Abstract
Analyses of high-resolution pollen data, coprophilous fungal spores, microscopic charcoal and sedimentology, combined with radiocarbon dating, allow the assessment of the impact of Sami and Nordic land use in the region surrounding the winter market town of Lycksele in northern Sweden. Such winter markets were established by the Crown during the seventeenth century AD to control the semi-nomadic movements of the Sami who traded here with Finnish settlers and were also taxed and educated. Little is known about Sami and Nordic co-existence beyond these market places, mainly due to a lack of archaeological evidence relating to Sami activity. Vegetation and land-use changes in the region between ~ AD 250 and 1825 reveal no signal for pre-seventeenth century agricultural activity, but the coprophilous fungal spore records suggest the increased regional presence of grazing herbivores (possibly reindeer) between ~ AD 800 and 1100. Sami activity in the parish of Lycksele has been suggested by rich metal finds dated to ~ AD 1000–1350 and they may have been attracted by an abundance of reindeer.
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Introduction
This paper reports the findings of palynological investigations at the Nordic farming settlements of Gammelhemmet-i-Knaften and Hornmyr within the catchment of the market town of Lycksele, in Västerbotten province, northern Sweden (Fig. 1). Such markets formed the main centres of cultural interaction between the Sami and Nordic agricultural settlers, and offer an opportunity to study the activities of both cultural groups. As far as the authors are aware, no previous palynological research has been undertaken in this region. The aims of our investigation were as follows: (i) to use pollen analysis and associated proxies to confirm ideas regarding the introduction of agriculture, and the Nordic settlement history of the area; (ii) to consider whether a signal for Sami activity may be evident in the palynological record.
a Locations of winter market towns Lycksele, Umeå and Jokkmokk in northern Sweden; b Locations of the two pollen-analysed sites, Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr, and their relationship to Lycksele, Knaften and Örträsk; c Detailed map of the sampling location at Gammelhemmet (GAM); d Detailed map of the sampling location at Hornmyr (HORN)
Västerbotten is one of three provinces in Norrland (Fig. 2). The latter encompasses more than 50% of Sweden’s land area, but compared to southern Sweden (e.g. Gaillard and Berglund 1988; Lagerås 1996; Lindbladh 1999; Segerström and Emanuelsson 2002; Berglund et al. 2008), it is severely underrepresented in terms of land-use reconstructions. Based on the assumption that Sami hunter-gatherer activity formed the main subsistence strategy into historical times (SCB 1955; Segerström et al. 1994; Palm 2000; Lundmark 2007), human impact in Norrland has often been considered insignificant. Palaeoecological studies in northern Sweden have mainly focused on questions surrounding climate change, natural succession and the establishment of specific taxa (e.g. Picea) following deglaciation and disturbance by fire (e.g. Bradshaw 1993; Barnekow and Sandgren 2001; Giesecke and Bennett 2004; Hörnberg et al. 2004; Barnekow et al. 2008; Giesecke et al. 2008). At present, investigations of post-Stone Age human impacts on inland forest areas have been few (Van der Linden et al. 2008; Hörnberg et al. 2015), particularly where Swedish forest Sami reindeer herders are concerned (Aronsson 1991, 1994). Yet, palynological studies have long been applied globally to reconstruct low-impact human activity (Dimbleby 1985; Behre 1988; Edwards and MacDonald 1991; Bennett et al. 1992; Gardner 2002). This includes studies relating to the development of sedentary agriculture and Sami hunter-gatherer and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) herding activity in inland Finland, Estonia and northern Sweden (Hicks 1988; Carpelan and Hicks 1995; Niinemets and Saarse 2009; Tallavaara et al. 2010; Kamerling et al. 2017; Hörnberg et al. 2018).
The location of the provinces of Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Ångermanland, which collectively constitute Norrland (indicated in dark grey on the inset map), within Sweden. The locations of market towns (Lycksele, Umeå and Jokkmokk) are indicated
Despite being spread across Sapmi (the Sami homeland that geographically and politically covers northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula), much still remains unknown about the cultural development of the Sami due to the limited availability of historical and more diagnostic archaeological evidence. Evidence of a Sami presence in the form of hearths, cooking pits and hunting pits are abundant in the archaeological record of northern Sweden (Liedgren et al. 2007; Karlsson 2008; Lars et al. 2016), and radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal fragments can provide information on the occupation history of such sites. They are not always complemented by other artefacts that would shed more light on the ways in which the site was used because Sami reindeer herding sites are highly transient and artefacts relating to reindeer domestication (e.g. harnesses) are largely organic and do not preserve well in the acidic podzols of northern Sweden (Aronsson 1991; Kibblewhite et al. 2015). At Pasvik in Arctic Norway, bones and other artefacts at hearth row sites have been linked to trade and metal processing, suggesting that Sami societies and economies were more complex than often supposed (Hedman et al. 2015). Archaeological finds may also not be ideally located in the vicinity of deposits suitable for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, which, depending on basin size, may otherwise shed light on local land use, as well as more geographically extended human activity and/or climate change.
Boreal forest (taiga) vegetation can be significantly altered by human activity over prolonged intervals compared to its pristine natural state (Josefsson et al. 2009, 2010). The impact of such activities, including those of indigenous peoples, can be visible for centuries as the recovery of vegetation may take considerably longer than the duration of the activities that caused them (Josefsson et al. 2010; Freschet et al. 2014; Walker and Wardle 2014). Such a recovery typically follows a secondary successional trend from Poaceae-domination to ericaceous heaths and Betula, through to Pinus and finally Picea forests (Bradshaw and Zackrisson 1990; Jonsson and Esseen 1998; Freschet et al. 2014). Many artefacts and land-use patterns created by the Sami and/or sedentary agriculturalists have been destroyed by extensive logging practices throughout northern Sweden since the beginning of the AD 1800s (Östlund and Bergman 2006). Research into the past activity of Nordic agriculturalists and Sami has therefore focused either on high altitude alpine forests in the west (Salmonsson 2003; Karlsson et al. 2007, 2009; Staland et al. 2011; Östlund et al. 2015) or on coastal areas in the east (Engelmark 1976; Hörnberg et al. 2014). The wealth of peatlands in the interior of Norrland provides a vast and under-utilised palaeoecological archive of potential human- and climate-induced vegetation changes, and these are used here to examine historical activities in a region of cultural convergence between reindeer herders and farmers. This study uses coprophilous fungal spores—a valuable indicator of animal presence that was hitherto often-overlooked in this geographical setting—alongside pollen analysis and related proxies to provide new insight into the past inter-relationships between people, animals and the landscape.
Background and context
Forest Sami and their signal in the palaeoecological record
Reindeer have formed an important part of Arctic and sub-Arctic cultures and economies since the Palaeolithic (Sturdy 1975; Aikio 1989; Müller-Wille et al. 2006). Sami reindeer herding is one of five Eurasian types (Aronsson 1991) and is characterised by reindeer milking, dog-controlled pasturing, and the use of reindeer for the transport of goods/people and as decoys during hunting (Heinrich 2006; Müller-Wille et al. 2006).
Two sub-types of Sami reindeer herding are practised: the mountain and the forest type (Aronsson 1991; Niklasson et al. 1994; Norstedt and Östlund 2016). Mountain Sami migrate with their herds between summer mountain pastures and forest areas in the winter. Semi-nomadic forest Sami migrated strictly within the boreal forest (Aronsson 1991; Hedman 2003; Norstedt and Östlund 2016) and operated mainly in coastal areas, but were active as far south and inland as the interior of Ångermanland (Westerdahl 1986). Reindeer herding can be intensive or extensive, depending on the level of herd control (Aronsson 1991). Intensive herding was most suitable for the forest Sami and focused on managing small numbers of tame reindeer, with controlled calving and consumption of reindeer milk (Müller-Wille et al. 2006). The use of milking pens necessitated regular migrations to reduce the risk of calf diphtheria contracted from muddy soils, and of foot and mouth disease (Östlund et al. 2003). Pens were often abandoned for several years (Aronsson 1991) and patterns of use and abandonment can be visible in the palaeoecological record (Kamerling et al. 2017). Semi-nomadism was required to meet the subsistence needs of reindeer throughout the year (Heinrich 2006). The variety of soils in the boreal forests of northern Sweden provide a mosaic of different vegetation types that can be accessed through regular short migrations as the seasons change (Renbeteslära 1982). Together with hunting and fishing, semi-nomadic reindeer herding was the dominant type of land use in northern Sweden until the beginning of the eighteenth century (Aronsson 1994), though palaeoecological evidence of cereal cultivation in interior northern Sweden has been attributed to the Sami from as early as AD 800 (Bergman and Hörnberg 2015). These authors further argue that in many ways, the Sami use of plants for food was not merely ‘gathering’ but was rather a form of cultivation where yields were optimised and persistence of the plant communities of interest was safeguarded through the application of traditional knowledge.
Sami society was organised according to the siida village system comprised of multiple families or kin groups (Müller-Wille et al. 2006). The siida communities migrated between 3 and 7 semi-permanent settlement locations within their assigned areas from spring to autumn to meet the needs of their herd and themselves. In addition, forest Sami subsistence also relied on hunting and fishing, so pastures would be located near suitable fishing waters (Laestadius 1977; Graan 1983; Rheen 1983; Niklasson et al. 1994), where semi-permanent dwellings were set up (Aronsson 1991; Niklasson et al. 1994). During winter, the entire siida community travelled to the winter village where they met with (fur) traders, tax collectors and Nordic church ministers (Müller-Wille et al. 2006).
