From Prehistory to the Roman Empire

During the warmer Late Bronze Age, regional forests were dominated by submontane and Mediterranean Quercus types, and the lake was surrounded by Alnus-Corylus gallery forests, with negligible human impact. This is the most pristine landscape recorded during the last three millennia, with a forest cover larger than at present (tree pollen >90%). Three local short-lived anthropization pulses, characterized by slash-and-burn practices by small itinerant human groups, were recorded during the Iron Age. The first event (750–640 BCE) was mainly for grazing and irreversibly removed the surrounding gallery forests, coinciding with the Iron Age Cold Period (IACP). The second pulse (340–240 BCE) was less intense and included cereal cultivation, whereas the third event occurred at the end of the Iron Age, coinciding with the onset of the Roman Warm Period. The first regional anthropization event, characterized by a significant retreat (35% and >50% less tree pollen than modern and Late Bronze times, respectively) of the dominant Pinus forests, began in 260 CE and peaked toward the end of the Roman epoch. Wood extraction and land opening for cereal cultivation were the most likely causes of woodland clearing. The recovery of these forests began after the fall of the Roman Empire and the transition to the Middle Ages (Migration Period) when human impact declined.