Holocene vegetation dynamics and sedimentation processes in a small depression on a Pleistocene plain – a multi-proxy approach for the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a Neolithic settlement area near Leipzig, Saxony

Abstract. Since 2010, excavations by the Saxonian Archaeological Heritage Office have been conducted on a Pleistocene plain in northwest Saxony during the course of an open-cast lignite mining project. The area lies between the valleys of the Weiße Elster and the Pleiße in the Leipzig lowlands. An important multi-cultural site was discovered near the village of Kieritzsch, where archaeological remains from the early Neolithic up to the early Bronze Age were excavated. They are located in and around a former pond that was subsequently filled with organic-rich deposits. Various geo-archaeological investigations were carried out, complemented by radiocarbon dating to support and contextualize the archaeological results. In particular, archaeobotanical analyses (pollen and macro-remains) were carried out in order to reconstruct the landscape development of the depression and its surroundings. Thus, it was possible to reconstruct the Neolithic vegetation and land use history in a central German Altsiedellandschaft using a near-site pollen profile for the first time. The widespread pine forests were partially cleared for arable farming during the Linear Pottery culture period. From the Stroked Pottery culture period, there is significantly less archaeological evidence, while the palynological data account for sparse mixed-oak forests diversified by anthropogenic use. During the middle and late Neolithic, the number of settlement traces declines once more, even though the sedimentological record and the near-site pollen spectra show intensive land use. The woodlands in the vicinity of the pond continue to decrease, and Cerealia pollen is consistently present. After the Neolithic, the investigated profile shows a hiatus that comprises more than 3000 years. In the early medieval era deposition resumes, together with substantial deforestation and a general increase in human impact.