the3rdmillenniumBC(Kadrow&Zakościelna2000, Nogaj-Chachaj 1991). People of the Neolithic and BronzeAge culturesthatfollowedprobablysettled inthesamelocationsandinheriteddeforestedareas from their predecessors. The fan and flood sediments point to the fact that only the loess was eroded,anderodedmaterialwasdepositedinwaterloggedvalleybottomasitisevidencedbythegleying of sediments. Fossil soils are absent in fans, which may indicate sedimentation in the flooded area. However,nodataareavailableconcerningthedurationofthefirstphaseofsedimentationatthemouths of gullies. Sedimentation probably continued until the Bronze Age. Archaeological materials indicate a distinctly lower number of settlement structures and limited humanactivityinthisareaforapprox.1.5thousand
years. The next stage of settlement occurred in the earlyMiddleAges(from6thcenturyAD).Thisphase wasnotveryintensiveandlimitedonlytothesouthernpartofcatchmentarea.Inthatperiod,however, there were considerably fewer settlements than in the Neolithic. The subsequent, sand-gravel series probably formedasaresultofasingle,verydynamicsedimentationepisode.Itcouldhavebeentriggeredbycatastrophicrainfalleventsthatwashedoutfluvioglacial depositstotheforefieldofthegullies.Theradiocarbon date of twig remains lying at the top of the sand-gravelseriesmayindicatethatthecatastrophic rainfall events occurred in the 10th c. Thesubsequentphasesofintensivegullyerosion are documented by two series of fan sediments: sand-siltandsilt.Thelowerseriesweredepositedas