHnDorFF e BroDoWski s Bornemann l sancHeZ-Garciacutea l GustaFsson ouml amp ame-lunG W (2012) Differentiation of charcoal soot and diagenetic carbon in soil Method comparison and perspecitves ndash Organic Geochem 46 66 ndash75

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scott a c pinter n collinson m e HarDiman m anDerson r s Brain a p r smitH s y marone F amp stampanoni m (2010) Fungus not comet or catastrophe accounts for carbonaceous spherules in the Younger Dryas ldquoimpact layerrdquo ndash Geophys Res Lett 37 L14302

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spurk m kromer B amp pescHke p (1999) Dendrochronologische palynologische und Radiokarbon-Untersuchungen eines Waldes aus der Juumlngeren Tundrenzeit ndash Quartaumlr 4950 34 ndash 38

stockmarr J (1971) Tablets with spores used in absolute pollenanalysis ndash Pollen et Spores 13 615 ndash 621tHeuerkauF m amp Joosten H (2012) Younger Dryas cold stage vegetation patterns of central Europe ndash

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veil s (2013a) Multiproxy analyses of stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of the Late Palaeolithic Grabow floodplain site northern Germany ndash Geoarchaeology 28 50 ndash 65

tolksDorF J F klasen n amp HilGers a (2013b) The existence of open areas during the Mesolithic evidence from aeolian sediments in the Elbe-Jeetzel area northern Germany ndash J Archaeol Sci 40 2813 ndash 2823

turner F tolksDorF J F vieHBerG F scHWalB a kaiser k Bittmann F von Bramann u pott r staescHe u Breest k amp veil s (2013) Late Glacial early Holocene fluvial reactions of Jeetzel river (Elbe valley northern Germany) to abrupt climatic and environmental changes ndash Quatern Sci Rev 60 91ndash109

usinGer H (1985) Pollenstratigraphische vegetations- und klimageschichtliche Gliederung des bdquoBoslashlling-Alleroslashd-Komplexesldquo in Schleswig-Holstein und ihre Bedeutung fuumlr die Spaumltglazial-Straitgraphie in benachbarten Gebieten ndash Flora 177 1ndash 43

usinGer H (2004) Vegetation and climate of the lowlands of northern Central Europe and adjacent areas around the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition ndash with special emphasis on the Preboreal oscillation ndash In terBerGer t amp eriksen B v (eds) Hunters in a changing world Environment and archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca 11000 ndash 9000BC) in Northern Central Europe 1ndash 26 Leidorf Rhaden

van Der Hammen t amp van Geel B (2008) Charcoal in soils of the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas transition were the result of natural fires and not necessarily the effect of an extra-terrestrial impact ndash Netherl J Geosci 87 359 ndash 361

van Geel B coope G amp van Der Hammen t (1989) Palaeoecology and stratigraphy of the Late Glacial type section at Usselo (The Netherlands) ndash Rev Palaeobot Palynol 60 25 ndash129

van Hoesel a Hoek W Z BraaDBaart F van Der plicHt J pennock G m amp Drury m r (2012) Nanodiamonds and wildfire evidence in the Usselo horizon postdate the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas boundary ndash Proc Nat Acad Sci 109 7648 ndash7653

van loon a J (2001) Changing the face of the Earth ndash Earth Sci Rev 52 371ndash 379veil s Breest k Grootes p naDeau m amp Huumlls m (2012) A 14000-year-old amber elk and the ori-

gins of northern European art ndash Antiquity 86 660 ndash 673von BerG a (1994) Alleroslashdzeitliche Feuerstellen unter dem Bims im Neuwieder Becken (Rheinland-Pfalz)

ndash Archaumlol Korrespondenzbl 24 355 ndash 365WaGner r (2010) Rekonstruktion von Klimaschwankungen im Spaumltglazial mittels einer Klimakalibration

an rezenten Kiefern Ostdeutschlands ndash PhD thesis Univ Jena 101 ppWalker m loWe J Blockley s p Bryant c coomBes p Davies s HarDiman m turney c s amp

Watson J (2012) Lateglacial and early Holocene palaeoenvironmental lsquoeventsrsquo in Sluggan Bog North-ern Ireland comparisons with the Greenland NGRIP GICC05 event stratigraphy ndash Quatern Sci Rev 36 124 ndash138

WeBer m Grimm s B amp Baales m (2011) Between warm and cold Impact of the Younger Dryas on human behavior in Central Europe ndash Quatern Int 242 277ndash 301

WHitlock c amp millspauGH s H (1996) Testing the assumptions of fire-history studies an examination of modern charcoal accumulation in Yellowstone National Park USA ndash The Holocene 6 7ndash15

WHitlock c amp knox m a (2002) Prehistoric burning in the Pacific Northwest ndash In vale t r (ed) Fire Native peoples and the Natural Landscape ndash Island Press 195-231

Wolters s (2002) Vegetationsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur spaumltglazialen und holozaumlnen Land-schaftsentwicklung in der Doumlberitzer Heide (Brandenburg) ndash Diss Botanicae 366 1ndash157


