In studies on natural dynamics, biodiversity and reference conditions legacies of preindustrial human land use are often neglected. In this study, using archaeology and dendrochronology combined with field surveys on present forest characteristics, we assessed the naturalness of a protected forest landscape and examined the role of indigenous peoples in shaping forest structure in the past. Our results show that the studied Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest conforms to the generally accepted impression of pristine forests and that it has a long history of human utilization. Areas with human presence over long time periods, especially in and near settlements, show significant differences in current forest characteristics compared with the rest of the landscape: the forest is younger (mean age 140-190 years compared with >300 years), the volumes of deadwood lower (8-13 m 3 Áha -1 compared with >20 m 3 Áha -1 ), and the tree species composition is substantially different from the surrounding forest. We suggest that these disparities are strongly linked to past land use and that indigenous people can alter ecosystems substantially and that the legacies of their activity may last for centuries. Consequently, in ecological research and conservation strategies, forest characteristics should always be considered in the light of their historical context. Résumé :Dans les études portant sur la dynamique naturelle, la biodiversité et les conditions de référence, l'héritage laissé par l'utilisation préindustrielle des terres par l'homme est souvent négligé. Dans cette étude, nous avons évalué la naturalité d'un paysage forestier protégé et examiné l'effet sur la structure de la forêt qu'on eu dans le passé les autochtones, à l'aide de l'archéologie et de la dendrochronologie combinées à l'inventaire sur le terrain des caractéristiques actuelles de la forêt. Nos résultats montrent que la forêt de pin sylvestre (Pinus sylvestris L.) que nous avons étudiée correspond à l'idée généralement acceptée de forêt vierge mais qu'elle a également une longue histoire d'utilisation par l'homme. Dans les zones où la présence humaine s'est fait sentir pendant de longues périodes, particulièrement dans et près des endroits où l'homme s'est établi, il y a des différences significatives entre les caractéristiques de la forêt actuelle et celles qu'on observe dans le reste du paysage. La forêt est plus jeune (âge moyen de 140-190 ans comparativement à > 300 ans); les volumes de bois mort sont plus faibles (8-13 m 3 Áha -1 comparativement à > 20 m 3 Áha -1 ) et la composition en espè-ces arborescentes est substantiellement différente de celle de la forêt avoisinante. Nous croyons que ces différences sont étroitement reliées à l'utilisation passée des terres mais aussi que les autochtones peuvent modifier substantiellement les écosystèmes et que l'héritage de leurs activités peut se faire sentir pendant des siècles. Par conséquent, dans le cadre de travaux de recherche en écologie et de stratégies de conservation, les caractéristiques d'une ...

Archaeological and historical records suggest that cultivation became established rather late in northern Fennoscandia, preferably in coastal villages of northernmost Sweden during the 14th century. The expansion of these settlements has obliterated the relevant biological archives, thus restricting our ability to conduct palaeoecological studies of the oldest villages and limiting our knowledge of their cultivation history. In a secondary phase, new settlements were established around the periphery of these primary villages. We hypothesize that such secondary villages, which generally are only moderately affected by urban expansion, may function as key sites for vegetation-history studies and that the results can be extrapolated to provide clues about the establishment of primary villages and the initiation of associated permanent cultivations. Analyses of pollen, pollen accumulation rates, charred particles and loss-on-ignition residues from a small lake in the secondary village of Arnemark revealed continuous land use from at least c. 1650 cal. BP (cal. ad 300), a step-up phase in grazing and trampling around 1200 cal. BP (cal. ad 750), and permanent cultivation during the last c. 625 years (cal. ad 1325). The results suggest that the secondary village was established around cal. ad 750, that is, c. 600 years earlier than previously thought and that cultivation here was initiated at the same time as has been suggested for the primary villages by the coast. In this study, we also demonstrate that using pollen from old cereal types as references can make the distinction between cereal and wild-grass pollen more reliable.

Permanent cultivation is generally believed to have been established in the interior of northernmost Fennoscandia later than elsewhere in northern Europe, during or after the late 17th century. Although subtle evidence from various pollen records suggests cultivation may have occurred much earlier in this region, such indications have generally been disregarded. We hypothesized that cultivation was introduced early in the Lapland border zone where western native Sami interacted with coastal farming societies due to the high degree of contact between these communities. Therefore, we investigated historical land usage at three settlement sites in the interior of Sweden's northernmost territories -two in the Lapland border zone and one in a more westerly traditional Sami area. Analyses of pollen, charcoal and written historical records indicated that cultivation first occurred in AD 800 (700-900) at the westernmost site and one of the border zone sites. Permanent cultivation appears to have been established in c. AD 1480 (1400-1560) and 1750 (1720-1810) in the two Lapland border zone settlements and around AD 1840 in the westernmost settlement. These results suggest that small-scale shifting cultivation may have been conducted in inland regions of Northern Fennoscandia (including a traditional Sami area) since AD 800. As such, they support the hypothesis that intermittent small-scale cultivation has been going on in these regions for much longer than was previously accepted. Because there was a great mobility of people and ideas across northernmost Fennoscandia, we conclude that the current tendency to describe specific geographical regions as being solely used by 'nomadic herders' or 'permanent farmers' is inappropriate and fails to capture the complexity of historical land usage.

For several decades researchers have debated when cereal cultivation was introduced to northernmost Europe. Most previous studies have concentrated on sites along the coast or close to major rivers; these are areas well-suited to agriculture and represent routes for people and knowledge transfer, but omit other vast areas suitable for cultivation and sedentary settlement. Here, we present strong evidence of permanent cultivation from AD 480 onwards at a settlement located at the 64th parallel North in northern Sweden, currently situated 30 km inland from the Gulf of Bothnia. This predates the beginning of permanent cultivation at sites along the present coastline mentioned here and in results from previous studies of places at approximately the same latitude. Our results are based on continuous finds of cereal pollen grains at certain sites, selected on the basis of archaeological records, old maps, plus past and present elevations above sea level. We highlight the importance of taking factors into account such as access to waterways, communication routes and coast displacement following land uplift when choosing study sites in order to pinpoint early cultivation and sedentary settlements. We suggest that these results have implications for attempts to resolve the question of the history of early agriculture in other parts of northern Fennoscandia.