Late Holocene Environmental Change and the Record of Human Impact at Gravgaz near Sagalassos, Southwest Turkey

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science 2000-07, Vol.27 (7), p.571-595
• Main Authors: Vermoere, M., Smets, E., Waelkens, M., Vanhaverbeke, H., Librecht, I., Paulissen, E., Vanhecke, L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asia; Near East; Neolithic and chalcolithic; POLLEN ANALYSIS, SAGALASSOS, OCCUPATION PHASE, VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTION; Prehistory and protohistory
• ISSN: 0305-4403; 1095-9238
• DOI: 10.1006/jasc.1999.0478

This paper presents the palaeoecological analysis of a sediment core extracted from the marsh of Gravgaz in the Pisidian Lake District (southwest Turkey). The sediments are Late Holocene, dating back toc .3300bp. The research is part of an inter-disciplinary project, aiming to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of the Sagalassos' territory, and to determine the impact of the former inhabitants of the area on the landscape. The Late Holocene pollen diagram shows four pollen assemblage zones: a phase with dominance of pine forest (zone A:c .3300–3200bp; Cal. ∼1640–1520bc till ∼1520–1430bc), a deforestation phase (zone B: c.3200–2300bp; Cal. ∼1520–1430bc till ∼410–240bc) an important cultivation phase (zone C:c .2300–1300bp; Cal. ∼410–240bc tillad660–770) and a final reforestation phase (zone D: from c.1300bp; Cal. ∼ad660–770, till the present day). The results are complimented with archaeological and sedimentological data.