Non-agricultural human impacts within the boreal forest are usually visible in pollen records as an increase in apophyte abundance (Räsänen et al. 2007). An increase in a combination of Poaceae and certain herbaceous taxa (e.g. Epilobium-type, Solidago-type, Ranunculus, Urtica, Chenopodiaceae and Caryophyllaceae) have commonly been recorded at Sámi settlement sites (Aronsson 1991; Hicks 1993; Aronsson 1994). The clearance of trees and shrubs for (temporary) dwellings, and to create gathering spaces for reindeer, would have led to openings in the forest canopy, thus encouraging the growth of light-demanding herbaceous taxa, notably Poaceae, Melampyrum pratense, M. sylvaticum and Solidago vigaurea (Aronsson 1991). Trampling of the ground by reindeer over multiple weeks resulted in soil erosion and mixing. This attracted taxa that thrive on minerogenic soils affected by disturbance (e.g. Epilobium angustifolium and Rumex acetosella). Increased levels of sunlight reaching the forest floor combined with the destruction of the natural vegetation cause soil nitrification (Sjörs 1971). When allied with the addition of reindeer dung and the disposal of waste from the dwelling area, this would fertilise the soil, favouring nutrient-requiring vegetation such as Galeopsis (hemp-nettles) and Urtica (nettles).
Forest grazing generally reduces the availability of soil nutrients and can create a habitat for resistant plant genera such as Juniperus, Melampyrum and Ranunculaceae (Van der Linden et al. 2008). However, grazing has no noticeable effect on vegetation in the pasture grounds outside of the main reindeer gathering areas because reindeer are extensive grazers (Hicks 1985; Aronsson 1991).
Nordic colonization and its signal in the palaeoecological record
Palaeoecological studies undertaken along the current Bothnian coastline in the provinces of Ångermanland and Västerbotten (Fig. 2) suggest that Nordic farmers arriving from the south settled in these areas from around AD 500 (Engelmark 1976; Wallin 1996), though the timing of the onset and the spread of cultivation is still under debate; a review of palynological evidence has not indicated a south to north spread (Josefsson et al. 2014) and permanent cereal cultivation already took place inland from ~ AD 480 (Josefsson et al. 2017). In any case, subsistence methods would have focused on livestock rearing supplemented by hunting, gathering and the low-intensity cultivation of Hordeum (Engelmark 1976; Wallin 1996; Pedersen and Widgren 2011). At this time, coastal areas were already occupied by Sami (Von Düben 1873; Broadbent 2004) who were considered largely unaffected by Nordic colonization up until ~ AD 1000 when the Swedish State started to impose taxes (Myrdal 2011). Settler populations grew and extended into inland forest areas from around AD 900, with colonization beginning in earnest from ~ AD 1100 supported by livestock rearing through transhumance (Engelmark 1976; Myrdal 2011; Pedersen and Widgren 2011). From around AD 1200, Sami who refused to convert to Christianity were prohibited from occupying Nordic-owned lands (Broadbent 2010). A further and greater wave of colonial expansion into the central and northern Swedish boreal forests occurred during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, executed by Finnish settlers (Abramsson et al. 2006; Wedin 2007). Finland had been under Swedish rule from the beginning of the thirteenth century and colonization of unoccupied lands in interior northern Sweden by Finnskogar or ‘Forest Finns’ was encouraged by the Swedish Crown, who relied on these settlers to defend such lands during times of conflict (Abramsson et al. 2006; Gadd 2011). The Finns were particularly effective at bringing areas under cultivation through the application of traditional slash-and-burn methods of cultivation (Pentikäinen 1995; Wedin 2007; Ekengren 2013). Around this time, King Karl IX sought to convert the Sami to Christianity through the establishment of designated churches and winter market places such as Lycksele, Jokkmokk and Umeå (Figure 1). Contact with the Sami was maintained here for the purposes of taxation and trade, the resolution of disputes, and the education of both Sami and settlers.
Much like the non-agricultural impact of hunter-gathering Sami, the impact of small-scale agriculture on the vegetation may be difficult to distinguish in the palynological record, but becomes stronger as the level of activity intensifies. Forest clearance for pasture and cultivation of cereals and other crops may be evident as a decrease in Pinus and Picea and increased levels of Alnus and Betula, combined with the introduction of Cerealia pollen, e.g. Secale cereale with the later appearance of Hordeum-type and in some cases Triticum-type, as well as the pollen of other crops such as Cannabis/Humulus (Engelmark 1976; Aronsson 1991; Wallin 1996). Alongside this, we may expect to find pollen of weeds that respond positively to an opening up of the canopy and/or weeds of cultivation: Poaceae, Artemisia vulgaris, Rumex acetosa/acetosella, Plantago lanceolata, P. major/media, Galium-type, Caryophyllaceae, Lactuceae, Chenopodiaceae, Asteraceae undiff., Ranunculus, Epilobium-type, Filipendula, Salix and Juniperus. Animal husbandry may be indicated by the presence of the grazing indicators Poaceae and Juniperus (Engelmark 1976; Van de Veen and Van Wieren 1980; Buttenschøn and Buttenschøn 1985). Many of these taxa are the same as those that are indicative of Sami hunter-gatherer and reindeer herding impacts on the environment. As such, it may be difficult to separate the two where both cultural groups may have been active in the same locations at the same time.
Regional setting and cultural history
The parish of Lycksele is situated in the main boreal forest zone of Sweden (Sjörs 1963). In its northern section, ~ 35 km north of the town of Lycksele, around 53% of the forested area is occupied by pine, 1% by spruce, 21% by mixed coniferous forest and 25% by coniferous-deciduous forest. Ground floras are dominated by Empetrum nigrum, Calluna vulgaris, Vaccinium spp. and Cladonia spp. (Östlund et al. 1997). This composition is partly the result of extensive commercial logging activity and strict forestry regulations imposed over the past 150 years (Axelsson and Östlund 2001). Intensive forest management has converted natural communities into high-yielding, even-aged, forest stands that were clear-cut between 1970 and 1990 (ibid.). Quaternary sediments in the region are dominated by peat deposits and glacial till, underlain at Hornmyr by Svecofennian granites, and at Gammelhemmet by granitoids and metavolcanics (SGU 2007). Northwest-southeast orientated drumlins and moraines are common across the region.
Lycksele was established by agricultural settlers in AD 1607 at a traditional Sami meeting place (Abramsson et al. 2006). It sits within what was known as the Ume Sami district (Ume lappmark, later renamed Lycksele lappmark), which consisted of 37 Sami territories (Norstedt et al. 2014). The vast majority of these territories (28) belonged to forest Sami, a further eight belonged to mountain Sami, and the final territory that directly surrounded Lycksele belonged to the Church. Evidence of reindeer herding and Sami occupation at the Gammplatsen of Lycksele (the location of the church and market place, also known as an Öhn, meaning ‘old site’) is scarce (Abramsson et al. 2006; Rydström 2006). In the wider parish, evidence for Sami presence is limited to rich metal finds dated to ~ AD 1000–1350 (Zachrisson 1984). Finnish settlement in this region started with the establishment of Örträsk in AD 1678, ~ 40 km southeast of Knaften (Fig. 1) (Abramsson et al. 2006).
Sites
Gammelhemmet-i-Knaften
Gammelhemmet is situated 15 km to the south of Lycksele (Fig. 1) within the Lycksele prästbord territory (Norstedt et al. 2014). It forms the oldest part of the village of Knaften, which was established in AD 1701 (Abramsson et al. 2006). The fields surrounding the old farm house, featuring several clearance cairns, are thought to have been used for hay making and perhaps cultivation, although poor soils and crop failure due to frost meant that stock breeding, hunting and fishing were required to supplement swidden (slash-and-burn) cultivation (Egerbladh 1963; Bergman and Ramqvist 2017; Skogsmuseet 2017). Gammelhemmet was abandoned after ~ 150 years because of periods of severe frost, and a new settlement was established where central Knaften is currently situated. Evidence of Sami utilisation of the area has been inferred from the presence of hunting pits several hundred metres northeast of the village and a renvall (reindeer herding pen) of unknown age and hunting pit systems within a radius of several kilometres of the site (Khorasani et al. 2015). The mire at Gammelhemmet is dominated by saplings of Betula spp. and Salix, with a field layer of Sphagnum, Eriophorum vaginatum and Potentilla. The surrounding woodland is dominated by Betula, Picea and Pinus.
Hornmyr
The village of Hornmyr is in the Lycksele prästbord and is located 25 km southwest of Lycksele (Fig. 1). It was established in AD 1766 (Abramsson et al. 2006) by Olof Andersson, a settler from Örträsk (Carrion 2017). As at Gammelhemmet, conditions at Hornmyr were seemingly suboptimal for settlement, with sandy and stony soils unfavourable for cultivation. Encouragement to settle here in the form of tax exemptions that exceeded the usual 15 years was therefore offered by the Swedish government. The vegetation on the mire consists mainly of Picea, scattered Pinus, Betula spp. (including B. nana), Poaceae, Polytrichum, Eriophorum vaginatum and Sphagnum. Salix grows in local drainage ditches.
