Mollusc succession of a prehistoric settlement area during the Holocene: A case study of the České středohoří Mountains (Czech Republic)

Some Central European areas were attractive for the first agricultural settlements due to their suitable natural conditions. The Holocene development of such areas was thus under long-term human pressure, whose impact on the whole landscape is still poorly understood. One of such areas is the České středohoří Mountains. While pollen analyses can provide the general pattern of the landscape development, the analyses of mollusc succession provide landscape details, which are important primarily in landscapes with high habitat diversity. Based on the study of 11 mollusc successions situated at the České středohoří Mountains, we describe the postglacial development of the area and show the moderate fluctuation of woodland, wetland and open country habitats without any distinct succession peaks of particular habitat types during the whole Holocene. However, a detailed look of species exchange has provided additional information of succession pattern. The impoverishment of woodland communities is probably caused by human pressure, not natural processes, because fully developed woodland assemblages had occurred there during the past interglacials. It seems for now that humans had affected the whole landscape of the prehistoric settlement area, including hard-to-access sites, not only the nearby surroundings of their settlement.