Human and climatic impact on the environment as derived from colluvial, fluvial and lacustrine archives—examples from the Bronze Age to the Migration period, Germany

Investigation of colluvial, fluvial and lacustrine sediment archives from 12 sites in Germany for the last ca 5000 years demonstrates that there is no synchronous development of the cultural landscape. This can only be explained, if climate is not the dominating control mechanism. However, to a certain degree there is a climatic influence, like during the slight climatic deteriorations immediately following the Holocene climatic optimum, or the stronger ones during the 1st millennium BC and during the Little Ice Age. As shown by all the different archives, human impact strongly increased and became the dominant factor which often made the climatic influence difficult to detect or even invisible. There are indications that human activities may have been triggered by climatic changes. Although the pattern of habitation was in general dependent on the environment offered by nature, also political and socio-economic factors have been involved, resulting in varying occupation patterns in prehistoric and medieval times.