We used pollen, plant macrofossil, and charcoal records to investigate local long-term timberline shifts and changes in vegetation composition in relation to fire activity at the modern upper forest limit (ca. 2,000 m a.s.l.) in the Mont Bégo area, Maritime Alps of France and Italy. The area is an important place for Alpine archaeology because it has thousands rock-art carvings whose age cannot be directly assessed. Our new record confirms the occurrence of distinct land use phases (7,450–7,150, 6,200–4,900, and 4,250–3,700 cal bp), as suggested by earlier studies of rock art typology. Moreover, the vegetation reconstruction from macrofossils, with co-dominance of Pinus and Betula, suggests that early Holocene conditions were moister than in drier inner Alpine valleys, where Larix decidua played a more important role, both in the past as well as in modern timberline forests. After 8,000 cal bp, the timberline shifted upwards and mixed Abies alba and Pinus cembra stands established around the study site. These fire sensitive trees were finally replaced during the Bronze Age (around 4,000 cal bp) by L. decidua, which still dominates the subalpine woodlands in the area today. Our study supports the notion that while the range of A. alba has been reduced at the colder end of its natural distribution, that of L. decidua has been widened by land use changes and fire disturbances to create high alpine wood pastures.

我们使用花粉，植物大化石和木炭记录来调查当地的长期林线变化​​和植被组成与火灾活动相关的变化，该活动与现代阿尔卑斯山上阿尔卑斯山山麓贝戈地区的森林上限（约2000 m asl）有关。法国和意大利。该地区是高山考古的重要场所，因为它拥有成千上万的岩石雕刻品，其年代无法直接评估。我们的新记录证实了不同的土地利用阶段（7,450–7,150、6,200–4,900和4,250–3,700 cal bp）的发生，正如岩石艺术类型学的早期研究所建议的那样。此外，以松树和桦树为主的大型化石植被重建，这表明，全新世早期的条件要比干燥的阿尔卑斯山内山谷更为潮湿，在过去以及现代林木林中，落叶松落叶松在这里起着更为重要的作用。在8,000 cal bp之后，林线向上移动，并在研究地点周围建立了混合的Abies alba和Pinus cembra林分。这些对火敏感的树木最终在青铜时代（约4,000 cal bp）被L. decidua所取代，L。decidua仍在该地区的亚高山林地中占主导地位。我们的研究支持以下观点：尽管白曲霉的分布范围在其自然分布的较冷端减小了，但蜕皮乳杆菌的分布范围却有所减小。 土地用途的变化和火灾的干扰已扩大了面积，形成了高海拔的高山草场。