Addresses of the authorsJohann Friedrich Tolksdorf Archaeological Heritage Office in Saxony with State Museum of Prehistory Zur Wetterwarte 7 01109 Dresden Germany e-mailJohannFriedrichTolksdorfgmxdeFalko Turner University of Hannover Institute of Geobotany Nienburger Straszlige 17 30167 Hannover GermanyKnut Kaiser GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Telegrafenberg 14473 Potsdam GermanyEileen Eckmeier RWTH Aachen University Department of Geography Templergraben 55 52056 Aachen GermanyFelix Bittmann Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research Viktoriastraszlige 2628 26382 Wil-hemshaven GermanyStephan Veil State Museum of Lower Saxony Willy-Brandt-Allee 5 30169 Hannover Germany


sand (spurk et al 1999) in the eastern German Lusatia area (Fig 1A) They provide exact evidence about the forest composition the demography of the trees and the cycles of burning indicated by fire scars Moreover dendroisotopical investigations based on the changes in δ13C and δ18O isotopes within the Late Glacial tree-ring sequence of the Reichwalde site in Lusatia enabled a reconstruction of temperature and water availability (WaGner 2010)

The amounts of charcoals embedded in limnic sedimentspeat provide information about the fire regime on a more regional scale While the opportunity to obtain exact dates from samples in those environments is an advantage these sources lack from a precision in defining the area they represent and the complexity of processes which produce transport and deposit charcoal As they are often recorded in the course of palynological studies there is a broad dataset from this source available that has been used to attempt long-term fire reconstruction (poWer et al 2008 poWer et al 2010)

Some authors suggest that catastrophic events have triggered wildfires of high intensity dur-ing the Alleroslashd-Younger Dryas transition The hypothesis about an extraterrestrial impact event at the onset of the Younger Dryas (Firestone et al 2007) is not supported by recent research (paquay et al 2009 scott et al 2010 pinter et al 2011 van Hoesel et al 2012 Walker et al 2012) Also the eruption of the Laacher See-volcano was related to a rise in charcoals within lake sediments and a connection between the eruption and an increase in lightning has been argued (De klerk et al 2008)

Based on recent observations it is known that periodic wildfires caused by lightning are a typ-ical feature of forests with a high share of coniferous tree taxa (eg macDonalD et al 1991) The temporal and spatial variance of wildfires is explained by climatic trends (millspauGH et al 2000) and the variance in fuel (marlon et al 2006 kennett et al 2008 marlon et al 2009 eicHler et al 2011) In central Europe these potentially fire-sensitive coniferous forest types existed espe-cially on dry sites during the Younger Dryas (lanG 1994) For the Mediterranean environments of North Africa a strong connection between climate and vegetation changes and charcoal deposi-tion during Holocene has been assumed (linstaumlDter amp ZielHoFer 2010)

Although a possible human impact by intentional burning has been suggested only few stud-ies have focussed on the detection of human impact in the vicinity (off-site situation) of Late Pal-aeolithic sites so far The results remain controversial (kloss 1987 Bos amp Janssen 1996 eDWarDs et al 2000 De klerk 2006 lataloWa amp BoroWka 2006 Bos et al 2013) While there is strong evidence of anthropogenic burning in at least local dimensions by hunter-gatherer cultures for the Mesolithic (Bos amp urZ 2003 innes et al 2010 tolksDorF et al 2013b) knowledge about possible burning practices during the Late Palaeolithic is still sparse (rittWeGer 1997 Bos et al 2013) More prevalent are on-site studies that provide information about the botanical assigna-tion of charred remains within archaeological records and the local vegetation pattern (Bittmann 2002 2007) Burning the vegetation to promote resource exploitation in the opened areas in particular hunting is not uncommon among hunter-gatherers Evidence for that is available for instance by ethnographic records from northern America New Zeeland and Australia (leWis amp FerGuson 1988 clark amp royall 1995 BoWman 1998 Delcourt et al 1998 WHitlock amp knox 2002 oGDen et al 2003 BirD et al 2005)















4 Results














5 Discussion

































Alt Duvenstedt [1]







kaiser et al 2006













niemann et al 2010




Bittmann 2007







Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2002 2007



Bittmann 2007








speyer 1994




rittWeGer 1997








polak 1963



Floss 1987







4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References

























































































































4 Results














5 Discussion

































Alt Duvenstedt [1]







kaiser et al 2006













niemann et al 2010




Bittmann 2007







Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2002 2007



Bittmann 2007








speyer 1994




rittWeGer 1997








polak 1963



Floss 1987







4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References






















































































































5 Discussion

































Alt Duvenstedt [1]







kaiser et al 2006













niemann et al 2010




Bittmann 2007







Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2002 2007



Bittmann 2007








speyer 1994




rittWeGer 1997








polak 1963



Floss 1987







4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References








































































































































Alt Duvenstedt [1]







kaiser et al 2006













niemann et al 2010




Bittmann 2007







Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2007



Bittmann 2002 2007



Bittmann 2007








speyer 1994




rittWeGer 1997








polak 1963



Floss 1987







4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References


















































































































speyer 1994




rittWeGer 1997








polak 1963



Floss 1987







4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References













































































































4 Conclusions




Acknowledgments


References











































































































Potential of palaeosols, sediments and archaeological features to reconstruct Late Glacial fire...

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