Jan Novák
Biographic Data
| ID | 126113 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jan Novák |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jan |
| FAMILY NAME | Novák |
| SIGNATURE | NOVÁK J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Charles University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1585-0150 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 86 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Non-Genitally Stimulated Orgasms Increase Plasma Prolactin in a Menopausal Woman
Background and objectives: Objective measures of orgasm in both women and men include increased plasma prolactin and characteristic pelvic floor contractions. Typically, these are induced by genital and other erogenous stimulation, but can occur through fantasy and willful activation of pelvic floor and abdominal muscles that likely stimulate pudendal, hypogastric, and pelvic nerves without any direct genital stimulation. It has been shown previo…
A qualitative evaluation of a novel mHealth physical activity intervention with just-in-time prompts in people living with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes
Background Physical inactivity and prolonged sitting are major risk factors for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Despite this, individuals with prediabetes and T2DM often face challenges in maintaining adequate physical activity. The ENERGISED trial aimed to address this by using a mobile health (mHealth) intervention combining wearable Fitbit devices, just-in-time context-sensitive text messages (JITAI), and telephone counselling, tailore…
Local Communities and Protected Areas
Biodiversity conservation approaches in Africa have often separated human societies from nature, establishing protected areas with restricted resource use and displacing local communities. However, successful conservation and management strategies demand the integration of social and environmental priorities. To this end, we examined the use of woody plants by rural communities around the Niokolo Koba National Park (Senegal). We quantitatively as…
Development of the Medial Longitudinal Arch of the Foot in Czech Pre- and Primary School Children—A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Approach
Background/Objectives : The medial longitudinal arch (MLA) is initially masked by a fat pad that makes the foot appear flat. In preschool age, this fat pad resorbs, and the arch becomes more defined. The exact age at which the arch attains its final form remains uncertain due to high inter-individual variability and differing assessment methods, which complicates the distinction between physiological development and potential abnormalities. Moreo…
Waste Management and Waste Disposal Detected by Combination of Analytical Methods
Waste disposal processes and landfill management are crucial subjects in the field of settlement archaeology. Our study is focused on understanding the processes that are connected to the formation of the infills of settlement features and the recycling of the building materials (daub and wood) and waste management. These research questions are addressed through the analysis of plant macroremains, charcoals, phytoliths, starch, micromorphology, p…
Participatory development of an mHealth intervention delivered in general practice to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour of patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (Energi…
The participatory development of the ENERGISED mHealth intervention, incorporating just-in-time prompts, has the potential to significantly enhance the capacity of general practitioners for personalised behavioural counselling on physical activity in (pre)diabetes patients, with implications for broader applications in primary care
Relationship between extreme species richness and Holocene persistence of forest-steppe grasslands in Transylvania, Romania
The most species-rich grasslands worldwide are known from the Carpathian Mts and their periphery in East-Central Europe. They occur in forest-steppe regions, transitional between temperate forest and arid steppe biomes. Their climate, largely suitable for forests, raises questions about the origin of these grasslands. Have they been forested in the past, or locally maintained through a disturbance regime? We addressed these questions to contribut…
Vegetation History and Diversity of Archaeological Contexts at the Roztoky Site from the Anthracological Perspective
Our study compares different groups of anthracological records (archaeo-anthracological; pedoanthracological) for a more complex reconstruction of woodland history in the surroundings of the archaeological site of Roztoky (Czech Republic). The large anthracological dataset is unique by its size at least from a central European perspective. Our research focuses on the period from the Neolithic to the end of the Early Middle Ages. The settlement ph…
