Abstract
Medieval vegetation–human–climate interactions were studied from a sediment profile situated in the centre of a short-lived medieval village located above 800 m a.s.l. on the ridge of the Krušné Mts., NW Bohemia, Central Europe. Analyses of pollen, seeds/fruits, micro- and macro-charcoals, diatoms and concentrations of microelements in connection with written sources revealed a significant human-induced deforestation in the second half of the 14th century. This deforestation occurred sooner than supposed and the area did not revert after ad 1347 as elsewhere in Europe. Arable fields probably enabled basic self-sustaining cultivation of winter cereals even at such elevations in the climatically favourable years of the Medieval Warm Period. The village presumably collapsed due to a combination of weather fluctuations at the onset of the Little Ice Age, simultaneous socioeconomic stagnation in the Czech Lands and exploitation of the surrounding forest. The dynamics of wet stand vegetation and Calthion palustris montane wet meadows were driven by fluctuating human and grazing impacts. Annual and biennial herbaceous species that peaked after village abandonment were rapidly replaced by Filipendula ulmaria and Salix stands. The secondary forest developed towards Picea stands. Only later, mesic montane meadows of medium tall grasses combined with Meum athamanticum and mountain dry pastures developed on nutrient poor patches.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abraham V, Kuneš P, Petr L et al (2016) A pollen-based quantitative reconstruction of the Holocene vegetation updates a perspective on the natural vegetation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Preslia 88:409–434
Alfonso I (2007) Rural history of medieval European societies: trends and perspectives. The medieval countryside, vol 1. Brepols, Turnhout
Balátová-Tuláčková E (1981) Phytozönologische und synökologische Charakteristik der Feuchtwiesen NW-Böhmens. Rozpravy ČSAV, Řada matematických a přírodních věd 91:1–91
Beck R (2004) Unterfinning: Ländliche Welt vor Anbruch der Moderne. C. H. Beck, München
Behre K-E (1981) The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Pollen Spores 23:225–245
Beug H-J (2004) Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete. Pfeil, München
Bradshaw RHW, Kito N, Giesecke T (2010) Factors influencing the Holocene history of Fagus. For Ecol Manag 259:2,204–2,212
Brázdil R, Kotyza O (1995) History of weather and climate in the Czech lands I: period 1000–1500. Zürcher Geographische Schriften, vol 62. Geographisches Institut ETH, Zürich
Brázdil R, Kotyza O (2000) History of weather and climate in the Czech Lands IV: utilisation of economic sources for the study of climate fluctuation in the Louny Region in the fifteenth–seventeenth centuries. Masaryk University, Brno
Brázdil R, Dobrovolný P, Trnka M et al (2013) Droughts in the Czech Lands, 1090–2012 ad. Clim Past 9:1,985–2,002
Bronk Ramsey C (2008) Deposition models for chronological records. Quat Sci Rev 27:42–60
Bronk Ramsey C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360
Bronk Ramsey C, Lee S (2013) Recent and planned developments of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 552:720–730
Büntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K et al (2011) 2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science 331:578–582
Cailleret M, Davi H (2011) Effects of climate on diameter growth of co-occurring Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba along an altitudinal gradient. Trees Struct Funct 25:265–276
Čapek L, Holata L (2017) General overview of medieval settlement research in the Czech Republic: emergence and development of the field, main issues and adoption of landscape context. Revista ArkeoGazte Aldizkaria 7:267–320
Cappers RTJ, Bekker RM, Jans JEA (2006) Digital seed atlas of the Netherlands. Groningen archaeological studies, vol 4. Barkhuis Publishing, Eelde
Černá E, Klír T (2014) The settlement of the Ore Mountains in the Later Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. The context and objectives of interdisciplinary research. In: Boháčová I, Sommer P (eds) Medieval Europe in motion. In honour of Jan Klápště. Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague, v.v.i., Praha, pp 105–118
Chytrý M (2012) Vegetation of the Czech Republic: diversity, ecology, history and dynamics. Preslia 84:427–504
Cílová Z, Woitsch J (2012) Potash—a key raw material of glass batch for Bohemian glasses from 14th–17th centuries? J Archaeol Sci 39:371–380
Crkal J (2015) Výsluní. In: Urban M (ed) Horní města Krušných hor. Fornica Publishing, Sokolov, pp 300–319
Crkal J, Černá E (2009) Nové objevy v Krušných horách–zaniklé středověké sklárny na k. ú. Výsluní, okr. Chomutov. Archaeol Hist 34:503–521
