A palynological study of the Late-glacial and the Postglacial in the Paris Basin

(p. 68) In this paper the results will be discussed of the palynological examination of Late-glacial and Postglacial sediments in the Paris Basin. This study forms, as it were, the continuation of the palynological examination of peat deposits in Brittany (van Zeist, 1964). In the pollen diagrams from Brittany the activity of prehistoric and early-historical man shows up clearly. This fact induced us to examine to what extent in the Paris Basin the presence of early man could be demonstrated palynologically. The question was raised whether it would be possible to correlate indications of the interference of man with the vegetation, as these show up in the pollen record, with particular archaeological cultures. The latter does not imply that the period from before the introduction of farming would be of less interest. On the contrary, the study includes the whole of the Late-glacial and Postglacial, that is to say the last 15,000 years.