At the edge of Neolithic transition
This project focuses on the subsistence strategies of Early Neolithic communities that inhabited the upland region of South Bohemia. Its results reveal a distinctive trajectory for this peripheral area that was colonised significantly later, brought incoming farmers into close contact with hunter-gatherers and made them adapt their conservative farming practices
Senorady/Mohelno – „Boleniska“
The landscapes of the Mohelno settlement microregion are mostly gently undulating, but also dissected by two deeply incised river valleys – the Oslava River valley in the north and the Jihlava River valley in the south. The western boundary is formed by Zelený kopec (491 m above sea level, while the eastern boundary is marked by Biskoupský kopec (397.3 m above sea level) and Vodanský kopec (397.5 m above sea level). This microregion was settled a…
Jihočeská hradiště z přelomu starší a střední doby bronzové / South Bohemian Hillforts During the Transition from the Early to Middle Bronze Age
Článek shrnuje poznatky o hradištích z přelomu starší a střední doby bronzové v jižních Čechách, kterých bylo dosaženo moderními výzkumy, geofyzikálními průzkumy a detektorovými prospekcemi v letech 2013–2020. Za jistá hradiště lze označit pouze lokality s moderně prozkoumaným a jistě datovaným opevněním. Jsou jimi Kostelec, Vrcovice, Skočice a Všemyslice – Kozí vrch. Dále je z regionu známo ještě dalších 22 potencionálních hradišť. Rozborem arch…
MHealth intervention delivered in general practice to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour of patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (Energised)
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05351359, 28/04/2022)
Of Humans and Science. Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology and the Second Decade of Environmental Archaeology at the University of South Bohemia
The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology (LAPE), of the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (USB) was founded twenty years ago. The department is closely linked with the Institute of Archaeology of the USB in terms of staff and projects, which are mainly focused on the issues of paleoecology, archaeobotany and archaeozoology. The present paper discusses the teaching of environmental archaeology and p…
The Shaqadud Archaeological Project (Sudan)
The authors present preliminary results from a new research project based in Jebel Shaqadud, Sudan. Their findings highlight the potential for this region's archaeological record to expand our understanding of the adaptation strategies used by human groups in arid north-east African environments away from rivers and lakes during the Holocene. Furthermore, they present exceptionally early radiocarbon dates that push postglacial human occupation in…
Rekonstrukce lesní vegetace České republiky v zemědělském pravěku a raném středověku na základě archeoantrakologických dat / Reconstruction of Forest Vegetation Between the Neolithic and the Early Mid…
The aim of the study is to reconstruct the forest vegetation of the Czech Republic in the period between agricultural prehistory (Neolithic, LnK, c. 7600 BP) and the Early Middle Ages on an elevation gradient from 140 to c. 500 m above sea level using anthracological data from archaeological sites – ARV (anthracologically reconstructed vegetation). A large set of data from 601 archaeological sites (990 components) containing 289,489 identified ch…
Influence of Covid-19-Related Restrictions on the Prevalence of Overweight and Obese Czech Children
Apart from influencing the health of the worldwide population, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the day-to-day life of all, including children. A sedentary lifestyle along with the transformation of eating and sleep habits took place in the child population. These changes created a highly obesogenic environment. Our aim was to evaluate the current weight in the child population and identify the real effects of the pandemic. Height and weight data we…
Managing wilderness? Holocene-scale, human-related disturbance dynamics as revealed in a remote, forested area in the Czech Republic
In the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe, which were inhabited continuously from the very start of the Holocene to the present times, it is difficult to find territories suitable for investigation of natural baselines. For this reason, we picked the complicated rocky terrain of one upland area in NE Bohemia called Adrspach because, based on the absence of archeological finds, it was supposed to have never been deforested or managed by people…
A story of abandonment