Denys L (1991) A check-list of the diatoms in the Holocene deposits of the western Belgian coastal plain with a survey of their apparent ecological requirements. 1. Introduction, ecological code and complete list. Service Géologique de Belgique 246:1–41
Dobrovolný P, Brázdil R, Kotyza O, Valášek H (2010) Extreme summer and winter temperatures in the Czech Lands after A.D. 1500 and their Central European context. Geografie 115:266–283
Dobrovolný P, Rybníček M, Kolář T et al (2015) A tree-ring perspective on temporal changes in the frequency and intensity of hydroclimatic extremes in the territory of the Czech Republic since 761 ad. Clim Past 11:1,453–1,466
Fægri K, Iversen J (1989) Textbook of Pollen analysis, 4th edn (revised by Fægri K, Kaland PE, Krzywinski K.), Wiley, Chichester
Faria JC (2009) Resources of Tinn-R GUI/editor for R environment. UESC, Ilheus
Fott B (1954) Pleurax, synthetická pryskyrice pro preparaci rozsivek. Preslia 26:163–194
Fott J, Vukic J, Rose NL (1998) The spatial distribution of characterized fly-ash particles and trace metals in lake sediments and catchment mosses: Czech Republic. Water Air Soil Pollut 106:241–261
Fredskild B (1988) Agriculture in a marginal area—South Greenland from the Norse Landnam (A.D. 985) to the present (A.D. 1985). In: Birks HH, Birks HJB, Kaland PE, Moe D (eds) The cultural landscape—past, present and future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 381–393
Gaillard MJ (2013) Pollen methods and studies, archaeological applications. In: Elias SA, Mock CJ (eds) Encyclopedia of quaternary science, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 880–903
Gaillard MJ, Sugita S, Mazier F et al (2010) Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks. Clim Past 6:483–499
Giesecke T, Bennett KD (2004) The Holocene spread of Picea abies (L.) Karst. in Fennoscandia and adjacent areas. J Biogeogr 31:1,523–1,548
Giesecke T, Hickler T, Kunkel T et al (2007) Towards an understanding of the Holocene distribution of Fagus sylvatica L. J Biogeogr 34:118–131
Gissel S, Juttikkala E, Österberg E, Sandnes J, Teitsson B (1981) Desertion and land colonization in the Nordic countries c. 1300–1600: comparative report from the Scandinavian research project on deserted farms and villages. Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm
Griffin JJ, Goldberg ED (1979) Morphologies and origin of elemental carbon in the environment. Science 206:563–565
Grimm EC (1987) CONISS: a FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Comput Geosci 13:13–35
Grimm EC (2011) Tilia. Version 1.7.16. Illinois State Museum, Springfield
Hájková P, Hájek M, Blažková D et al (2010) Meadows and mesic pastures. In: Chytrý M (ed) Vegetation of the Czech Republic 1: grassland and heathland vegetation. Academia, Praha
Hicks S (2006) When no pollen does not mean no trees. Veg Hist Archaeobot 15:253–261
Hofmann F (1939) Geschichtes Memorandum über die Freie Bergstadt Sonnenberg. Erzg., Sudetengau
Hoskins W (1988) The making of the English landscape. Hodder and Stoughton, London
Houfková P, Bumerl J, Pospíšil L et al (2015) Origin and development of long-strip field patterns: a case study of an abandoned medieval village in the Czech Republic. Catena 135:83–91
Houk V (2003) Atlas of freshwater centric diatoms with a brief key and descriptions, part 1: Melosiraceae, Orthoseiraceae, Paraliaceae and Aulacoseiraceae. Czech Phycol Suppl 1:1–27
Hürkamp K, Raab T, Volkel J (2009) Two and three-dimensional quantification of lead contamination in alluvial soils of a historic mining area using field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) analysis. Geomorphology 110:28–36
Hylmarová L, Klír T, Černá E (2013) Iron objects from the defunct village of Spindelbach, Krušné Hory Mountains. Results of metal detecting. Archaeol Hist 38:569–609
Jankovská V, Kuneš P, van der Knaap WO (2007) 1. Fláje–Kiefern (Krušné Hory Mountains): Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation development. Grana 46:214–216
Jehlík V (1971) Die Vegetationsbesiedlung der Dorftrümmer in Nordböhmen. Eine Studie über synanthrope Vegetation und Flora. Rozpravy Československé akademie věd 81. Academia, Praha
Jump AS, Hunt JM, Martinez-Izquierdo JA, Penuelas J (2006) Natural selection and climate change: temperature-linked spatial and temporal trends in gene frequency in Fagus sylvatica. Mol Ecol 15:3,469–3,480
Kalnicky DJ, Singhvi R (2001) Field portable XRF analysis of environmental samples. J Hazard Mater 83:93–122
Kaplan JO, Krumhardt KM, Zimmermann N (2009) The prehistoric and preindustrial deforestation of Europe. Quat Sci Rev 28:3,016–3,034
Katz N, Katz S, Kipiani M (1965) Atlas and keys of fruits and seeds occuring in the quaternary deposits of the USSR. Academy of Science of the USSR, Nauka, Moscow
Kenzler H (2012) Die hoch- und spätmittelalterliche Besiedlung des Erzgebirges: Strategien zur Kolonisation eines landwirtchaftlichen Ungunstraumes. Habelt, Bonn
