Reflections on the Eemian hornbeam (Carpinus) forest at Neumark-Nord 2

Abstract

The second half of the Eemian in Central Europe was characterised by a vegetation dominated by hornbeam (Carpinus) trees. The surroundings of the small lake Neumark-Nord 2, Germany, were no exception. Hornbeam forest covered the entire landscape. Was this a vast stretch of closed-canopy forest? Considering the presence of large browsing mammals, first and foremost the huge straight-tusked elephant, this was most probably not the case. In this paper, a reconstruction is proposed in which the forest is broken up into islands, separated by elephant paths, bordered by a kind of rough coppice due to recurrent browsing. In some places intensive browsing, followed by grazing, may have led to the development of open spaces devoid of trees.