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Human induced landscape changes around Bafa Gölü (western Turkey)

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Abstract

A palynological and sedimentological investigation of two lake sediment cores retrieved from Bafa Gölü (western Turkey) was carried out as a contribution to the environmental history of the lower Büyük Menderes river valley during the later Holocene. Woods of mainly deciduous oak represent the climax vegetation around Bafa Gölü. Human impact on the ecosystem, starting at the latest during the so-called “Beyşehir occupation phase” in the late second millennium b.c., resulted in the transition to open woodland and maquis scrub. Local settlement phases such as woodland clearance and associated erosion/accumulation features can be detected by pollen as well as sedimentological analyses. The strongest human impact can be detected at the time of the Greek period in the seventh to first century b.c. and especially during the Roman period in the first century b.c. until the fourth century a.d., when sedimentation was 5–6 times greater than in the periods before and after.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG grants Br 877/17-1, -2, -3), which is gratefully acknowledged. Laboratory work was carried out by M. Dinies, Berlin, and S. Liner, Hohenheim. Dr. A. Vött, Marburg, provided helpful support during field work. We thank Prof. Dr. Hans Lohmann, Bochum, for all his support of our work in Milesia and for many fruitful discussions. Thanks are also due to two anonymous referees, who gave helpful comments on the manuscript. Research permits were kindly granted by the Turkish Ministry for Culture and Tourism.

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  1. Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, 70593, Stuttgart, Germany

    Maria Knipping

  2. Department of Geography, Philipps-University of Marburg, 35032, Marburg, Germany

    Marc Müllenhoff & Helmut Brückner

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  1. Maria Knipping
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  2. Marc Müllenhoff
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Correspondence to Maria Knipping.

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Communicated by S. Jahns.

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Knipping, M., Müllenhoff, M. & Brückner, H. Human induced landscape changes around Bafa Gölü (western Turkey). Veget Hist Archaeobot 17, 365–380 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-007-0132-8

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