| Abstract: |
Palaeoenvironmental studies combining 14C dating, palaeobotanical and archaeological data provide information about the human reaction to Holocene environmental changes registered in the surroundings of Birz¡ ulis Lake in northwest Lithuania. Responding to water regression, early Mesolithic communities were established on the lower lake terraces, which were overgrown by predominantly birch and pine forest. The formation of a mixed forest with Ulmus (immigrated at 81007500 cal yr BC), Corylus (76007200 cal yr BC) and Alnus (73006900 cal yr BC) provided plenty of natural resources, which led to the increase in population during the late Mesolithic. The expansion of Tilia (64005900 cal yr BC) and Quercus (59005700 cal yr BC), as well as the subsequent flourishing of broad-leaved forest, provided inhabitants with suitable living conditions. The reduction of broad-leaved woodland and the expansion of Picea (44003700 cal yr BC), which suggest changing temperature and moisture conditions as well as increasing erosion activity, could have negatively influenced the early-middle Neolithic population, as evidenced by the partial abandoning of the land. The lowering of the water level and thinning of the forest structure possibly related to some dry episode, positively influenced late Neolithic groups, as intensive exploitation of the area, including the earliest attempts at agriculture, has been registered. Since 17701490 cal yr BC, when intensive bogging began, evidence of periodic inhabitation around the lake has been registered.
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