The exceptionally yearly laminated record of Belauer See offers a good opportunity to investigate several questions in Holocene environmental change, climate history and human development in the landscape. A new dating based on varve counts, 14C-datings and pollenstratigraphic events as well as 134Cs- and heavy metal records is applied to the uppermost 23,16 m of the sequence. The dated record is covering the last ca. 9400 years. Two examples for the application of this dating for the further developmenl of tephrochronology and for the detailed characterisation of Neolithic settlement phases are given. A new date for the Hekla 4 event is given by of 2430 ± 90 cal BC. Hekla 3, that is 1277 (+14) varve years younger accordingly dates to ca. 1150 cal BC. Tephra layers allow us to link different records for high resolution comparison even if the dating is nol jet fixed to a single year. Thus also human activilies can be traced with high accuracy as shown for the Neolithic around Belauer See. Distinct phases of occupation and retreat are recorded in the pollen diagram and can be connected to particular archaeological phases.