The 11.8 m-long composite sediment record from the hardwater lake of Sacrower See, located near the city of Potsdam (north-eastern Germany), has been characterised by a range of analytical techniques. These include magnetic susceptibility, chemical parameters (XRF core scanning, CNS analysis, biogenic silica) and stable isotopes (13C, 15N). The chronology covers the entire Holocene and the concluding Lateglacial (Alleröd, Younger Dryas) and is based on age-depth modelling using radiocarbon dates refined by the onset of the local varve chronology in 1870 CE (Lüder et al., 2006) and by the Laacher See Tephra, an isochrone dated to 13,000 cal. BP. It offers a detailed environmental reconstruction providing insights into depositional processes influenced by both natural climatic variations and human activities (Enters et al., 2009; Kirilova et al., 2009). The Lateglacial and Early Holocene are distinguished by the stabilisation of natural landscapes characterised by the presence of pine-birch (Alleröd) and mixed oak forests (Early Holocene). This development was interrupted by the climatic deterioration of the Younger Dryas, which resulted in a destabilisation of vegetation and increased natural soil erosion. It is evident that, for the first time around 5500 cal. BP, anthropogenic forest clearing became a factor, which subsequently led to increasing cultural soil erosion further accelerating during the Bronze Age (3600-3200 cal. BP), the Early Iron Age (2800-2600 cal. BP) and the Middle Ages (900-600 cal. BP). In the course of industrialisation since the 19th century, human impact underwent a transition from the destabilisation of soils to the phenomenon of eutrophication. This transition resulted in the occurrence of hypolimnetic anoxia, accompanied by the formation of carbonaceous varves.