The authors present a new, interdisciplinary project focusing on the interaction between people and the landscape within abandoned and populated villages following the founding of Niokola-Koba National Park in south-eastern Senegal. In this article, they assess anthropogenic transformations from geoarchaeological, ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotanical perspectives in order to document and preserve the heritage of both displaced and settled agric…
Long–term history of woodland under human impact, archaeoanthracological synthesis for lowlands in Czech Republic
Secular Changes in Body Build and Body Composition in Czech Preschool Children in the Context of Latent Obesity
Changes in lifestyle can be significantly reflected in growth and development. Adaptations to reduced levels of physical activity, together with non-corresponding nutritional intakes, can result in body build and body composition changes at an early age. The present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the secular trend of modifications of body composition and body mass index (BMI) in Czech preschoolers over the last two to three decades. Boys…
From Mesolithic hunters to Iron Age herders
Holocene forest transformations in sandstone landscapes of the Czech Republic
Stand-scale palaeoecology in sandstone landscapes provides insight into contrasting Holocene forest succession trajectories. Sharp geomorphological gradients in this investigated area, which in addition have never been deforested during the Holocene, provide a good model for upscaling the local vegetation histories to the wider territory of Central Europe. In three sandstone areas – Bohemian Paradise, Polemené hory and Broumov – we compare (1) an…
The dynamics of a non-forested stand in the Krušné Mts
Crops along the trade routes? Archaeobotany of the Bronze Age in the region of South Bohemia (Czech Republic) in context with longer distance trade and exchange networks
History of the Litovelské Pomoraví woodland (NE Czech Republic)
Mid-Holocene bottleneck for central European dry grasslands
Revisiting the classical Gradmann’s ‘steppe theory’ for central Europe, we examine whether the early Holocene steppe habitats survived the critical period of maximum Holocene afforestation: the mid-Holocene bottleneck. Despite the undisputable fact that afforestation was a dominant ecological factor in this period, our parallel analyses of pollen and molluscs from sedimentary sequences discovered in the dry lowland area of northern Bohemia, Czech…
Charcoal analyses as an environmental tool for the study of Early Medieval sunken houses infills in Roztoky near Prague, Czech Republic
Mohelno – A terminal Last Glacial Maximum industry with microlithic tools made on carenoidal blanks
Contrasting local and regional Holocene histories of Abies alba in the Czech Republic in relation to human impact
After the last glaciation, around 4000 BC, silver fir ( Abies alba Mill.) spread to the area that is now the Czech Republic. This spread was not restricted to high mountains, but also took place across both highland and lowland landscapes. Historical forestry records from around AD 1500 mention a massive expansion of Abies alba, favoured by forest pasturing, litter raking and selective tree cutting. According to the current interpretation of thes…
Crops along the trade routes? Archaeobotany of the Bronze Age in the region of South Bohemia (Czech Republic) in context with longer distance trade and exchange networks
Late-Holocene human-induced changes to the extent of alpine areas in the East Sudetes, Central Europe
The easternmost parts of the Hercynian mid-mountains of Central Europe, namely Hrubý Jeseník and Králický Sněžník, are characterised by extensive alpine areas at altitudes above approximately 1300 m a.s.l. In order to determine the contribution of human activities to the extent of these summit grasslands we analysed charcoal assemblages and pollen profiles taken from high elevation sites. The first burn was dated to the Iron Age (about the first …
The Shaqadud Archaeological Project (Sudan)
The authors present preliminary results from a new research project based in Jebel Shaqadud, Sudan. Their findings highlight the potential for this region's archaeological record to expand our understanding of the adaptation strategies used by human groups in arid north-east African environments away from rivers and lakes during the Holocene. Furthermore, they present exceptionally early radiocarbon dates that push postglacial human occupation in…
New information augmenting the picture of local environment at the LGM/LGT in the context of the Middle Danube region
Records of occupation by humans in the period following shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 21 ± 2 kyr cal. BP) are still very rare in Central Europe, since it is inferred that the extreme climatic conditions caused the decolonisation of previously settled areas. Our study focuses on the reconstruction of environmental conditions in the surroundings of the open-air Palaeolithic site, Brno-Štýřice III, which falls within this period. The …
