Central European mountain areas constitute a specific type of mountain geomorphology which results primarily from relatively recent (Late Tertiary) modest uplift of planated or hilly relief. Hence, their overall morphology often consists of flattened summit and mid-slope surfaces, deeply incised valleys and steep marginal slopes. The most elevated massifs attain 1400-1600 m a.s.l., c. 100-300 m above the timberline. Those considered in this paper are located in Germany, Czech Republic and Poland and, collectively, are referred to as mid-mountains.

All these mountains bear a long record of human interference, dating back to at least 13-14C, which involved various activities, including prospecting and mining, land clearance for agricultural and industrial purposes, forestry, river channelization, development of transport and tourism, and whose intensity was changing through time. At least three periods of particularly strong imprint of human activities on mountain environments can be recognised and these are 14 to mid-15C, 16 to mid-17C, and from 19C onwards.

Recognition of impact of human activities on geomorphology is based on evidence provided by landforms and by stratigraphic record of the last 500 years or so preserved on slopes and in valleys. Most common man-made landforms are terracettes present on slopes considered too steep to allow for effective agriculture otherwise; they are known up to the altitude of 850-900 m a.s.l. Since the upper boundary of arable land has been significantly lowered in the last 100 years, terracettes are an important witness of past extension of agriculture. More localised are remnants of mining activity, which include mine heaps, quarries, excavations, trial pits and others. In some areas these landforms dominate the landscape and are now subjected to rapid erosion. Another suite of man-made landforms is that resultant from river channelization, which has significantly changed fluvial regimes. Besides, a number of small-scale landforms can be attributed to human impact indirectly, for instance gullies developed in the course of logging and erosional cuttings along mountain tracks. Initial incisions are easily exploited by rainwater and wash and may grow to big gullies a few meters across and deep.

The most obvious stratigraphic evidence of human impact, chiefly that related to changes in land use, is the occurrence of sub-recent alluvial fill. It is a very characteristic time-transgressive sedimentary unit, whose onset of deposition, as determined through C14 dating and archaeological findings, clearly coincides with timing of widespread implementation of agriculture on mountain slopes. Its thickness varies from 0.5-1.0 m in the upper parts of catchments up to 2-4 m along major valleys. This fine-grained sediment records widespread soil erosion and change in the behaviour of mountain rivers. Gravel-bed braided rivers, which existed before 14-15C, have been replaced by single-channel sinuous to meandering rivers with domination of suspended load and intermittent deposition during flood episodes. Fine-grained colluvial deposits with pieces of charcoal are another testimony of accelerated soil erosion, particularly strong on loess-covered slopes. Their thickness locally exceeds 2-3 m.

The main consequence of widespread human impact for geomorphology is increasing exposure to erosion and higher frequency of rapid runoff events, which in turn give rise to floodings. Hence, the rate of geomorphological change is higher now than it used to be in earlier times of the Holocene, although its comprehensive quantitative assessment is yet to be undertaken.