Dark Ages woodland recovery and the expansion of beech: a study of land use changes and related woodland dynamics during the Roman to Medieval transition period in northern Belgium
Koen Deforce|Jan Bastiaens|Philippe Crombé|Ewoud Deschepper|Kristof Haneca|Pieter Laloo|Hans Van Calster|Gerben Verbrugghe|Wim Van Neer
Abstract The results from analyses of botanical remains (pollen, wood, charcoal, seeds) several archaeological features excavated in Kluizen (northern Belgium) are presented. region was largely uninhabited until the Iron Age and Roman period when a rural settlement established, resulting small-scale woodland clearance. site subsequently abandoned c. AD 270 till High Middle Ages. archaeobotanical provide information on changes land use dynamics cover composition between 600 BC 1200, with spatial temporal resolution unrivalled northern Belgium. Especially long regeneration following abandonment around 270, covering Late Early Medieval period, could be reconstructed detail. Abandoned fields were first covered pioneer ( Salix , Corylus Betula ), then Quercus -dominated secondary forest finally late-successional Fagus sylvatica Carpinus betulus Ilex aquifolium an evolution that took over 300 years. also indicate observed increase during Ages, which never important element vegetation Belgium before, related to climatic rather than anthropogenic factors.
Geologie En Mijnbouw|Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University)|Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University)