Vegetation history of chernozems in the Czech Republic
From Mesolithic hunters to Iron Age herders
Middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history in central Moravia (Czech Republic) reveals biases of pollen and anthracological analysis
The aims of this article are, first, to investigate the middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history along the altitudinal gradient between the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe (190–550 m a.s.l.) and, second, to outline possible biases inherent in the charcoal record based on a comparison with the pollen record and its known biases. Our anthracological data set contains 42,547 determinations made in 120 charcoal samples taken at 69 sites. Th…
Vegetation History and Diversity of Archaeological Contexts at the Roztoky Site from the Anthracological Perspective
Our study compares different groups of anthracological records (archaeo-anthracological; pedoanthracological) for a more complex reconstruction of woodland history in the surroundings of the archaeological site of Roztoky (Czech Republic). The large anthracological dataset is unique by its size at least from a central European perspective. Our research focuses on the period from the Neolithic to the end of the Early Middle Ages. The settlement ph…
A story of abandonment
The authors present a new, interdisciplinary project focusing on the interaction between people and the landscape within abandoned and populated villages following the founding of Niokola-Koba National Park in south-eastern Senegal. In this article, they assess anthropogenic transformations from geoarchaeological, ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotanical perspectives in order to document and preserve the heritage of both displaced and settled agric…
The dynamics of a non-forested stand in the Krušné Mts
The Use of Environmental Methods for Studying the Fortification, Economic System and Natural Environment of a Hillfort from the Beginning of the Middle Bronze Age at Vrcovice, Czech Republic
Unusual vegetation stability in a lowland pine forest area (Doksy region, Czech Republic)
Although the Holocene is characterized by prominent vegetation changes, some vegetation types can reveal surprising stability. We studied Holocene woodland history in a sandstone pseudokarst area (Doksy region, Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic). Twelve soil profiles collected under native or semi-cultural pine forests were analyzed using anthracological methods. In seven of them, the age of profile bases was established using radiocarbon dating. …
At the edge of Neolithic transition
This project focuses on the subsistence strategies of Early Neolithic communities that inhabited the upland region of South Bohemia. Its results reveal a distinctive trajectory for this peripheral area that was colonised significantly later, brought incoming farmers into close contact with hunter-gatherers and made them adapt their conservative farming practices
Managing wilderness? Holocene-scale, human-related disturbance dynamics as revealed in a remote, forested area in the Czech Republic
In the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe, which were inhabited continuously from the very start of the Holocene to the present times, it is difficult to find territories suitable for investigation of natural baselines. For this reason, we picked the complicated rocky terrain of one upland area in NE Bohemia called Adrspach because, based on the absence of archeological finds, it was supposed to have never been deforested or managed by people…
Holocene forest transformations in sandstone landscapes of the Czech Republic
Stand-scale palaeoecology in sandstone landscapes provides insight into contrasting Holocene forest succession trajectories. Sharp geomorphological gradients in this investigated area, which in addition have never been deforested during the Holocene, provide a good model for upscaling the local vegetation histories to the wider territory of Central Europe. In three sandstone areas – Bohemian Paradise, Polemené hory and Broumov – we compare (1) an…
Persistence of a vegetation mosaic in a peripheral region
Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground
This research aimed to compare different sources of botanical material obtained from the infill of Migration Period graves (Vinaice group, 5 th century and the turn of 5 th and 6 th century AD) in Prague Zlin during 2005-2008. From a total number of 173 excavated graves with 176 burials, 74 were sampled for archaeobotanical analyses, and these are the subject of this contribution. All of the researched graves were robbed shortly after the time of…
