Palaeoenvironmental research of the Schwarzenberg Lake, southern Bohemia, and exploratory excavations of this key Mesolithic archaeological area
Abstract
Investigations of the Schwarzenberg Lake constantly bring important data on vegetation, landscape development, and human occupation since the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Great scientific potential of the area base on conditions suitable for both palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research.
This article is an attempt to summarize current state of knowledge on this important palaeoecological and archaeological area. Since the discovery in 1996, sediments of the extinct Schwarzenberg Lake represent the most complex archive of palaeoenvironmental information in the territory of the Czech Republic.
Based on the results of pollen and other microfossils analyses, hypothesis on intensive occupation of the area in Mesolithic times was given. This hypothesis was largely supported by later archaeological survey and excavations.