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While timing and ice extent of the last glacial maximum are generally well known, the courses of earlier glaciations have remained poorly constrained, with one of the main reasons being the scarcity of sedimentary archives. This study introduces a new palaeolake record from a Mid‐Pleistocene glaciofluvial channel system in the Lower Aare Valley (Northern Switzerland). The record of Rinikerfeld comprises a >40 m long succession of Quaternary deposits that are targeted by multi‐method sedimentological analysis. Sedimentary facies together with geochemical and geotechnical parameters, pollen content, as well as luminescence ages allow the reconstruction of the establishment, evolution and infilling of the early Marine Isotope Stage 6‐aged Rinikerfeld Palaeolake. A drastic change in lake sediment composition and structure indicates cessation of the initial glacially derived input, which is explained by landscape modification and drainage rerouting during the Penultimate (Beringen) Glaciation. Geochemical and palynological data further reveal cold, initially periglacial but slightly ameliorating, climate conditions, while the lake was progressively filled up by local runoff, before being buried by periglacial colluvial diamicts, and potentially overridden by ice. It is therefore concluded that the onset of the Beringen Glaciation was an environmentally as well as geomorphically dynamic time period in the Northern Alpine Foreland.

Quartär – Internationales Jahrbuch zur Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit, Bd. 51/52 (2001): Quartär. Internationales Jahrbuch zur Eiszeitalter- und Steinzeitforschung

We report the first major study of cryptotephra (non-visible volcanic ash layers) on Late Palaeolithic archaeological sites in northern Europe. Examination of 34 sites dating from the Last Termination reveals seven with identifiable cryptotephra layers. Preservation is observed in minerogenic and organic deposits, although tephra is more common in organic sediments. Cryptotephra layers normally occur stratigraphically above or below the archaeology. Nearby off-site palaeoclimate archives (peat bogs and lakes

International audience; During the past millennia, many erosion and accumulation processes have been modified by anthropogenic impact. This holds especially true for the environs of ancient settlements and their harbours along the Mediterranean coasts. Our multi-proxy investigations in the Roman harbour and the harbour canal of Ephesus (western Turkey) reveals that humans have significantly triggered soil erosion during the last three millennia. Since the eighth century BC, and especially since the Hellenistic period, a high sed-imentation rate indicates fast alluviation and delta progradation of the Küçük Menderes. Deforestation, agriculture (especially ploughing) and grazing (especially goats) were the main reasons for erosion of the river catchment area. One consequence was significant siltation of the Hellenistic/Roman harbour basin. This sediment trap archives the human impact, which was strongly enhanced from Hellenistic/Roman to Byzantine times (second/first centuries BC to the sixth/seventh centuries AD), evidenced by high sedimentation rates, raised values of heavy metal contaminations [lead (Pb), copper (Cu)], the occurrence of fruit tree pollen and of intestinal parasites. From the middle to the end of the first millennium AD, the influence of Ephesus declined, which resulted in a decrease of human impact. Studies of several ancient settlements around the Mediterranean Sea tell a comparable story. They also confirm that during their most flourishing periods the human impact totally overprinted the climatic one. To detect the latter, geo-bio-archives of relatively pristine areas have to be investigated in detail.

International audience

Im Oberpfalzer Wald wurden insgesamt 18 Moore pollenanalytisch untersucht. Sechs siedlungsgeschichtlich interessante Profile, von denen neue 14C-Daten vorliegen, werden vorgestellt. Anthropogene Eingriffe in die Vegetation, die wahrscheinlich mit Viehwirtschaft in Zusammenhang stehen, können aufgezeigt werden. Diese reichen bis in das Neolithikum zurück. Bronze- und eisenzeitlicher Ackerbau konnten nur im Profil Windbruch nachgewiesen werden. Eine intensive Rodungs- und Ackerbauphase im Profil Öd, die vermutlich in die Latènezeit gehört, ist aufgrund einer Einzeldatierung nicht abgesichert. Massive Eingriffe, auch in den Hochlagen, zeichnen sich mit mittelalterlichen Rodungen in fast allen Profilen ab. Der ursprüngliche Waldbestand wurde spätmittelalterlich vor allem durch Holzkohlegewinnung für die Eisenindustrie fast vollständig vernichtet. Die heute vorherrschenden Fichten- und Kiefernforste sind Resultate jahrhundertelanger Übernutzung der Wälder., In this study a total of 18 mires in the Oberpfalzer Wald (Bavaria, Germany) have been investigated by means of pollen analysis. Six profiles showing new 14C dates, with importance for settlement history are presented. Anthropogenic impact on vegetation going back to Neolithic times and probably connected with animal husbandry can be established. In detail there are proofs for agriculture in the profile ,,Windbruch“ only, dating back to Bronze and Iron Age. However, an intense phase of cultivation and deforestation found in the profile „Öd“ and related probably to the Latène period is supported by only one single l4C date. Serious human influence becomes visible in mediaeval forest clearings, even in high altitudes. In that time the original forest standings were almost totally destroyed, mostly by the production of charcoal for iron industry. The prevailing pine and spruce forests of today are the result of an over-exploitation lasting for centuries., DFG, SUB Göttingen, DGMT, research