Search

The investigation of a 8.1 m long peat sequence from Tăul fărăfund ("Bottomless Lake," Transylvanian Basin, Northern Romania) offers a series representing wetland development since the Middle Holocene. The most striking feature of the sequence is a cca. 900 year-long hiatus caused by peatcutting in the 14th century AD. An artificial reservoir was constructed there in the Late Middle Ages by the excavation of the uppermost peat layer, afflicting a significant environmental impact on this remote location. One of the oldest documented Hungarian settlements from the time of the Hungarian Kingdom (11th century AD, presumably with previous history) in Transylvania was discovered in the vicinity of the former reservoir by an archaeological field survey. By harmonising historical data and the exact chronological sequence of the borehole, the creation of the reservoir was inserted into the local history of the developing mediaeval settlement network at the time when some of the early settlements had been abandoned and a permanent village was established, with a church and upscale landowners, in the area of present-day Băgău in the 13th to 14th century AD. Significant environmental impacts have emerged during this transitional period around the reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paleoecological study was performed on a sediment core recovered from a former artificial lake – the Reedbed of Sic near Cluj-Napoca, Romania – in order to explore the history of water management and nearby salt mining, and its impact on the environment. From the Roman period, the area served as a recipient of salty wastewaters. The most significant shift in the sediment composition and macrofossil assemblages took place after 1000 AD, suggesting a significant upturn in salt mining. The impact of mining-related activities was further increased in the Middle Ages when, according to documentary sources, fishponds and watermills were constructed in the area. They led to the stabilisation of the water level in the lakebed, and enhanced the appearance of reed beds and the spread of secondary salt marsh vegetation. This biotop was later invaded by the Entzia macrescens, an agglutinated foraminiferal taxon, known mostly from the high intertidal marshes worldwide. In the investigated marshland, the dominance of halophytic species reached their acme in the seventeenth century, which coincides with the acme of mining activities. This medieval – early Modern Age industrial ecosystem survived the abandonment of salt mines and fishponds, being preserved until today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medieval market-town of Sic (Szék in Hungarian) was an important Transylvanian settlement due to its remarkable salt mining. The impact of the mining activities on the environment and the history of water management were investigated based on a palaeoecological study, performed on the large Reedbed of Sic (Stufărişurile/Nádas-tó). We found that in the last 3000 years the anthropogenic impact has been continuous in the territory, but the types and intensity of the disturbances changed with time. The most notable environmental transitions took place after 1000 AD, suggesting a significant intensification of salt mining. Forest cover significantly drop, but salt concentration and the frequency of halophytic species in the investigated marshland increased during the Late Middle Ages. The dominance of halophytic marshland species reached their peak in the 17th century. This coincides with the apogee of mining activities and human lake management. The most remarkable deforestation occurred in the 18th century, when the present-day landscape with negligible forest cover was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]