Methods
Sample collection
Peat cores were collected from small to medium-sized mires in order to optimise the chances of detecting a palynological signal for settlement. In boreal forests, the dispersal of pollen types indicative of human impact through cultivation and hunter-gathering—mainly herbaceous taxa indicative of an opening up of the landscape—is generally limited to a radius of 20-30 m (Vuorela 1973; Hicks 1993), which is broadly equivalent to the theoretical pollen source areas defined for small basins of < 0.5 ha (Jacobson and Bradshaw 1981). Sugita (1998) has suggested that when attempting to detect local changes in landscape openness, basins with a surface area of 1–20 ha are suitable, within which those < 2 ha most ideally suited.
At Gammelhemmet, a core (coded GAM) was collected with an 8-cm diameter half metre Russian borer (Jowsey, 1966) from a mire approximately 200 m northeast of the main concentration of farm buildings (64° 25.95’ N, 18° 36.89’ E; Fig. 2). The site is adjacent to a pit excavated for entomological samples (Khorasani et al. 2015). The mire is small (~ 60 x 250 m; ~ 1.5 ha) and is situated at ~ 283 m asl. The sequence encompasses the interval 13-64 cm below the modern ground surface; the topmost 13 cm of the deposit was too friable for collection and the basal unit was impenetrable with the Russian corer. The peat sequence at Hornmyr (coded HORN) was collected with the same Russian borer at a location ~ 25 m to the west of a drainage ditch and an intensively mown area (64° 23.63' N, 18° 24.61' E; Fig. 2). This section of the mire has a surface area of ~ 190 x 280 m (5.3 ha) and is connected to a larger deposit (1875 x 440 m; ~ 82.5 ha).
Sedimentary characteristics
Core stratigraphies were described using the Troels-Smith (1955) scheme. In order to detect small changes in the minerogenic content of the (highly organic) peat, loss-on-ignition (LOI) was performed by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), which measures weight loss through combustion in a controlled environment to determine the percentage of inorganic matter by weight (Ball 1964; Beaudoin 2003). Analyses were conducted using a Leco Corporation TGA-601 in the Sediment Analysis Laboratory at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Contiguous 1-cm-thick samples were dried in an oven (80 °C overnight), ground to a powder, heated to 105 °C to expel H2O, weighed, and combusted at 550 °C until weight loss had ceased (usually ~ 3 h).
Palynology
Contiguous 1-cm-thick samples of ~ 1 cm3 were measured by volumetric displacement (Mooney and Tinner 2011). Lycopodium tablets (Stockmarr 1971) were added to allow the determination of palynomorph concentrations and influx. Pollen sample preparation followed conventional methods (Moore et al. 1991; Chambers et al. 2011) and included treatment with 10% NaOH and acetolysis. Samples were mounted unstained in silicon oil (12,500 cSt viscosity).
A counting sum of ≥ 500 total land pollen (TLP) was attained using a Nikon E400 binocular light microscope at × 400 magnification. Obligate aquatic taxa, spores and inferred exotic (long-distance derived) pollen types were excluded from the pollen sum. Slides were counted along evenly spaced transects across a half or a full slide to circumvent problems arising from any uneven distribution of palynomorphs. Pollen and spores were identified using the key in Moore et al. (1991) and the reference collection held in the Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen. Nomenclature largely follows Bennett (2020a). Betula pollen grains were systematically measured, with those < 20 μm classified as B. nana (dwarf birch), and grains above this size threshold regarded as tree birch (cf. Mäkelä and Hyvärinen 1998).
Coprophilous fungal spores were identified using the notes and photographs in Van Geel et al. (2003), with the prefix HdV- (Hugo-de-Vries laboratory, University of Amsterdam) added to the spore ‘type’ numbers (Feeser and O’Connell 2010; Schofield and Edwards 2011). Any apparently unique non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) encountered in this study are prefixed UoA- (University of Aberdeen). Coprophilous fungal spores are expressed as a percentage of the TLP sum. Microscopic charcoal was quantified through areal measurement (Patterson et al. 1987; Conedera et al. 2009; Mooney and Tinner 2011). Only black, opaque, angular particles with a length ≥ 5 μm were considered (Clark 1988). Charcoal concentrations (cm2 cm-3) were calculated to obtain charcoal to pollen ratios (C:P). Calculations of rarefaction—a measure of estimated species richness—were made using psimpoll (Bennett 2020b).
Pollen data were collated using Tilia 2.0.b.4 software and diagrams were created in TGView 2.0.2 (Grimm 1990). The placement of local pollen assemblage zones (LPAZs) was assisted through cluster analysis of the terrestrial pollen taxa using CONISS (Grimm 1987, 1990). Influx diagrams (palynomorphs cm-2 year-1) were employed to provide absolute and independent measures of pollen abundance for selected taxa (Davis and Deevey 1964).
AMS 14C dating
Peat samples were disaggregated overnight by immersion in 10% NaOH, sieved through a nest of 250, 180 and 120 μm meshes and residues were inspected using a Nikon SMZ645 stereoscopic zoom microscope (x8-50 magnification). Selected plant macrofossils were removed from the sample residues and stored in distilled H2O and a drop of 10% HCl. Where suitable terrestrial macrofossils were unavailable, the humic acid fraction of 1 cm3 (bulk) peat samples was used. Samples were dated at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride. Radiocarbon dates were calibrated using CALIB Version 7.0html (Stuiver and Reimer 1993) and the IntCal13 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2013), and they are reported at the 2σ confidence level.
Age-depth models
Age-depth models were produced using both ‘classical’ (Clam; Blaauw 2010) and Bayesian (Bacon; Blaauw and Christen 2011) software. Various model settings within Clam were explored (each run with 10,000 iterations) and those with the best ‘goodness of fit’ (GOF) were selected. In Bacon, models were run (> 6.5 million iterations) with different combinations of prior settings for deposition rate and accumulation shape. Priors were set so that the curve intersected the bulk of the probability distributions of the calibrated radiocarbon age ranges, using deposition rates that are considered reasonable for mires (cf. Mauquoy et al. 2002; Goring et al. 2012). Exact details of model settings are provided in the figure captions.
Results
Gammelhemmet
Lithostratigraphy
The stratigraphy comprises peat (79 cm in depth) resting upon a base of sand and gravel-rich grey clay that is probably of glacial origin. Fine herbaceous rootlets and woody detritus are visible throughout the peat. Further details of the pollen-analysed sequence (13-56 cm), together with Troels-Smith formulae for the deposit, are provided in Table 1.
Chronology
Radiocarbon dates are presented in Table 2. Clam and Bacon age-depth models resulted in near-identical chronologies (Fig. 3). Preference was given to the latter (more conservative) model. This age-depth model differs from that of Khorasani et al. (2015) in that no hiatus at the top of the sequence has been inferred here or seems to be indicated; deposition times are roughly linear throughout the sequence at ~ 30 year cm-1.
Age-depth models for Gammelhemmet (GAM) produced using (a) Clam (Blaauw 2010) and (b) Bacon (Blaauw and Christen 2011). Both models consider all radiocarbon measurements on Betula twigs/bark and humic acid (Table 2). With Clam, the best goodness of fit (GOF = 5.62) was achieved with a smooth spline, whereas in Bacon optimal results were achieved using a prior deposition rate (acc.mean) of 30 year cm-1 and an accumulation shape (acc.shape) of 4, a section thickness of 3 cm, a memory strength (mem.strength) of 5, and a memory mean (mem.mean) of 0.7
Palynology
The pollen spectra (Figs. 4 and 5) seem to retain their stratigraphic integrity and display reasonably sharp and intelligible changes, supporting the absence of a hiatus in the sequence (at least below 13 cm depth). Four LPAZs can be distinguished in the percentage pollen diagram (Fig. 4). Their key features, including the patterns recorded in the influx diagram (Fig. 5), are summarized in Table 3.
Percentage pollen diagram for Gammelhemmet (GAM) showing trees, shrubs and heaths, and herbs (sum ≥ 500 TLP) as well as aquatics, pteridophytes and coprophilous fungal spores. Also included are the calibrated and uncalibrated 14C ages, the lithological column for the sequence, the loss on ignition (LOI) values, microscopic charcoal expressed as charcoal to pollen (C:P) ratio and the rarefaction index. Rare types (< 1%) are indicated by a + symbol
Pollen influx measured in grains cm-2 year-1 for selected trees, shrubs and herbs at Gammelhemmet (GAM). Note the differences in scaling of the x-axes
Hornmyr
Lithostratigraphy
The stratigraphy at Hormmyr comprises of a poorly-humified and fibrous peat extending to a depth of at least 95 cm. The full depth of the peat could not be established due to the presence of wood in the profile. Woody detritus is apparent below 29 cm, and this becomes increasingly abundant towards the base of the sequence. The deposit is further described in Table 4.
Chronology
Radiocarbon dates for HORN are presented in Table 5. Age-depth modelling with Clam and Bacon produced similar results and the Bacon model (Fig. 6) has been adopted.
