Abstract Pollen and plant macrofossil analyses were performed on a sequence 105 cm deep obtained from a peat bog (1750 m) that is located above the present timber-line in the Osogovo Mountain, Southwestern Bulgaria. The palaeovegetation reconstruction, supported by a radiocarbon chronology, revealed the vegetation dynamics and human impact during the last 5000 years. The peat bog formed when a coniferous belt of Abies alba and Pinus (Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra) covered the high mountain slopes. Charcoal fragments indicate the presence of a broad-leaved tree community composed of Quercus, Corylus, Carpinus, Tilia, Acer and Ulmus at lower altitudes. Stands of Fagus sylvatica in places with higher air and soil humidity, like river valleys and deep ravines, became established. The pollen assemblages after c. 3200 cal. \BP\ record an important change in the forest composition that led to the replacement of the conifers, mostly A. alba, by the invading communities of F. sylvatica. The reasons for this replacement included factors related to both climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. During the last centuries a large-scale degradation of the woodlands in the mountain has occurred. On a regional scale the palaeoecological evidence is compared with information from palynological, archaeological and historical sources in Southwestern Bulgaria.
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Socio-economic organisation, subsistence strategies and environmental exploitation still remain largely open questions for the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500–3500 BC) in southern Caucasus even though they are of prime importance for understanding the development of post-Neolithic societies in these semi-arid and mountainous areas. Interdisciplinary bioarchaeological research can, however, provide valuable new insights into these issues. In the Late Chalcolithic occupation layers at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan), the fills of pits, composed mainly of domestic refuse, proved to contain the richest and most diverse assemblages of biological remains at the site. These remains, retrieved by the use of flotation and sieving techniques, therefore constitute ideal assemblages for understanding subsistence strategies and the exploitation of natural resources. It is shown here that the agricultural economy at Late Chalcolithic Ovçular Tepesi was based mainly on the cultivation of cereals and pulses and the herding of sheep and goat. The river and its surroundings provided wood fuel and fish. The results of the bioarchaeological study further suggest that the Late Chalcolithic village was occupied permanently as shown by the development of commensal populations of small mammals.
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