Late-Holocene human-induced changes to the extent of alpine areas in the East Sudetes, Central Europe
The easternmost parts of the Hercynian mid-mountains of Central Europe, namely Hrubý Jeseník and Králický Sněžník, are characterised by extensive alpine areas at altitudes above approximately 1300 m a.s.l. In order to determine the contribution of human activities to the extent of these summit grasslands we analysed charcoal assemblages and pollen profiles taken from high elevation sites. The first burn was dated to the Iron Age (about the first …
Contrasting local and regional Holocene histories of Abies alba in the Czech Republic in relation to human impact
After the last glaciation, around 4000 BC, silver fir ( Abies alba Mill.) spread to the area that is now the Czech Republic. This spread was not restricted to high mountains, but also took place across both highland and lowland landscapes. Historical forestry records from around AD 1500 mention a massive expansion of Abies alba, favoured by forest pasturing, litter raking and selective tree cutting. According to the current interpretation of thes…
Charcoal analyses as an environmental tool for the study of Early Medieval sunken houses infills in Roztoky near Prague, Czech Republic
Diachronic development of the Lake of Abusir during the third millennium BC, Cairo, Egypt
Unusual vegetation stability in a lowland pine forest area (Doksy region, Czech Republic)
Although the Holocene is characterized by prominent vegetation changes, some vegetation types can reveal surprising stability. We studied Holocene woodland history in a sandstone pseudokarst area (Doksy region, Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic). Twelve soil profiles collected under native or semi-cultural pine forests were analyzed using anthracological methods. In seven of them, the age of profile bases was established using radiocarbon dating. …
The Use of Environmental Methods for Studying the Fortification, Economic System and Natural Environment of a Hillfort from the Beginning of the Middle Bronze Age at Vrcovice, Czech Republic
Ecology of Tilia sibirica in a continental hemiboreal forest, southern Siberia
Siberian lime ( Tilia sibirica) is a broad-leaved deciduous tree closely related to European Tilia cordata. It is endemic to a few sites in southern Siberia, located approximately 2000 km east of the limit of the European deciduous forest biome. These isolated sites with locally increased precipitation can be considered as potential analogues of the glacial refugia of temperate trees. To understand the ecology of such refugia, we studied the hist…
Vegetation history of chernozems in the Czech Republic
A charcoal record of Holocene woodland succession from sandstone rock shelters of North Bohemia (Czech Republic)
Dolní Věstonice IIa
Papaver. Centre for Human and Plant Studies of Postglacial Europe and Northern Africa, 2013–2015
Papaver Centre was constituted in 2013 at the University of South Bohemia in esk Budjovice, Czech Republic. The name of centre represents common and interesting genus of plants which is distributed from Northern Africa across Europe to the polar latitudes. The aim of the Papaver Centre is to develop ties within the interdisciplinary team consisting of paleoecologists, archaeologists, and vegetation ecologists in order to create an effective space…
Economy and Environment of a Medieval Town Reflected in Wells Backfill in Písek, Bakaláře Square (South Bohemia, Czech Republic)
Two secondary backfilled wells and remnants of a walled building, likely a school, were excavated during a salvage excavation of a medieval part of Psek, Bakale Square (South Bohemia, Czech Republic) in 2008. Well 1 was completely uncovered, whereas only the upper part of well 2 was excavated; the wells being dated to the 14 th century A.D. Well 1 was examined by bioarchaeological methods (analyses of plant macroremains, anthracology and xylotomy…
Mid-Holocene bottleneck for central European dry grasslands
Revisiting the classical Gradmann’s ‘steppe theory’ for central Europe, we examine whether the early Holocene steppe habitats survived the critical period of maximum Holocene afforestation: the mid-Holocene bottleneck. Despite the undisputable fact that afforestation was a dominant ecological factor in this period, our parallel analyses of pollen and molluscs from sedimentary sequences discovered in the dry lowland area of northern Bohemia, Czech…
Mohelno – A terminal Last Glacial Maximum industry with microlithic tools made on carenoidal blanks
Unrecognized Taphonomy as a Problem of Identification and the Scale of Contamination of Archaeobotanical Assemblages – the Example of Prague – Zličín Migration Period Burial Ground
