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de Klerk: Palynological research of the Vosges Mountains 19
bauer (1992) and Vergne (2004), grazing since
the Medieval enlarged and modified the chaumes
considerably. Goepp (2007), in contrast, assumes
that the chaumes are completely secondary and
result from deforestation since the late Neolithic.
East of the crest, the altitude rapidly declines
to 500 m within ca. 3 km distance. Although
the forest types resemble those on the western
slopes, they are distinctly less developed due
to the small size of the area. Many cirques and
gorges disturb the “general” slope morphology
and have their own typical vegetation. In gorges
Ulmus scabra, Tilia cordata, Fraxinus excelsior
and Acer pseudoplatanus are abundant. Below
500-600 m Carpinus, Juglans , Castanea and
Quercus robur occur.
A narrow area of Permian sandstone and Triassic
limestone along the Upper Rhine plain include
Fagus-Quercus petrea-Pinus and species-rich
Quercus pubescens forests respectively. The Up-
per Rhine plain itself is largely cultivated.
In the Vosges Mountains, agriculture is mainly
restricted to the valleys at elevations below ca.
600 m, and only incidentally occurs at greater
heights.
The mires carry typical intrazonal vegetation
types independent of altitude.
Cultural history
Various stone arrowheads, axes, knives and
grindstones scattered across the Vosges Moun-
tains show visits of hunters at higher elevations
during the Stone and Metal Ages (Kutsch 1937,
Leser et al. 1983, Ehretsmann 1993, G oepp 2007).
Additionally, various religious monuments are
known that date from the Bronze and Iron Ages
(K utsch 1937, Frey 1964), which show a deep
respect of prehistoric humans for the mountains.
In Celtic and Roman times some roads crossed
the mountain valleys and may also have reached
higher elevations (Kutsch 1937, Polge 1963,
Stadelbauer 1992). There are indications that
first mining activities, predominantly for silver
and gold, took place during the Celtic and Ro-
man periods in the surroundings of e.g. St. Dié,
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, and Château-Lambert
(G eyer 1995). The details of these early mining
operations are still unknown, but is seems un-
likely that long-lasting self-supporting habitation
had occurred.
It took considerable time until humans occupied
the Vosges Mountains permanently. From the
Neolithic to the Migration period, settlements
were restricted to the absolute margins of the
mountains (Frey 1964, Stadelbauer 1992). After
the foundations of monasteries in the Early Medi-
eval ( Eggers 1964, F rey 1964, Stadelbauer 1992,
Matter 1995, Goepp 2007), the higher elevations
became gradually economically more important,
and human activities and settlements expanded
upwards (Eggers 1964, S tadelbauer 1992). The
higher elevations of the mountain range became
important for grazing, and many meadows came
into existence that – extending from the natural
chaumes – enlarged the open vegetation types
(Frey 1964). After the Medieval, mining and for-
estry became more important (Leser 1981, Leser
et al. 1983, Barth 1988, Stadelbauer 1992, G eyer
1995, Garnier 2000). Many mines were already
exhausted at the end of the 16 th century, after
which mining activities remained more or less re-
stricted to the southern Vosges (G eyer 1995).
Some economic revival occurred during the 17th
and 18th century under the centralised French
authorities, and the industrialisation in the 19th
centuries resulted in a population increase es-
pecially in the valleys (E ggers 1964, Frey 1964,
S tadelbauer 1992). Currently production has lost
in importance, and industry and agriculture have
a predominantly relict character (P olge 1963,
E ggers 1964, F rey 1964, S tadelbauer 1992).
Many abandoned settlements show that in previ-
ous times the population has been larger that at
present (Stadelbauer 1992).
3 Vegetation history since the Weichselian
Lateglacial
In order to compare the various pollen diagrams
from the Vosges Mountains and to characterise
their time-ranges, it is necessary to construct a
palynostratigraphic reference. A good principle is
to identify a sequence of vegetation phases that
can be easily recognized in the various pollen
diagrams as specific and similar pollen zones (cf.
Janssen et al. 1974, Janssen & T örnqvist 1991).
From the large amount of palynological data of
the Vosges Mountains, such a palynostratigraphy
can easily be constructed, and a theoretical pol-
len diagram that illustrates the general vegetation
development since the Weichselian Lateglacial
was pubished by G uillet et al. (1976) and Jans-
sen (1979) (fig. 3). It must be stressed that this
“model” pollen sequence has merely illustrative
value, since actual pollen diagrams differ greatly
between study sites from various landscape units
and vegetation types. Furthermore, the gradual