Abstract. The investigated northwest German mire site at “Totes
Moor” is densely covered with subfossil pine stumps (Pinus sylvestris L.)
from the fen–bog transition. This facilitates the spatio-temporal
reconstruction of mire development, which is based on 212 in situ tree stumps
in the case study presented here. Six dendrochronologically dated site
chronologies together cover 2345 years between 6703 and 3403 BC. The gaps in
between are 6 to 550 years long. Additionally, a floating chronology of
309 years, containing 30 trees, was radiocarbon-dated to the beginning of the
7th millennium cal BC. Peat-stratigraphical survey was carried out
additionally, and elevations a.s.l. were determined at several locations. Tree dying-off phases, which indicate water level rise at the site, mostly in
context of the local fen–bog transition, are evident for ca. 6600–6450,
ca. 6350–5750, ca. 5300–4900, ca. 4700–4550, ca. 3900–3850,
ca. 3700–3600, ca. 3500–3450 and ca. 3400 BC. The spatial distribution of
the dated in situ trees illustrates the phase-wise expansion of raised bog
over fen peat at the site. The documented bog expansion pulses likely
correspond to climatic wet sifts.
Dendrochronologically dated pine stumps document phase-wise bog expansion at a northwest German site between ca. 6700 and ca. 3400 BC