This research aimed to compare different sources of botanical material obtained from the infill of Migration Period graves (Vinaice group, 5 th century and the turn of 5 th and 6 th century AD) in Prague Zlin during 2005-2008. From a total number of 173 excavated graves with 176 burials, 74 were sampled for archaeobotanical analyses, and these are the subject of this contribution. All of the researched graves were robbed shortly after the time of…
Origin of a boreal birch bog woodland and landscape development on a warm low mountain summit at the Carpathian–Pannonian interface
Hilly regions along the Western Carpathian–Pannonian border are phytogeographically important, but their vegetation history remains largely unknown. We analysed two peat cores of Late Glacial origin from a bog woodland in the Malé Karpaty Mts (SW Slovakia) using plant macrofossil, pollen, peat chemistry and charcoal analyses to trace local successional patterns, regional vegetation development and occurrence of rare species. The small distance be…
Middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history in central Moravia (Czech Republic) reveals biases of pollen and anthracological analysis
The aims of this article are, first, to investigate the middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history along the altitudinal gradient between the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe (190–550 m a.s.l.) and, second, to outline possible biases inherent in the charcoal record based on a comparison with the pollen record and its known biases. Our anthracological data set contains 42,547 determinations made in 120 charcoal samples taken at 69 sites. Th…
New information augmenting the picture of local environment at the LGM/LGT in the context of the Middle Danube region
Records of occupation by humans in the period following shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 21 ± 2 kyr cal. BP) are still very rare in Central Europe, since it is inferred that the extreme climatic conditions caused the decolonisation of previously settled areas. Our study focuses on the reconstruction of environmental conditions in the surroundings of the open-air Palaeolithic site, Brno-Štýřice III, which falls within this period. The …
Ořechov IV
Ořechov IV je lokalita bohunicienu ležící v Bobravské vrchovině, přibližně 7 km jihozápadně od Bohunic, tedy již mimo vlastní brněnskou kotlinu. Po mnoho let (od objevu na počátku 20. století) byla známá jako povrchová lokalita, v průběhu několika posledních let na ní však byla objevena dvě místa s intaktními situacemi. Poloha byla zřejmě opakovaně osídlována na počátku mladého paleolitu, a představuje tak palimpsest. Předběžné analýzy naznačují …
The Prehistoric Wetland Site of Náklo (Moravia, Czech Republic) – a Unique Piece of History
This paper summarises the results of an investigation from the former oxbow lake near the village Nklo. The study profile ("Nklo -Under the church") is situated near an archaeological site which is important due to the presence of pile constructions and a deposit of bronze vessels from the Halstatt Period. The study focused on the plant macroremains and xylotomy analysis. Only a few plant macroremains studies from lowland wetland sites are notabl…
Holocene climatic events linked to environmental changes at Lake Komořany Basin, Czech Republic
Former Lake Komořany, located in Northwest Bohemia in Central Europe, provides multiple proxies (pollen, plant macrofossils, diatoms, chironomids and sediment chemistry) that allowed reconstruction of the development of its aquatic environment and catchment, throughout the Holocene. In order to reconstruct the climatic forcing of this development, we performed a pollen-based reconstruction of climate changes using the best modern analogue method.…
Persistence of a vegetation mosaic in a peripheral region
History of the Litovelské Pomoraví woodland (NE Czech Republic)
Late Glacial and Holocene sequences in rockshelters and adjacent wetlands of Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Holocene forest transformations in sandstone landscapes of the Czech Republic
Stand-scale palaeoecology in sandstone landscapes provides insight into contrasting Holocene forest succession trajectories. Sharp geomorphological gradients in this investigated area, which in addition have never been deforested during the Holocene, provide a good model for upscaling the local vegetation histories to the wider territory of Central Europe. In three sandstone areas – Bohemian Paradise, Polemené hory and Broumov – we compare (1) an…
Geography (40 works) · Archaeology (35 works) · Ecology (26 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (26 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (20 works) · Geology (20 works) · Physical geography (19 works) · Biology (18 works) · Holocene (17 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (16 works)