The significance of climate fluctuations for lake level changes and shifts in subsistence economy during the Late Neolithic (4300-2400 cal B.C.) in Central Europe

In the last decades data concerning the economy and environment of the Neolithic period of lake dwellings (4300-2400 B.C.) in Central Europe increased considerably and also palaeoecological data concerning lake level fluctuations were thoroughly elaborated. Lake shores were mainly settled during warm and rather dry climate periods which caused a regression of the lake-levels. Nevertheless, there were strong and partly very short-term shifts in the economy during the lake-dwelling period. These can be recognised only because the settlement layers can be very precisely dated by dendrochronology. In this article we discuss in an interdisciplinary way possible interrelations between climatic and economical shifts. To explain the latter, we assume as main reason crop failures, which caused intensified hunting and gathering. Three different possibilities can be supposed as reasons for this: cold-wet summers, severe drought during spring and summer, or local over-exploitation of soils in densely settled areas.