The Origin and History of Alpine Farming - A multiproxy palaeobotanic analysis in the Bavarian Alps

Mountain pastures belong to the most species rich habitats in Central Europe. They were shaped by centuries or even millennia of traditional low intensity land use practices. Land use changes in recent decades put these mountain pastures under increasing pressure. Intensification of easily accessible areas and abandonment of remote and steep grasslands have led to biodiversity and habitat losses. This puts them increasingly in the focus of nature conservation efforts. For the effective protection and for the development of suitable management methods, knowledge about the history of these habitats becomes increasingly important. The present thesis therefore aims to shed light on the history and the roots of alpine farming in the Alps, with a special focus on the hitherto neglected Bavarian Alps. In the second chapter, scientific literature concerning the age of alpine farming practices at high altitudes in the Alps is reviewed. Archaeological, archaeobotanical and linguistic studies show a very early beginning of mountain pasture use across the Alps beginning in the Bronze Age around 2000 BC. Few palynological studies even indicate Neolithic pasture use at high altitudes in the central Alps. Clear evidence from other scientific disciplines for this finding is however missing. The literature review also shows that research on that topic is concentrated in few hot-spot areas, and large parts of the Alps remain uninvestigated. Especially in the German part of the Northern Alps, conclusive research about the history and onset of alpine farming is missing. Chapter 3 therefore presents a multiproxy research project about the onset of mountain pasture use in the district of Miesbach in the Bavarian Alps. Palynological, pedoanthracological and geochemical methods were used in this study. The results confirm findings from other parts of the Alps with very strong evidence of alpine farming beginning in the Iron Age around 750 BC. Presence of pasture indicator pollen species and especially evidence of slash and burn activities during the Bronze Age indicate an even earlier onset of alpine farming practices in this region. The presence of open landscape indicator species in the pollen record, and findings of soil charcoals, dating to the Neolithic Age at nearly 5000 BC indicate human activities also during the Neolithic Age. These indicators of human influence on the local vegetation, however, could also originate from late Mesolithic hunters, who burned the forest to gain open landscape for hunting purposes. Chapter 4 presents more detailed results of the pedoanthracological study. Three phases with increased fire activity could be detected. The first one dating to the Neolithic Age, the second one dating to the Bronze Age and the third to the Middle Ages. This corresponds well to findings of other studies about increased human impact on the vegetation during these times. Identification of the soil charcoal fragments revealed that current forest composition is well reflected in the charcoal spectrum. The missing stratigraphy, probably caused by strong erosion events, prevents an assignment of the different soil layers to different time periods. Interpretations about the development of the forest composition based on soil charcoal analysis are therefore not possible. In conclusion the results of this thesis show that mountain pastures are not only valuable because of their outstanding biodiversity, but they are also an incredibly valuable cultural heritage and one of the very few habitats with a comparatively constant land use history stretching back over several millennia