Environmental change, bog history and human impact around 2900 BC in NW Germany-preliminary results from a dendroecological study of a sub-fossil pine woodland at Campemoor, Dummer Basin

This paper presents a detailed dendroecological analysis of remains from a sub-fossil pine forest at the Campemoor in the Dummer basin, NW Germany and of pine timbers from a contemporaneous Neolithic trackway Pr 32 through the Campemoor. Changes in growth pattern and population dynamics of the pines are discussed in context with the time of construction of the trackway. The findings date to the period around 3000 B.C. Together with palaeobotanical investigations (pollen and macro remains) and the archaeological results (trackway) the dendroecological analysis mirrors environmental changes and the response of people to these changes. In order to test this local development for a possible climate background, ring-width variability and population dynamics of the Campemoor pines and of the overall data set of Lower Saxonian sub-fossil oaks from bogs have been compared. The results of these investigations clearly indicate a common widespread turn from drier to more humid climate conditions as trigger for the transition period, initiating the raised bog growth. It happened in two phases at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, interrupted by a drier period between 2825 and 2770 B.C. Afterwards large areas of former settlement sites within today's Campemoor became inaccessible and were covered by raised bog.