Kitsikopoulos H (2011) Agrarian change and crisis in Europe, 1200–1500. Routledge research in medieval studies. Routledge, New York
Klápště J (2016) The archaeology of Prague and the medieval Czech lands. Studies in the archaeology of medieval Europe. Equinox Publishing, Sheffield, pp 1100–1600
Klír T (2016) Research of deserted Medieval villages conducted by the Institute of Archaeology at Charles University in Prague. In: Nocuń P et al (eds) Wieś zaginiona. Stan i perspektywy badań. Monografie i materiały MGPE 5. Muzeum “Górnośląski Park Etnograficzny w Chorzowie”, Chorzów, pp 17–59
Kočár P, Kočárová R, Petr L et al (2014) Pflanzenreste aus den hochmittelalterlichen Bergbaustandorten im Erzgebirge. Archeomontan 29:119–135
Kozáková R, Pokorný P, Havrda J, Jankovská V (2009) The potential of pollen analyses from urban deposits: multivariate statistical analysis of a data set from the medieval city of Prague, Czech Republic. Veg Hist Archaeobot 18:477–488
Kozáková R, Pokorný P, Mařík J et al (2014) Early to high medieval colonization and alluvial landscape transformation of the Labe valley (Czech Republic): evaluation of archaeological, pollen and macrofossil evidence. Veg Hist Archaeobot 23:701–718
Kozáková R, Pokorný P, Peša V et al (2015) Prehistoric human impact in the mountains of Bohemia. Do pollen and archaeological data support the traditional scenario of a prehistoric “wilderness”? Rev Palaeobot Palynol 220:29–43
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1986) Bacillariophyceae. 1. Teil: Naviculaceae. In: Ettl H, Gerloff J, Heinig H, Mollenhauer D (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol 2/1. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1988) Bacillariophyceae. 2. Teil: Bacillariaceae, Epithemiaceae, Surirellaceae. In: Ettl H, Gerloff J, Heinig H, Mollenhauer D (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol 2/2. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1991a) Bacillariophyceae. 4. Teil: Achnanteaceae, Kritische Ergänzungen zu Navicula (Lineolateae) und Gomphonema. Gesamtliteraturverzeichnis Teil 1–4. In: Ettl H, Gerloff J, Heinig H, Mollenhauer D (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol 2/4. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart
Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1991b) Bacillariophyceae. Teil 3: Centrales, Fragilariaceae, Eunotiaceae. In: Ettl H, Gerloff J, Heinig H, Mollenhauer D (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol 2/3. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart
Kratochvíl F (1953) Zpráva o geologickém mapování a rudních výskytech v okolí Výsluní u Chomutova. Unpublished report, Geofond Praha, p P5042
Kreuz A, Schäfer E (2002) A new archaeobotanical database program. Veg Hist Archaeobot 11:177–180
Kubát K, Hrouda L, Chrtek J (2002) Klíčke květeně České republiky. Academia, Praha
Legendre P, Legendre L (1998) Numerical ecology. Elsevier, Amsterdam
MacArthur RH (1957) On the relative abundance of bird species. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 43:293–295
Magyari EK, Kuneš P, Jakab G et al (2014) Late Pleniglacial vegetation in eastern-central Europe: are there modern analogues in Siberia? Quat Sci Rev 95:60–79
Matzat W (1988) Long strip field layouts and their later subdivisions—a comparison of English and German cases. Geogr Ann B 70:133–147
Maur E (1989) Ein Beitrag zur demographischen Problematik Böhmens in vorhussitischer Zeit (1346–1419). Acta Universitatis Carolinae–Philosophica et historica. Stud Hist 34:7–71
Nocuń P, Przybyła-Dumin A, Fokt K (2016) Wieś zaginiona. Stan i perspektywy badań. Monografie i materiały MGPE 5. Muzeum “Górnośląski Park Etnograficzny w Chorzowie”, Chorzów
Opravil E (1969) Synantropní rostliny dvou středověkých objektů ze SZ Čech. Preslia 41:248–257
Pickett STA, McDonnell MJ (1989) Seed bank dynamics in temperate deciduous forest. In: Leck MA (ed) Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 123–147
Pokorná A, Dreslerová D, Křivánková D (2011) Archaeobotanical database of the Czech Republic, an interim report. IANSA 2:49–53
Pokorná A, Houfková P, Novák J et al (2014) The oldest Czech fishpond discovered? An interdisciplinary approach to reconstruction of local vegetation in mediaeval Prague suburbs. Hydrobiologia 730:191–213
Pokorná A, Kočár P, Novák J et al (2018) Ancient and Early Medieval man-made habitats in the Czech Republic: colonization history and vegetation changes. Preslia 90:171–193
Pokorný P, Chytrý M, Juřičková L et al (2015) Mid-Holocene bottleneck for central European dry grasslands: did steppe survive the forest optimum in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic? Holocene 25:716–726
Poschlod P (2015) Geschichte der Kulturlandschaft. Ulmer, Stuttgart