Age-depth models for Hornmyr (HORN) produced using (a) Clam (Blaauw 2010) and (b) Bacon (Blaauw and Christen 2011). Both models consider all radiocarbon measurements on Betula twigs, Carex nutlets and utricles and humic acid (Table 5). With Clam, the best goodness of fit (GOF = 1.49) was achieved with a polynomial regression of order 3 (smooth), whereas in Bacon, optimal results were achieved using a prior deposition rate (acc.mean) of 20 yr cm-1 and an accumulation shape (acc.shape) of 3, a section thickness of 5 cm, a memory strength (mem.strength) of 4 and a memory mean (mem.mean) of 0.7
Palynology
The palynological sequence (Figs. 7 and 8) appears to be undisturbed and is characterised by relatively pronounced and clearly defined changes. Four LPAZs can be distinguished in the percentage pollen diagram (Fig. 7). Their key features, including the patterns recorded in the influx diagram (Fig. 8), are summarized in Table 6.
Percentage pollen diagram for Hornmyr (HORN) showing trees, shrubs and heaths and herbs (sum ≥ 500 TLP), aquatics, pteridophytes and coprophilous fungal spores. Also included are the calibrated and uncalibrated 14C ages, the lithological column for the sequence, the loss on ignition (LOI) values, the summary diagram, microscopic charcoal expressed as charcoal to pollen (C:P) ratio and the rarefaction index. Rare types (< 1%) are indicated by a + symbol
Pollen influx measured in grains cm-2 year-1 for selected trees, shrubs and herbs at Hornmyr (HORN). Note the differences in scaling of the x-axes
Palaeoecological interpretation
Gammelhemmet
LPAZ GAM-1: ~ AD 290–750 (56–42 cm)
The timing of this LPAZ broadly coincides with the cold and wet Pre-Medieval Cold Period (~ AD 300–900; Cowling et al. 2001; St. Amour et al. 2010), which might explain the dominance of Pinus over Betula and low C:P through the suppression of natural forest fire activity. Wetter substrates would be favourable to many species within the Cyperaceae as well as Vaccinium-type (e.g. V. oxycoccos and V. microcarpum, both abundant in northern Sweden; Mossberg and Stenberg 2010), which is seen to increase at the top of the zone (visible in both percentage and pollen accumulation rate [PAR] diagrams—albeit in the single uppermost spectrum in the percentage profile). Conditions may have become increasingly unfavourable for Pinus; this is supported by entomological evidence, which indicates wet conditions coinciding with an increasingly open landscape from the Early Iron Age into the Late Iron Age (Khorasani et al. 2015). The presence of coprophilous fungal spores of Sporormiella-type (HdV-113) and Cercophora-type (HdV-112) at low frequencies suggests that the site was visited by animals.
LPAZ GAM-2: ~ AD 750–1230 (42–28 cm)
This zone largely coincides with the interval sometimes ascribed to the warmer and drier climate of the so-called Medieval Warm Period (~ AD 900–1200; Briffa et al. 1992), but there are no strong changes in the palynological signal. There is a reduction in Sphagnum spore representation in the upper portion of the LPAZ, and Cyperaceae is consistently in evidence. An increase in the abundance of, or regularity with which animals visited the site, could explain the heightened frequencies and greater variety of coprophilous fungal spores from ~ AD 845–1125. Similar increases in coprophilous fungal spores at an ombrotrophic peat bog in high latitude northern Norway, particularly of Sporormiella and Sordaria, have been linked to reindeer grazing (Balascio et al. 2020). The more continuous presence of pollen of ruderal apophytic taxa (e.g. Artemisia, Asteraceae, Chenopodiaceae and Solidago-type; Behre 1988; Aronsson 1994; Josefsson et al. 2009) and those regarded as responding favourably to forest grazing (e.g. Melampyrum and Juniperus; Behre 1981; Poska et al. 2004) may support this suggestion. A combination of such taxa was attributed to general disturbance, forest grazing and increased nutrient availability at reindeer herding sites in northern Sweden (Aronsson 1991, 1994). A slight increase in the minerogenic input could be explained by heightened levels of erosion due to trampling of dry land areas surrounding the mire. Values for Cyperaceae are relatively lower in samples where the abundance of Sporormiella-type is greatest, but recover when the suggested grazing pressure on the bog is reduced—a trend that is most obvious in the PAR diagram; Salix is also reduced to trace values, but soon recovers to pre-LPAZ GAM-2 levels. It is impossible to say with certainty that reindeer were responsible, but such an explanation seems plausible given their preference for feeding on bogs where Salix spp. and Cyperaceae (Eriophorum spp. and Carex spp. especially) are available in abundance (Renbeteslära 1982; Flenniken 2007; Yu et al. 2011). The signal is unlikely to be related to moose grazing as, when feeding, they target the upper (30–300 cm) parts of shrubs and trees (e.g. Pinus sylvestris, Salix spp., Juniperus communis, Sorbus aucaparia, Populus tremula, Alnus incana and Betula pendula) in summer and winter; these are more easily accessible than forbs and herbs given the disparity in height between plant and animal (Shipley et al. 1998; Wam and Hjeljord 2010). Low and stable C:P, similar to LPAZ GAM-1, indicates low intensity or infrequently occurring forest fires; the slightly increased levels of charcoal at ~ AD 1000–1050 may reflect a contribution from domestic fires given the onset of recurrent Sami presence in the parish between AD 1000 and 1350 (Zachrisson 1984). This LPAZ may correspond to the period when the development of a woodland mosaic with increasingly abundant open patches was advanced by Khorasani et al. (2015), possibly driven by Sami activity across the wider area.
LPAZ GAM-3: ~ AD 1230–1545 (28–18 cm)
This zone coincides with the first half of the colder and wetter Little Ice Age (LIA, ~ AD 1200–1850; Cowling et al. 2001; Matthews and Briffa 2005). Cyperaceae is reduced in percentage as well as PAR terms, despite a preference for wetter conditions among many of this family’s constituent species. In the high Arctic, however, Carex aquatilis stans, C. membranacea, and Eriophorum angustifolium (the former two being widespread in northern Sweden; Mossberg and Stenberg 2010) have been shown to respond in unison with changes in temperature (Hill and Henry 2011). Lowered temperatures and greater wetness would also favour Sphagnum. Although an absence of spores does not necessarily have to relate to an absence of herbivore activity (Perrotti and van Asperen 2019; Van Asperen et al. 2019), the reduction of Sporomiella-type spores (HdV-113), the disappearance of Cercophora-type (HdV-112) and Sordaria-type (HdV-55A), and a strongly reduced presence of pollen of ruderals and taxa related to general landscape openness (e.g. Artemisia, Solidago-type, Cirsium-type and Poaceae) beyond the basal sample in the zone, suggest a reduction in the intensity of grazing at the site and/or lower numbers of herbivores. This is supported by a decrease in species richness as indicated by the rarefaction curve.
LPAZ GAM-4: ~ AD 1545–1665 (18–13 cm)
The drop in LOI at 14-13 cm (~ AD 1640–1665) coincides with a steep rise in C:P and a decline in Betula, while Pinus increases through the zone. A concomitant decline in Picea is more evident in the PAR diagram. Considering that the envelope of uncertainty on the age-depth model extends to AD 1755, it is possible that these changes relate to slash-and-burn clearance as practised by the ‘Forest Finns’, who first settled in this region (in Örträsk) in AD 1678. Pinus may have benefitted from an increased frequency or intensity of fires; it is resistant to burning because of its thick and insulating bark, it is able to recover quickly and to resist fungal and insect attacks following fire damage, and its roots are protected as they penetrate relatively deeply into the soil (Zackrisson 1977).
Trace amounts of Brassicaceae, Centaurea cyanus, Chenopodiaceae, and Rumex-type pollen suggest disturbance, possibly through arable farming and/or settlement (Bellanger et al. 2012). Given the surface area of the mire (~ 1.5 ha), pollen recruitment is likely to derive from extra-local or regional pollen source areas, but the limited dispersal of pollen beyond the boundaries of cultivated fields situated within boreal forests (~ 20–30 m, e.g. Vuorela 1973; Hall 1988) might suggest that farming was taking place in close proximity to the bog. Low levels of agricultural indicator taxa could also be explained if high-pollen producers such as Pinus and Betula are masking the signal (cf. Hicks 1985). In addition, any arable farming probably occurred on a relatively small scale as it was of minimal importance in these areas compared to stock raising until well into the nineteenth century (Engelmark 1976; Gadd 2011). Around AD 1700, only ~ 2% of Sweden’s land area was under arable production, most of which was not in Norrland (Gadd 2011). The absence of cereal-type pollen may support the suggestion that clearance was not aimed at creating arable land, although the pollen of Cerealia are not well dispersed (Vuorela 1973).
An increase in Cyperaceae pollen percentages and accumulation rates in GAM-4 may represent a local response to the ~ AD 1550–1760 wet shift as recorded by Van der Linden et al. (2008). Alternatively, its coincidence with possible slash-and-burn and the increase in Poaceae at 14–13 cm suggests that changes in the representation of sedges may relate to the creation of pasture land and/or hay making on both wet and dry meadows (Segerström and Emanuelsson 2002; Josefsson et al. 2009). The reoccurrence of spores of Sordariales-type and Sordaria (HdV-55A), albeit slight, is noteworthy as the presence of coprophilous fungal spores during meadow phases has been linked to both grazing and the manuring of hay meadows (Graf and Chmura 2006). Spores of Sordariales-type, however, include non-obligate coprophilous taxa (Lundqvist 1972), and in the absence of a (significant) response in Sporormiella-type—the most reliable indicator of herbivore presence—it cannot be concluded that manuring of, or grazing on, the bog occurred.
