Prior to the Neolithic...

Scope of the project:

Understanding historical causes for present biodiversity in Central Europe.Increasing our knowledge of the oldest roots of human impact on natural environment in the same region.

Abstract:

Geographical ranges of most biological taxa have changed substantially since the last glacial maximum, primarily in response to climatic changes induced by variations in the Earth's orbit. While considerable amount of global palaeoclimatic evidence is now available for the key period of the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca 18 000 to 7000 years BP), reliable analyses of the effects of respective climatic oscillations to the environments, biota and human populations in continental Central Europe are missing. This situation is especially uncomfortable in the light of recent findings that point to extraordinary importance of this particular region for the evolution of continental biological and cultural diversity. To fill this serious gap in knowledge, we perform a multidisciplinary palaeoecological research to be performed on perfectly selected reference sites that were recently discovered by members of our team in the territory of the Czech Republic.

Project steeringboard:

• Petr Pokorný (headoftheproject, Charles University in Prague)
• Jaromír Beneš (University ofSouth Bohemia, České Budějovice)
• Jiří Svoboda (Institute ofArchaeology AV ČR, Brno)
• Petr Šída (University of Western Bohemia, Pilsen)

Team membersat Charles University in Prague:

• Ivan Horáček, Arnošt Šizling, Lucie Juřičková, Jitka Horáčková, Pavla Žáčková, Jindřich Prach, Jan Hošek, Vojen Ložek

Team membersatUniversity ofSouth Bohemia, České Budějovice:

• Alexandra Bernardová, Michaela Divišová, Petra Houfková, Ondřej Chvojka, Jan Novák, Tereza Šálková

Team membersatInstitute ofArchaeologyAV ČR, Brno:

• Martin Novák, Sandra Sázelová

Team membersatUniversity of Western Bohemia, Pilsen:

• Marta Moravcová, Dagmar Vokounová-Franzeová