Multi-proxy reconstruction and visualization of a land-use mosaic: time-space dimensions of human impact on the landscape in the archaeological rock art park of Campo Lameiro (NW Spain)

Abstract The Archaeological Rock Art Park (PAAR) of Campo Lameiro contains one of the most important concentrations of open-air late prehistoric rock art in Europe. We extended and improved the spatial and temporal resolution of the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions with colluvial soil records of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs). We sought to identify scale effects of the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the basis of differences between sampling locations, and between proxies of different source area within samples: local scale (soil organic matter, char, NPPs) vs. regional or extra-local scale (land pollen). The results include: (1) the identification of a pre-Neolithic deciduous oak-dominated forest opening around 6.8 ka cal BP, when charcoal and dung indicators suggested that fire was deliberately used to facilitate game habitats (local small-scale event); (2) more profound fire-induced deforestation and heathland expansion between 5.9 and 4.5 ka cal BP, with differentiation of sub-phases based on the balance between grazing and fire activities, possibly related to the management of landscape visibility around the petroglyphs at the end of this phase; (3) a period of lower erosion and fire regime intensities, eutrophication and the formation of a mosaic of leguminous shrubs and pasture (Poaceae, Urtica , Plantago , etc.) during the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (3.3–2.6 ka cal BP), resembling the traditional slash-and-burn practices of the region; and (4) destruction of remaining tree communities and regional expansion of heathland as a result of fire regime intensification and possibly climate deterioration during the Roman-Germanic transition (after c. 1700 cal BP), part of which coincided with evidence for chestnut silviculture. Finally, we performed a data-based visualization of the palaeolandscapes of these four important phases in the human-environment relationship. This study represents a significant advance after two decades of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the PAAR.