Khorasani et al. (2015) recorded palaeoentomological evidence that suggested the use of fire for clearance and possible drainage for agricultural purposes in their S3 sample (20–30 cm depth), which they dated to AD 1446–1633. We suggest that the activities recorded by them pertain to the seventeenth century agricultural settlement as recorded in the topmost samples of the palynological record.
Hornmyr
LPAZ HORN-1: ~ AD 695–1055 (95–68 cm)
From ~ AD 755, the striking presence of coprophilous fungal spores suggests animal grazing on the mire, possibly by reindeer whose preference for Salix as a food source would explain its decline in the pollen percentage and influx records. Pollen of Juniperus, Urtica, Rumex acetosa, Chenopodiaceae, Melampyrum, Plantago lanceolata, Asteraceae and Artemisia, which collectively occur throughout this LPAZ, suggest a combination of forest grazing, general disturbance and increased nutrient availability. Rumex acetosa/acetosella is considered of particular importance as an anthropogenic indicator in northern Fennoscandian forest settings by Josefsson et al. (2009). There is an absence of a rise in Poaceae that generally accompanies this suite of pollen types, suggesting that grazing may be inhibiting the flowering of grasses. The dip in LOI at ~ AD 810, admittedly a single level, resembles that recorded at a reindeer herding pen (renvall) at Akkajärvi, northern Sweden, which was linked to the creation of a small clearance in the forest for an extension to the renvall (cf. Freschet et al. 2014; Kamerling et al. 2017). At the winter village of Einehlammet in eastern Finnish Lapland, Hicks (1993) found a decline in LOI coincided with a minor peak in C:P, which was interpreted as belonging to small, local fires. A short-lived increase in C:P is recorded in HORN-1 from around AD 855, which may relate to smudge fires (lingering smoke-producing fires used to protect reindeer from mosquitoes [cf. Garriott 1899; Aronsson 1991]), and/or domestic fires set by the Sami within the vicinity of the bog, and/or possibly fires set by Sami to promote and sustain reindeer lichen-dominated ground vegetation for winter grazing (Hörnberg et al. 2018). C:P is generally lower towards the top of the zone, which may reflect less intensive use of the area, although fluctuations in fire incidence may arise from natural forest fires.
During periods of disturbance, rarefaction values might be expected to increase (Birks and Line 1992; Gaillard 2007) as was found to be the case in reindeer grazing areas in the tundra-heath of northern Norway (Olofsson et al. 2001) and at a herding pen (renvall) at Akkajärvi (Kamerling et al. 2017). However, the impacts of reindeer on the vegetation may vary in different climatic, geographical and biotic contexts (Bernes et al. 2013) and whether species richness will respond positively or negatively to reindeer grazing depends on its intensity and the environmental heterogeneity (Pajunen et al. 2008). If the coprophilous fungal spore signal at Hormmyr relates to Sami reindeer herding, it largely pre-dates the period (~ AD 1000–1350) of archaeologically well-documented Sami activity in Lycksele parish (Zachrisson 1984).
LPAZ HORN-2: ~ AD 1055–1330 (68–46 cm)
The disappearance of coprophilous fungal spores suggests that grazing at the site had largely ceased at this time. The preferred food source of reindeer, Cyperaceae, shows markedly increased pollen representation relative to the previous LPAZ. As noted earlier, some of the species within this family that have a common distribution across northern Sweden respond positively to climate warming. In the absence of grazing pressure, it is possible that certain species of Cyperaceae (e.g. Carex aquatilis stans and C. membranacea) were able to respond positively to the ameliorating conditions of the Medieval Warm Period (cf. Hill and Henry 2011). An end to grazing—which may have included feeding on mosses when access to young shoots of Salix, Eriophorum spp. and Carex spp. was limited (Yu et al. 2011)—might also explain the increased abundance of Sphagnum. A caveat is that in forest-tundra ecotones in northwestern Finnish Lapland, bryophytes have been shown to respond negatively to a lack of reindeer grazing (Pajunen et al. 2008). The increase in Sphagnum could also be related to (local) changes in surface wetness. C:P levels remain similar to those witnessed during HORN-1, and in the absence of other indicators of human impact, the microscopic charcoal is probably attributable to natural forest fires.
LPAZ HORN-3: ~ AD 1330–1655 (46–19 cm)
Colder summers during the LIA may be responsible for the overall reduction in Cyperaceae throughout this zone (most clearly visible in the PAR diagram), while the rise in the abundance of aquatic taxa (Menyanthes, Potamogeton and Scheuchzeria palustris) from ~ AD 1435 may signify an increase in shallow pools on the bog. Colder and wetter summers would further explain the reduced frequency of natural forest fires, as expressed by the decline in C:P, thus allowing an overall increase in tree taxa, including Alnus spp., which has a preference for wetter substrates. The combination of traces of ruderals (Rumex-type, Plantago lanceolata, Artemisia), and indicators of meadows (Ranunculus undiff., Filipendula), general open land (Apiaceae) and forest grazing (Melampyrum), suggest disturbance and an opening of the landscape. This signal does not appear to relate to an early onset of Finnish agricultural impact as there is little palynological evidence for slash-and-burn cultivation (C:P is low and there are no obvious reductions in percentages or PARs of arboreal pollen types). If impacts arising from farming are discounted, it is possible that Sami activity within the vicinity of the bog may have produced this signal.
LPAZ HORN-4: ~ AD 1655–1815 (19–10 cm)
This LPAZ appears to represent Finnish colonization of the region, with swiddening expressed as a reduction in Picea and a rise in C:P. Picea-dominated forest, with its moist soils, was often targeted for clearance as it offered the most suitable substrate for cultivation (Engelmark 1976; Zackrisson 1976; Hicks 1985). The palynological signal recorded here, given the moderately large size of the mire, probably represents clearance activity that is beyond the immediate bounds of the mire. Possible evidence for cultivation and an opening of the landscape are expressed as greater community diversity, and the appearance and/or increase of taxa relating to arable farming and open, grazed and trampled landscapes with enhanced soil nutrient levels (e.g. Hordeum-type, Brassicaceae, Urtica, Rumex acetosella, R. acetosa, Apiaceae and Artemisia). Hordeum-type is a category that includes the pollen of wild grasses such as Elytrigia repens and Glyceria fluitans (Andersen 1979). The latter is rarely found in interior northern Sweden, but the former is very common and occurs mainly on cultivated soils (Mossberg and Stenberg 2010). Given the limited capacity for dispersal of pollen of cultivated plants beyond the boundaries of cultivated fields set within boreal forests (similar to Gammelhemmet), cultivation may have occurred within close proximity (~ 20–30 m) of the sampling location. The timing of these activities fits the known settlement history of the wider Lycksele area, although if the chronological estimates based on the age-depth model are accepted, farming at Hornmyr appears to pre-date the documented establishment age of the village (AD 1766).
The increase in percentages and PARs of Cyperaceae and Poaceae suggests that the site may have been used as a (wet) hay meadow (cf. Segerström and Emanuelsson 2002). The presence of Menyanthes and Scheuchzeria through this LPAZ intimates that pools with standing water were maintained, meaning that the posited hay meadow would not necessarily need to have been purposefully flooded to improve its productivity (cf. Elveland 1979; Vasari and Väänänen 1986; Vasari 1988). The absence of coprophilous fungal spores could indicate that the mire was not manured or used as pasture.
Discussion
Reindeer grazing in the Lycksele region ~ AD 800–1100
At both Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr, various types of coprophilous fungal spores (HdV-7a, 55a, 112 and 113) are registered between ~ AD 845–1125 (part of GAM-2) and ~ AD 780–1055 (part of HORN-1) respectively. The similar timing of these patterns at both sites suggests a common cause, and although it may not be possible to directly relate spore abundance to animal abundance/biomass (Davies 2019), the presence of such spores most likely indicates an increased abundance of grazing herbivores in the Lycksele region. Considering the limited dispersal capacity of coprophilous fungal spores from their fruiting bodies (from ≤ 2.5 m to a maximum of tens of meters; Ingold 1971; Yafetto et al. 2008; Davies 2019), herbivores must have been regularly present in numbers along the margin of the bogs, and probably also on their surfaces. The spore assemblages are dominated by Sporormiella-type (HdV-113), which is considered to be the most useful indicator of herbivore presence (Davis and Shafer 2006; Raper and Bush 2009; Feranec et al. 2011). Different species within this genus grow on the dung of large birds such as grouse (Richardson 1972, 2001; Wood et al. 2011), domestic cattle (West 2003), lagomorphs, deer, horses and porcupines (Ahmed and Cain 1972). It is impossible to distinguish morphologically between fungal spores produced by different species within the genus Sporomiella (Miller and Huhndorf 2005) and therefore no inferences can be made as to the type of animal that produced the dung from which they are likely to have originated. The impacts on the preferred food sources of reindeer, i.e. the negative response of Salix at Gammelhemmet during the phase of increased coprophilous spore abundance, and the recovery of Cyperaceae at Hornmyr at the time these spores disappeared, support the idea that reindeer used the bogs as pasture.
