’Gooseberry is the only thing left’ – a study of declining biological cultural heritage at abandoned crofts in the province of Södermanland, Sweden

Abstract

This is a study about cultivated and 'wild' plants as components of the material heritage of crofters, an overlooked group of people in former agrarian landscapes. Despite abundant remains of crofts in Sweden, inhabited during the period from the eighteenth century until the 1940s, crofters have been subject to few studies. We used a survey conducted 1967 of botanical remains at abandoned croft as a basis for a re-survey in 2019. As with all biological traces of former human activities, cultivated plants and wild species favoured by former management ultimately disappear, but with long delays. We describe the patterns of this decline. In general, about a third of the species were gone after 52 years. The rate of disappearance of single species occurrences was about 1% annually. We discuss the interpretation of botanical remains from since long abandoned crofts in the context of heritage. In some cases, the botanical remains were the only material evidence left. We conclude that the material heritage of crofters deserves further studies and that botanical remains at abandoned crofts should be documented and at least at some sites protected.

Local distribution patterns of fleshy‐fruited woody plants – testing the orchard hypothesis

“…The high occurrence of J. communis may reflect previous forest grazing of livestock in the forest as its needles serves as protection from grazing (Karlsson et al 2010). Another example is Ribes uva‐crispa which is a non‐native but naturalized species associated with open habitats close to former settlements (Eriksson and Glav Lundin 2020). Studying all regeneration stages of such a set of species is only possible over extended periods of time and requires extensive fieldwork.…”

Integrating Nature and Heritage in the Boreal Forests of Scandinavia? Exploration of a Low-Budget Method

“…Cultural plant relics at deserted sites, as mentioned above, appear to have a disappearance rate of about 1% annually (Eriksson and Glav Lundin 2020), although research from France shows that there were still traces of 2,000-year-old agriculture in the soil and vegetation (Dupouey et al 2002;Plue et al 2008). For some very old ancient monuments, however, such as settlement sites from the Stone Age, the timespan between the human impact and present vegetation is simply too long.…”

“…Surveys of these sites have shown a variety of plants used for both food production and aesthetic values. The relics of culture plants seem to be mostly confined to settlement sites, and not to have spread beyond these to any great extent (Andersson et al 2007;Eriksson and Glav Lundin 2020;Lind and Svensson 2001;Lötberg 2003;Panfalk and Österberg 2015).…”

“…An important question is how long the human impact indicated by lingering cultivated plants remains after desertion. In a longitudinal investigation of cultural plants relics at deserted crofts, the rate of disappearance of single species occurrences was about 1% annually (Eriksson and Glav Lundin 2020). With such a disappearance rate, indicators of human land use cannot be expected to last on sites deserted several hundred years ago.…”

Legacies of historic charcoal production affect the forest flora in a Swedish mining district

“…Another consequence of the former use of forests is that boreal and boreo‐nemoral forests contain a plethora of botanical legacies (Ljung et al 2015, Eriksson 2018). Some of these have been subject to detailed studies, for example legacies of livestock forest grazing (Oldén et al 2016) and former crofts (Eriksson and Glav Lundin 2020). However, in comparison with the much more researched topic of historical effects on still existing pastures and meadows, the legacies of former land‐use in forests are much overlooked (Eriksson 2018).…”