In examining the Neolithic transition in the Balkans, Willis and Bennett ( 1994) suggest that the spread of agriculture and the timing of forest clearance were not coincident and that the impact of agriculture upon the landscape did not follow a time-transgressive spread. On the basis of a close correlation between the timing of deforestation and pre sent-day mean annual precipitation values in the Balkans, I suggest that the reduction of woodland is clearly time-transgressive along a humidity gradient and that climatic conditions were a major factor in determining the history ot vegetation in the Balkans from the mid-Holocene.
Furlan, D.1977: The climate of Southeast Europe. In: Wallén, C.C., editor, Climates of Central and Southern Europe, World Survey of Climatology Volume 6, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 185-235.
2.
Magri, D.1995: Some questions on the late-Holocene vegetation of Europe . The Holocene5, 354-60.
3.
Willis, K.J.1994: The vegetational history of the Balkans. Quaternary Science Reviews13, 769-88.
4.
Willis, K.J. and Bennett, K.D.1994: The Neolithic transition - fact or fiction? Palaeoecological evidence from the Balkans. The Holocene4, 326-30.
5.
World Meteorological Organization1970: Climatic atlas of Europe. Budapest.