Reindeer browsing is extensive rather than of high grazing intensity, and it has been suggested that this would lead to minimal impact on the vegetation (Hicks 1985; Aronsson 1991), though Josefsson et al. (2009, 2010) argue that long-term reindeer herding over an extensive area would result in distinctive differences in forest structure and composition compared to surrounding areas. The suite of shrub and herb taxa recorded at both Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr during the postulated grazing phases (Rumex-type, Chenopodiaceae, Melampyrum, Asteraceae, Artemisia, and Poaceae at GAM-2; Juniperus, Urtica, Rumex acetosa, Chenopodiaceae, Melampyrum, Plantago lanceolata, Asteraceae and Artemisia at HORN-1; ~ AD 695–1055) includes the majority of taxa that were identified by Aronsson (1991) as related to reindeer gathering at renvalls, and listed by Behre (1981) as potential indicators of dry pasture and grazed forests. This suggests that (domesticated) reindeer were gathered within the vicinity of both bogs, or alternatively, that the number of wild reindeer was great enough across the wider Lycksele area, and their presence sufficiently regular, that it resulted in a region-wide impact on the vegetation. Unfortunately, little is known about wild reindeer migration patterns in northern Sweden, but by the time European settlers entered the region in the seventeenth century, it is reported that wild reindeer were abundant across the wider Lycksele area. The greatest concentration is noted as occurring in the area ~ 40–175 km to the south of Lycksele (Norstedt 2011).
The time interval under discussion here (~ AD 800–1100) largely pre-dates the ~ AD 1000–1350 period of archaeologically-documented Sami activity in the Lycksele parish area, even allowing for the inferred AD 1125 impact at Gammelhemmet. The apparent presence of wild reindeer may have been what attracted the Sami to this region as their subsistence was, at least in part, dependent upon reindeer hunting. Furthermore, the importance of access to furs increased during the Viking Age (~ AD 800–1050) when furs became an important trade commodity (Sawyer 2000). Whether the Sami simply followed the reindeer through the landscape as they hunted them, or whether they exercised some level of control over their movements and choice of grazing areas, is unclear. The use of smudge fires was one of the main methods of luring small and relatively tame herds of reindeer during the ‘true’ intensive reindeer herding period; this is considered to have begun during the seventeenth or eighteenth century (Aronsson 1991; Lundmark 2007) and was characterised by hunting and gathering while keeping small herds of relatively tame animals (Niklasson et al. 1994; Bergman et al. 2004; Müller-Wille et al. 2006). If intensive reindeer herding was already occurring across the wider Lycksele area during the ~ AD 800–1100 period, a rise in microscopic charcoal would be expected. At Hornmyr, a peak in C:P is recorded around ~ AD 855, although values of a similar magnitude can be seen during the following LPAZ when no other obvious indications of human impact are visible.
The apparent cessation of grazing within the Lycksele area is indicated by the decline in coprophilous fungal spores after ~ AD 1100. Sami activity in the wider area persisted for another 250 years after the cessation of animal presence at Hornmyr and was seemingly strongly reduced at Gammelhemmet. Although the pressure of hunting may have been detrimental to reindeer in the region, it is perhaps more likely that the Sami utilised some level of control over the pasturing grounds that the animals frequented.
Separating contemporaneous signals for Sami activity and Nordic (agricultural) settlement
At both Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr, a clear signal for Finnish colonization supported by inferred slash-and-burn is seemingly evident in the palynological record, particularly through a positive response in microscopic charcoal. During the period of seventeenth century settlement, no obvious indication of Sami activity can be distinguished in the palynological record from Hornmyr. This may be a taphonomic artefact related to the limited dispersal capacity of pollen from areas of Sami reindeer herding activity within boreal forests (Hicks 1985; Aronsson 1991; Abramsson et al. 2006; Kamerling et al. 2017). Alternatively, it may simply mean that the Sami were not especially active within the vicinity of the mires. Contact between the Sami and Finns would have occurred at the winter market towns, although these groups need not have had much interaction beyond that. The increasing disturbance to reindeer grazing lands as colonization progressed, and the pressure of forced Christianisation (Broadbent 2010), may have caused the Sami to relocate, in a similar fashion to the Sami in Kuusamo, northern Finland during the second half of the seventeenth century (Hicks 1985). With just two spectra at Gammelhemmet covering the period of Finnish colonization, it is not possible to confidently state an absence of a palaeoecological signal for the Sami there.
If both cultures were active contemporaneously at Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr, the palynological signal produced by Finnish and Nordic settlers—reflecting livestock rearing through transhumance, supplemented by low-level cultivation—may be inseparable from any evidence for Sami reindeer herding activity, and indeed the Sami may have practised low-level cultivation of their own. Both activities are characterised by similar palynological indicators (these being increased levels of Poaceae, Rumex-type, Plantago lanceolata, Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Solidago-type, Urtica, Juniperus, and Melampyrum pollen, and the occurrence of coprophilous fungal spores). However, it should also be considered that the Sami would have visited the Lycksele prästbord, within which Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr are situated, only during the winter. The impact of Sami settlement and small herds on the vegetation under winter conditions is expected to have been limited (Aronsson 1991); Sami would have lived in fully mobile tents (kåtor; Manker 1968) and reindeer herds would have been relatively small after autumn slaughtering (Müller-Wille et al. 2006), with the animals largely feeding on lichens when vascular plants were unavailable (Renbeteslära 1982).
Conclusions
By assessing a combination of palynological proxies, including microscopic charcoal and coprophilous fungal spores, this study shows that small-scale human impact can be identified in palynological sequences from boreal forest settings given the selection of sampling locations near to the postulated foci of activity. At both Gammelhemmet and Hornmyr, the palynological signals relating to grazing herbivores and arable agriculture are superimposed upon broader climate-controlled vegetational patterns. Archaeological evidence for the regional presence of herbivores is supported locally by the coprophilous fungal spore record (~ AD 845–1125 at Gammelhemmet and ~ AD 780–1055 at Hornmyr). Together with a reduction in the abundance of Cyperaceae, Salix and Sphagnum (the preferred food types of Rangifer), this suggests that reindeer may have grazed on these bogs. The timing of these events partly overlaps with an archaeologically documented period of Sami activity for the region dating to the late Iron Age and Early Middle Ages (~ AD 1000–1350). The Sami were perhaps drawn to the wider Lycksele area by the availability of reindeer for hunting and/or herding. The results demonstrate the importance of studies of coprophilous fungal spores in tracing the history of reindeer herding and grazing. They allow the establishment of the local (on-site) presence of herbivores where impacts on the vegetation from mobile hunter-herders are minimal and may not be otherwise distinguishable in the palynological record.
The impact of Finnish colonization in the parish is evident from ~ AD 1650. This is expressed in the form of high levels of microscopic charcoal, a reduction in the abundance of arboreal pollen, increased levels of Poaceae and/or Cyperaceae related to hay making on dry and wet meadows, and the establishment of ruderal plants associated with settlement, stock raising, and possibly cultivation. No contemporaneous signal for Sami and Finnish activity was discovered, either due to the limited dispersal of pollen of indicator taxa from locations of Sami interference, or because Sami activity did not coincide with that of Finnish agriculturalists around the sites investigated here.
Data availability
Data is available on request.
