Middle and Late Holocene vegetation and climate changes in peninsular Italy

Pollen-stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates are examined for seven sites in the Italian peninsula (Lago Grande di Monticchio, Valle di Castiglione, Lago di Vico, Lago Lungo, Lagaccione, Lago Padule and Agoraie di Fondo), in order to outline the history of vegetation during the second half of the Holocene. Palaeoclimatic interpretations from the pollen evidence are supported by archaeological, palaeohydrological and lithostratigraphical data from lacustrine deposits. Three main vegetation changes have been identified: a) around 5000 BP diffusion of Fagus in central and northern Italy and of Abies in southern Italy are interpreted as an effect of increased wetness; c) around 2500 BP there is clear evidence of cultivations, however without any dramatic change in the density and distribution of woodland.; b) around 3700 BP there is a temporary reduction of tree abundance at all sites in central Italy that, on the basis also of a marked change in the hydrologic regime of lakes, is interpreted as a dry event