Natural and Anthropogenic Changes in the Environment in the Middle Ondava Basin (Eastern Slovakia) during the Neolithic Period

The paper summarizes the geomorphological results of a research project focused on palaeogeographical and archaeological characteristics of a Neolithic settlement in the middle Ondava Basin (north-west part of the Eastern Slovakian Lowland). Investigations on an Early Neolithic (ca. 5500-5100 BC) settlement in Moravany were carried out as part of the project. Palaeogeographical studies were carried out in the neighbouring territory of this site. The Holocene alluvia detected there were much younger than the Neolithic and no distinct traces of the activity of Neolithic people were recorded. Extremely important data were obtained in Kladzany. The general structure of the river valley records the erosional phase of the end of the Pleistocene. In the Early Holocene, the Ondava river cut off the upper part of the palaeochannel fill during lateral migration. A slow process of aggradation was noted during the Neolithic since soil-forming "kept up" with the sedimentation. A change in the rhythm of the overbank deposition occurred after 5,830±40 BP which led to the fossilization of the soil by an over 1 m thick layer of silts. It is difficult to determine whether it is related to human activity