References
Abramsson M, Burman L, Bäckman L, Bäckström P-O, Edlund L-E, Eliasson P, Huggert A, Karlsson A, Lassila M, Lindgren AE, Norberg J, Nordström S-E, Oscarsson E-O, Rydström G, Åsdell LS, Söderlund K, Uppenberg T (2006) Lyksälie vol 25. Acta Bothniensia Occidentalis. Lycksele kommun, Lycksele
Ahmed SI, Cain RF (1972) Revision of the genera Sporormia and Sporormiella. Can J Bot 50:419–477. https://doi.org/10.1139/b72-061
Aikio P (1989) The changing role of reindeer in the life of the Sámi. In: Clutton-Brook J (ed) The Walking Larder. Patterns of domestication, pastoralism and predation. Unwin Hyman Ltd, London, pp 169–183
Andersen ST (1979) Identification of wild grass and cereal pollen. Danmarks Geologiske Undersøgelse, Årbog 1978:69–92
Aronsson K-Å (1991) Forest reindeer herding A.D. 1-1800: an archaeological and palaeoecological study in northern Sweden vol 10. Archaeology and Environment. Department of Archaeology, University of Umeå, Umeå
Aronsson K-Å (1994) Pollen evidence of Saami settlement and reindeer herding in the boreal forest of northernmost Sweden—an example of modern pollen rain studies as an aid in the interpretation of marginal human interference from fossil pollen data. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 82:37–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(94)90018-3
Axelsson A-L, Östlund L (2001) Retrospective gap analysis in a Swedish boreal forest landscape using historical data. For Ecol Manag 147:109–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00470-9
Balascio NL, Anderson RS, D’Andrea WJ, Wickler S, D’Andrea RM, Bakke J (2020) Vegetation changes and plant wax biomarkers from an ombrotrophic bog define hydroclimate trends and human-environment interactions during the Holocene in northern Norway. The Holocene 30:1849–1865. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620950456
Ball DF (1964) Loss-On-Ignition as an estimate of organic matter and organic carbon in non-calcareous soils. J Soil Sci 15:84–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.1964.tb00247.x
Barnekow L, Sandgren P (2001) Palaeoclimate and tree-line changes during the Holocene based on pollen and plant macrofossil records from six lakes at different altitudes in northern Sweden. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 117:109–118
Barnekow L, Bragée P, Hammarlund D, St. Amour N (2008) Boreal forest dynamics in north-eastern Sweden during the last 10,000 years based on pollen analysis. Veget Hist Archaeobot 17:687–700
Beaudoin A (2003) A comparison of two methods for estimating the organic content of sediments. J Paleolimnol 29:387–390. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023972116573
Behre KE (1981) The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Pollen Spores 23:225–245
Behre KE (1988) The rôle of man in European vegetation history. In: Huntley B, Webb T, III (eds) Vegetation history, vol 7. Handbook of vegetation science. Springer Netherlands, pp 633-672. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3081-0_17
Bellanger S, Guillemin JP, Bretagnolle V, Darmency H (2012) Centaurea cyanus as a biological indicator of segetal species richness in arable fields. Weed Res 52:551–563. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3180.2012.00946.x
Bennett KD (2020a) Annotated catalogue of pollen and pteridophyte spore types of the British Isles. University of Cambridge, Cambridge
Bennett KD (2020b) Psimpoll and pscomb. https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/psimpoll-and-pscomb(8823293b-22b0-43c6-952f-64772f2b03da)/export.html. Accessed 30 Sept 2020
Bennett KD, Boreham S, Sharp MJ, Switsur VR (1992) Holocene history of environment, vegetation and human settlement on Catta Ness, Lunnasting, Shetland. J Ecol 80:241–273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2261010
Berglund B, Gaillard M-J, Björkman L, Persson T (2008) Long-term changes in floristic diversity in southern Sweden: palynological richness, vegetation dynamics and land-use. Veget Hist Archaeobot 17:573–583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-007-0094-x
Bergman I, Hörnberg, G (2015) Early cereal cultivation at sámi settlements: Challenging the Hunter–Herder Paradigm?. Arctic Anthropology 52:57–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/10.3368/aa.52.2.57
Bergman I, Ramqvist PH (2017) Farmer-fishermen: interior lake fishing and inter-cultural and intra-cultural relations among coastal and interior Sámi communities in northern Sweden AD 1200–1600. Acta Borealia 34:134–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/08003831.2017.1390662
Bergman I, Ostlund L, Zackrisson O (2004) The use of plants as regular food in ancient Subarctic economies: a case study based on Sami use of Scots pine innerbark. Arct Anthropol 41:1–13
Bernes C, Brathen KA, Forbes B, Hofgaard A, Moen J, Speed JD (2013) What are the impacts of reindeer/caribou (Rangifer tarandus L.) on arctic and alpine vegetation? A systematic review protocol. Environ Evid 2:6
Birks HJB, Line JM (1992) The use of rarefaction analysis for estimating palynological richness from quaternary pollen-analytical data. The Holocene 2:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369200200101
Blaauw M (2010) Methods and code for ‘classical’ age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quat Geochronol 5:512–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.01.002
Blaauw M, Christen JA (2011) Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Anal 6:457–474. https://doi.org/10.1214/ba/1339616472
Bradshaw RHW (1993) Tree species dynamics and disturbance in three Swedish boreal forest stands during the last two thousand years. J Veg Sci 4:759–764
Bradshaw RHW, Zackrisson O (1990) A two thousand year history of a northern Swedish boreal forest stand. J Veg Sci 1:519–528. https://doi.org/10.2307/3235786
Briffa KR, Jones PD, Bartholin TS, Eckstein D, Schweingruber FH, Karlén W, Zetterberg P, Erronen M (1992) Fennoscandian summers from AD 500: temperature-changes on short and long timescales. Clim Dyn 7:111–119
Broadbent ND (2004) Saami prehistory, identity and rights in Sweden. In: In: The Resilient North - Human Responses to Global Change. Third Northern Research Forum, Yellowknife
Broadbent ND (2010) Lapps and labyrinths—Saami Prehistory, Colonization and Cultural Resilience, 1st edn. Arctic Studies Center, Washington
Buttenschøn J, Buttenschøn RM (1985) Grazing experiments with cattle and sheep on nutrient poor acidic grassland and heath: IV establishment of woody species. Natura Jutlandica 21:117–140
Carpelan C, Hicks S (1995) Ancient Saami in Finnish Lapland and their impact on the forest vegetation. In: Butlin RA, Roberts N (eds) Ecological Relations in Historical Times. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 193–205
Carrion C (2017) Hornmyr. Sundbom, R. http://www.lycksele.se/templates/Page.aspx?id=23914. Accessed 13 January 2017
Chambers FM, van Geel B, van der Linden M (2011) Considerations for the preparation of peat samples for palynology, and for the counting of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. Mires Peat 7:1–14
Clark JS (1988) Particle motion and the theory of charcoal analysis: source area, transport, deposition, and sampling. Quat Res 30:67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(88)90088-9
Conedera M, Tinner W, Neff C, Meurer M, Dickens AF, Krebs P (2009) Reconstructing past fire regimes: methods, applications, and relevance to fire management and conservation. Quat Sci Rev 28:555–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.11.005
Cowling SA, Sykes MT, Bradshaw RHW (2001) Palaeovegetation-model comparisons, climate change and tree succession in Scandinavia over the past 1500 Years. J Ecol 89:227–236. https://doi.org/10.2307/3072196
Davies AL (2019) Dung fungi as an indicator of large herbivore dynamics in peatlands. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 271:104108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.104108
Davis MB, Deevey ES (1964) Pollen accumulation rates: estimates from Late-Glacial sediment of Rogers Lake. Science 145:1293–1295
Davis OK, Shafer DS (2006) Sporormiella fungal spores, a palynological means of detecting herbivore density. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 237:40–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.11.028
Dimbleby GW (1985) The palynology of archaeological sites. Academic Press, London
Edwards KJ, MacDonald GM (1991) Holocene palynology: II human influence and vegetation change. Prog Phys Geogr 15:364–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913339101500402
Egerbladh EO (1963) Knaften - Finntorpet som blev storby vol 2. Umeå
Ekengren F (2013) Materialities on the move: identity and material culture among the Forest Finns in seventeenth-century Sweden and America. In: Naum M, Nordin JM (eds) Scandinavian colonialism and the rise of modernity. Springer, New York, pp 147–165
Elveland J (1979) Dammängar, silängar och raningar - norrländska naturvårdsprojekt [Irrigated and naturally flooded hay-meadwows in North Sweden - a nature conservancy problem]. Statens Naturvårdsverk, Stockholm
Engelmark R (1976) The vegetational history of the Umeå Area during the past 4000 years. Early Norrland 9:75–112
Feeser I, O’Connell M (2010) Late Holocene land-use and vegetation dynamics in an upland karst region based on pollen and coprophilous fungal spore analyses: an example from the Burren, western Ireland. Veget Hist Archaeobot 19:409–426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-009-0235-5
Feranec RS, Miller NG, Lothrop JC, Graham RW (2011) The Sporormiella proxy and end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction: a perspective. Quat Int 245:333–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.06.004
Flenniken M (2007) Reindeer nutrition and pasture analysis in the Mongolian Taiga. Honors thesis. Cornell University, Ithaca.
