Complementary use of pedoanthracology and peat macro-charcoal analysis for fire history assessment: Illustration from Central Germany Vincent Robin a, b, * , Hannes Knapp a, c , Hans-Rudolf Bork a, b , Oliver Nelle a, b a Graduate School “Human development in Landscapes”, Olshausenstrasse 40, Christian-Albrechts-University, D-24118 Kiel, Germany b Institute for Ecosystem Research, Working Group Palaeoecology, Olshausenstrasse 75, Christian-Albrechts-University, D-24118 Kiel, Germany c Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Archaeobotany, Olshausenstrasse 40, Christian-Albrechts-University, D-24098 Kiel, Germany article info Article history: Available online 28 March 2012 abstract A combined analysis of macro-charcoal records from peat and soil samples was used to investigate Holocene fire history and correlated forest dynamics. Both soil and peat contexts are favorable to record past fire signals by archiving charcoal assemblages. It is postulated that this combination of charcoal data can provide relevant complements for fire history assessment. In the highest mountainous part of the Harz Mountains, in central Europe, two neighboring sites were investigated. At each site, one peat sequence was cored, and several soil profiles from the surroundings of the cored mire were sampled. Charcoal contents were assessed and a chronological framework of the charcoal records was established using 23 radiocarbon dates. The heterogeneity and asynchrony of the various charcoal records allowed identification of fire events occurring on variable spatial scales, and so to approach a reconstruction of the past fire regime. In total, 19 distinct fire events were detected, and several events were identified as unexpectedly older than medieval time. Climatic control of most of these fire events is discussed. The dominance of Picea charcoals in the soil, with small recordings of broadleaf taxa, points to the presence of a spruce forest at elevations of 800e1100 m a.s.l. since mid- Holocene. Overall, the complementarity of the multi-proxy approach was demonstrated, which opens promising perspectives for the investigation of past fire regime in central Europe. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In Central Europe, ecosystem dynamics have been strongly impacted by human activities (Behre, 1988; Magri, 1995; Berglund, 2011), parallel to the development of human societies (Kalis et al., 2003). The human usage of fire was an important factor inducing changes of ecosystem dynamics, related to anthropogenic control (e.g. Patterson and Backman, 1988). In the same way, the past natural fire regime has been considerably influenced by the human usage of fire (Clark et al., 1989; Whitlock et al., 2010). Nevertheless this broad scale issue remains vaguely documented concerning central Europe (Tinner et al., 2005). Indeed, despite a few existing works (e.g. Clark et al., 1989), in this area, the fire history has been less investigated than in other biomes, such as Mediterranean (e.g. Vannière et al., 2008), alpine (e.g. Carcaillet and Thinon,1996), and boreal regions (e.g. Olsson et al., 2010). This relative lack of investigation about past fire regime is probably due to the fact that most of the Central European woodlands are broadleaf forests (Bohn et al., 2004). Such woodlands are considered to be much less flammable. Thus, compared to fire sensitive forests, fire should have played a less important role in the dynamics of the central European woodlands. Moreover, the charcoal records available for palaeo-investigation are supposed to be rarer, weaker and less signif- icant. However, areas at highest altitude of some low mountain ranges of central Europe are naturally covered by coniferous forests, which are sensitive to fire ignition (e.g. Harz, Black Forest, BohemianeBavarian Forest). Thus, such areas are relevant to investigate fire history. Such palaeo-investigations are usually based on the analysis of accumulated charcoal amounts in chrono-stratified archives, e.g. lake sediments or peat, providing fire signals within a defined temporal frame (Whitlock and Larsen, 2001; Conedera et al., 2009). However, recent investigations illustrated the fact that pedoanthracology can also be used to reconstruct fire history, based on the dating of charcoal pieces formed by the occurrence of fire events and at the same time providing information about the type of burnt forest by taxonomical identi fication of the charcoals (Hart et al., 2008; Fesenmyer and Christensen, 2010). Consequently, it is here postulated that the combination of charcoal analysis from both soil and chrono-stratified sedimentary archives * Corresponding author. Institute for Ecosystem Research, Working Group Palaeoecology, Olshausenstrasse 75, Christian-Albrechts-University, D-24118 Kiel, Germany. E-mail address: vrobin@ecology.uni-kiel.de (V. Robin). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint 1040-6182/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.03.031 Quaternary International 289 (2013) 78e87