Profous A (1951) Místní jména v Čechách. Jejich vznik, původ, význam a změny III. Nakl. Československé akademie věd, Prague
Punt W et al (1976–2009) The Northwest European Pollen Flora (NEPF) Vol I (1976), Vol II (1980), Vol III (1981), Vol IV (1984) Vol V (1988), Vol VI (1991), Vol VII (1996), Vol VIII (2003), Vol IX (2009). Elsevier, Amsterdam
R Development Core Team (2010) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A et al (2013) Intcal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:1,869–1,887
Rose NL (2001) Fly-ash particles. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Physical and geochemical methods, vol 2. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, pp 319–349
Rott E, Pipp E, Pfister P et al (1999) Indikationslisten für Aufwuchsalgen in österreichischen Fliessgewässern, Teil 2: Trophieindikation. Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Wien
Schuster P (1999) Die Krise des Spätmittelalters. Zur Evidenz eines sozial- und wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Paradigmas in der Geschichtsschreibung des 20. Jahrhunderts Hist Z 269:19–55
Schuster R, Oberhuber W (2013) Age-dependent climate-growth relationships and regeneration of Picea abies in a drought-prone mixed-coniferous forest in the Alps. Can J For Res 43:609–618
Schweingruber FH (1990) Mikroskopische Holzanatomie. Formenspektren mitteleuropäischer Stamm- und Zweighölzer zur Bestimmung von rezentem und subfossilem Material, vol 3. Aufl. Eidgenössische Anstalt für das Forstliche Versuchswesen, Birmensdorf
Seppä H, Hicks S (2006) Integration of modern and past pollen accumulation rate (PAR) records across the arctic tree-line: a method for more precise vegetation reconstructions. Quat Sci Rev 25:1,501–1,516
Stockmarr J (1971) Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. Pollen Spores 13:615–621
Sveinbjarnardóttir G (1992) Farm abandonment in medieval and post-medieval Iceland: an interdisciplinary study. Oxbow Books, Oxford
Sweeney CA (2004) A key for the identification of stomata of the native conifers of Scandinavia. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 128:281–290
Szabó P, Kuneš P, Svobodová-Svitavská H et al (2017) Using historical ecology to reassess the conservation status of coniferous forests in Central Europe. Conserv Biol 31:150–160
Tolasz R, Míková T, Valeriánová A, Voženílek V (2007) Climate atlas of Czechia. Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague
Troels-Smith JA (1955) Karakterisering af løse jordarter (Characterization of unconsolidated sediments). Danmarks Geologiske Undersøgelse 3:1–73
Umbanhowar CE, McGrath MJ (1998) Experimental production and analysis of microscopic charcoal from wood, leaves and grasses. Holocene 8:341–346
Van Hees AFM (1997) Growth and morphology of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L) seedlings in relation to shading and drought. Ann Sci For 54:9–18
Van Dam H, Mertens A, Sinkeldam J (1994) A coded checklist and ecological indicator values of freshwater diatoms from The Netherlands. Aquat Ecol 28:117–133
Van der Knaap WO (2009) Estimating pollen diversity from pollen accumulation rates: a method to assess taxonomic richness in the landscape. Holocene 19:159–163
Van der Knaap WO, van Leeuwen JF, Svitavská-Svobodová H et al (2010) Annual pollen traps reveal the complexity of climatic control on pollen productivity in Europe and the Caucasus. Veg Hist Archaeobot 19:285–307
Veron A, Novak M, Brizova E, Stepanova M (2014) Environmental imprints of climate changes and anthropogenic activities in the Ore Mountains of Bohemia (Central Europe) since 13 cal. kyr BP. Holocene 24:919–931
Vojta J (2007) Relative importance of historical and natural factors influencing vegetation of secondary forests in abandoned villages. Preslia 79:223–244
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the project ‘PAPAVER’, Reg. no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0289, a grant from the European Regional Development Fund-Project “Creativity and Adaptability as Conditions of the Success of Europe in an Interrelated World” (no. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000734), and the Charles University Grant Agency, Project no. 307415. We wish to thank to Jan Mareš for help during the coring, and Kristina Uhrová with sample preparation and Keith Edwards for language corrections. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose comments substantially improved the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by K.-E. Behre.
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Houfková, P., Horák, J., Pokorná, A. et al. The dynamics of a non-forested stand in the Krušné Mts.: the effect of a short-lived medieval village on the local environment. Veget Hist Archaeobot 28, 607–621 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00718-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00718-5