AV 67, 2016: Maja ANDRIČ

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK 67, 2016

Maja ANDRIČ

Human impact on the vegetation of the western Ljubljansko barje in late prehistory (ca. 1000–50 cal. BC).
Case study: Vrhnika (Dolge njive)

Abstract

This article investigates the vegetation composition and human impact on the environment in the vicinity of the modern town of Vrhnika (Roman Nauportus) in late prehistory (ca. 1000–50 cal. BC). The research is based on pollen analysis of alluvial sediment, which was deposited on the right bank of the Ljubljanica River before the construction of the Dolge njive Roman settlement in the second half of the 1st century BC. The pollen record suggests that in the 1st millennium cal. BC the landscape around the study site was marshy, and that mixed woodland (beech, oak, fir and hornbeam) was growing on drier land. The landscape was partly open, with strong traces of cereal cultivation and grazing, which can be associated with the economic activities of prehistoric, Early and Late Iron Age populations living in the area. The forest clearance presumably intensified before the establishment of the Roman settlement at Dolge njive. Due to dry hydrological conditions in the archaeological cultural layers, it is not possible to reconstruct the vegetation composition at the time of the Roman settlement.

Keywords: Slovenia, Vrhnika, Dolge njive, pollen analysis, 1st millennium cal. BC, Juglans, palaeoecology

Article (pdf)