Why did they move to a barren land? Iron Age settlement and the consequences for primary woodlands in the uplands of southern Bohemia, Czech Republic

The Czech Republic (CR) has an exceptionally high number of pollen sites, but large areas, such as the area south and southwest of Praha (Prague), still lack pollen records. Although we know the basic scenario of Holocene vegetation development in the CR, questions remain. Recent discussions have concerned the role of Picea abies and Abies alba in the mid and late Holocene, especially in upland regions of the CR. Quantitative vegetation reconstruction methods have shown unexpectedly high proportions of both taxa in most regions within the CR in these periods, with the exception of the lowlands. In this study we publish original data from southern Bohemia. We aim to use it to build a picture of both local vegetation and settlement development in an upland landscape where pollen records with a detailed chronology were previously lacking. The area under study, where the first intensive occupation occurred during the early Iron Age (800/750-500 bc), is characterised by poor acid soils, a subcontinental climate and gold-bearing watercourses. Iron Age settlements could have been connected with extensive gold extraction along those watercourses, and this is supported by pollen data. From the same period, a number of Viereckschanzen (rectangular ditched enclosures) have been found in the region. According to pollen data, the woods were originally dominated by Pinus and later by Abies and Picea. Abieti-Quercetum was the main woodland association, while Picea probably grew mostly on the floodplains. During the Iron Age (800/750-50 bc), a sharp and parallel decrease in both Picea and Alnus is detected. However, the extent of farmed land was limited during this period and it became established only in the early medieval period from around ad 900. A. alba and the remaining P. abies nearly disappeared by around ad 1200.