Freschet GT, Östlund L, Kichenin E, Wardle DA (2014) Aboveground and belowground legacies of native Sami land use on boreal forest in northern Sweden 100 years after abandonment. Ecology 95:963–977. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0824.1
Gadd C-J (2011) The agricultural revolution in Sweden 1700-1870. In: Myrdal J, Morell M (eds) The Agrarian History of Sweden 4000 BC to AD 2000. Nordic Academic Press, Lund, pp 118–164
Gaillard MJ (2007) Pollen methods and studies | archaeological applications. In: Editor-in-Chief: Scott AE (ed) Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 2570–2595. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-44-452747-8/00214-3
Gaillard M-J, Berglund BE (1988) Land-use history during the last 2700 years in the area Bjäresjö, southern Sweden. In: Birks HH, Birks HJB, Kaland PE, Moe D (eds) The cultural landscape - past, present and future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 409–428
Gardner AR (2002) Neolithic to Copper Age woodland impacts in northeast Hungary? Evidence from the pollen and sediment chemistry records. The Holocene 12:541–553. https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683602hl561rp
Garriott EB (1899) Notes On Frost vol 104. Government Printing Office, Washington
Giesecke T, Bennett KD (2004) The Holocene spread of Picea abies (L.) Karst. in Fennoscandia and adjacent areas. J Biogeogr 31:1523–1548
Giesecke T, Bjune AE, Chiverrell RC, Seppä H, Ojala AEK, Birks HJB (2008) Exploring Holocene continentality changes in Fennoscandia using present and past tree distributions. Quat Sci Rev 27:1296–1308
Goring S, Williams JW, Blois JL, Jackson ST, Paciorek CJ, Booth RK, Marlon JR, Blaauw M, Christen JA (2012) Deposition times in the northeastern United States during the Holocene: establishing valid priors for Bayesian age models. Quat Sci Rev 48:54–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.05.019
Graan O (1983) Relation Eller En Fulkomblig Beskrivning om Lapparnas ursprung. In: Berättelser om samerna i 1600-talets Sverige, vol 27. Kungl. Skytteanska Samfundets Handlingar. Umeå,
Graf M-T, Chmura GL (2006) Development of modern analogues for natural, mowed and grazed grasslands using pollen assemblages and coprophilous fungi. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 141:139–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.03.018
Grimm EC (1987) CONISS: a FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by method of incremental sum of squares. Comput Geosci 13:13–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/0098-3004(87)90022-7
Grimm EC (1990) TILIA and TILIA*GRAPH: PC spreadsheet and graphics software for pollen data. Paper presented at the INQUA Working Group on Data-Handling Methods,
Hall VA (1988) The role of harvesting techniques in the dispersal of pollen grains of cerealia. Pollen Spores 30:265–270
Hedman S-D (2003) Boplatser och offerplatser: ekonomisk strategi och boplatsmönster bland skogssamer 700-1600 AD. Umeå University, Umeå
Hedman S-D, Olsen B, Vretemark M (2015) Hunters, herders and hearths: interpreting new results from hearth row sites in Pasvik, Arctic Norway. Rangifer 35 doi:https://doi.org/10.7557/2.35.1.3334
Heinrich D (2006) The reindeer: a brief natural history. In: Reindeer Management in Northernmost Europe, vol 184. Ecological Studies. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp 7–8
Hicks S (1985) Problems and possibilities in correlating historical/archaeological and pollen-analytical evidence in a northern boreal environment: an example from Kuusamo, Finland. Fennoscandia Archaeol II:51–84
Hicks S (1988) The representation of different farming practices in pollen diagrams from northern Finland. In: Birks HH, Birks HJB, Kaland PE, Moe D (eds) The Cultural Landscape - Past. Present and Future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 189–208
Hicks S (1993) Pollen evidence of localized impact on the vegetation of northernmost Finland by hunter-gatherers. Veget Hist Archaeobot 2:137–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00198584
Hill GB, Henry GHR (2011) Responses of High Arctic wet sedge tundra to climate warming since 1980. Glob Chang Biol 17:276–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02244.x
Hörnberg G, Wallin J-E, Påsse T, Wardle DA, Zackrisson O (2004) Holocene land uplift and its influence on fire history and ecosystem development in boreal Sweden. J Veg Sci 15:171–180
Hörnberg G, Josefsson T, Liedgren L (2014) Revealing the cultivation history of northernmost Sweden: evidence from pollen records. The Holocene 24:318–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683613518596
Hörnberg G, Josefsson T, Bergman I, Liedgren L, Östlund L (2015) Indications of shifting cultivation west of the Lapland border: multifaceted land use in northernmost Sweden since AD 800. The Holocene 25:989–1001. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683615574894
Hörnberg G, Josefsson T, DeLuca TH, Higuera PE, Liedgren L, Östlund L, Bergman I (2018) Anthropogenic use of fire led to degraded scots pine-lichen forest in northern Sweden. Anthropocene 24:14–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2018.10.002
Ingold CT (1971) Fungal spores: their liberation and dispersal. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Jacobson GL, Bradshaw RHW (1981) The selection of sites for paleovegetational studies. Quat Res 16:80–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(81)90129-0
Jonsson BG, Esseen P-A (1998) Plant colonisation in small forest–floor patches: importance of plant group and disturbance traits. Ecography 21:518–526. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1998.tb00443.x
Josefsson T, Hörnberg G, Östlund L (2009) Long-term human impact and vegetation changes in a boreal forest reserve: implications for the use of protected areas as ecological references. Ecosystems 12:1017–1036
Josefsson T, Gunnarson B, Liedgren L, Bergman I, Östlund L (2010) Historical human influence on forest composition and structure in boreal Fennoscandia. Can J For Res 40:872–884. https://doi.org/10.1139/X10-033
Josefsson T, Ramqvist PH, Hörnberg G (2014) The history of early cereal cultivation in northernmost Fennoscandia as indicated by palynological research. Veget Hist Archaeobot 23:821–840. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-014-0446-2
Josefsson T, Hörnberg G, Liedgren L, Bergman I (2017) Cereal cultivation from the Iron Age to historical times: evidence from inland and coastal settlements in northernmost Fennoscandia. Veget Hist Archaeobot 26:259–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-016-0586-7
Kamerling IM, Schofield JE, Edwards KJ, Aronsson K-Å (2017) High-resolution palynology reveals the land use history of a Sami renvall in northern Sweden. Veget Hist Archaeobot 26:369–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-016-0596-5
Karlsson H (2008) Vegetation changes and forest-line positions in the Swedish scandes during Late Holocene. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Faculty of Forest Sciences, Uppsala
Karlsson H, Hornberg G, Hannon G, Nordstrom EM (2007) Long-term vegetation changes in the northern Scandinavian forest limit: a human impact-climate synergy? Holocene 17:37–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683607073277
Karlsson H, Shevtsova A, Hörnberg G (2009) Vegetation development at a mountain settlement site in the Swedish Scandes during the late Holocene: palaeoecological evidence of human-induced deforestation. Veget Hist Archaeobot 18:297–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0207-1
Khorasani S, Panagiotakopulu E, Engelmark R, Ralston I (2015) Late Holocene beetle assemblages and environmental change in Gammelhemmet, northern Sweden. Boreas 44:368–382. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12106
Kibblewhite M, Tóth G, Hermann T (2015) Predicting the preservation of cultural artefacts and buried materials in soil. Sci Total Environ 529:249–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.036
Laestadius P (1977) Journal för första året af hans tjenstgöring i Lappmarken vol 15. Kungl. Skyttesanska Samfundets Handlingar.
Lagerås P (1996) Long-term history of land-use and vegetation at Femtingagölen—a small lake in the Småland Uplands, southern Sweden. Veget Hist Archaeobot 5:215–228
Lars L, Ingela B, Per HR, Greger H (2016) Hearths in the coastal areas of northernmost Sweden, from the period AD 800 to 1950. Rangifer 36:25–50. https://doi.org/10.7557/2.36.1.3767
Liedgren LG, Bergman IM, Hornberg G, Zackrisson O, Hellberg E, Ostlund L, DeLuca TH (2007) Radiocarbon dating of prehistoric hearths in alpine northern Sweden: problems and possibilities. J Archaeol Sci 34:1276–1288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.018
Lindbladh M (1999) The influence of former land-use on vegetation and biodiversity in the boreo-nemoral zone of Sweden. Ecography 22:485–498
Lundmark L (2007) Reindeer pastoralism in Sweden 1550-1950. Rangifer Rep 12:9–16. https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.3.264
Lundqvist N (1972) Nordic Sordariaceae s. lat. University of Uppsala, Uppsala
Mäkelä E, Hyvärinen H (1998) Holocene vegetation history at Vätsäri, inari Lapland, northeastern Finland, with special reference to Betula. Holocene 10:75–85. https://doi.org/10.1191/095968300674642885
Manker E (1968) Skogslapparna i Sverige vol XVIII. Acta Lapponica, Nordiska Museet
Matthews JA, Briffa KR (2005) The 'Little Ice Age': re-evaluation of an Evolving Concept. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 87:17–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3676.2005.00242.x
Mauquoy D, van Geel B, Blaauw M, van der Plicht J (2002) Evidence from northwest European bogs shows ‘Little Ice Age’ climatic changes driven by variations in solar activity. The Holocene 12:1–6. https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683602hl514rr
Miller AN, Huhndorf SM (2005) Multi-gene phylogenies indicate ascomal wall morphology is a better predictor of phylogenetic relationships than ascospore morphology in the Sordariales (Ascomycota, Fungi). Mol Phylogenet Evol 35:60–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2005.01.007
Mooney SD, Tinner W (2011) The analysis of charcoal in peat and organic sediments. Mires Peat 7:Art. 9
Moore PD, Webb JA, Collinson ME (1991) Pollen Analysis. 2nd Edition edn. Blackwell Science,
Mossberg B, Stenberg L (2010) De nya nordiska floran. Bonnier Fakta, Stockholm
Müller-Wille L, Heinrich D, Lehtola VP, Aikio P, Konstantinov Y, Vladimirova V (2006) Dynamics in human-reindeer relations: reflections on prehistoric, historic and contemporary practices in northernmost Europe. In: Reindeer Management in Northernmost Europe, vol 184. Ecological Studies. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31392-3_3
Myrdal J (2011) Farming and feudalism 1000-1700. In: Myrdal J, Morell M (eds) The Agrarian History of Sweden. Nordic Academic Press, Lund
Niinemets E, Saarse L (2009) Holocene vegetation and land-use dynamics of south-eastern Estonia. Quat Int 207:104–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2008.11.015
Niklasson M, Zackrisson O, Östlund L (1994) A dendroecological reconstruction of use by Saami of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) inner bark over the last 350 years at Sädvajaure, N. Sweden. Veget Hist Archaeobot 3:183–190. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202025
Norstedt G (2011) Lappskattelanden på geddas karta—Umeå lappmark från 1671 till 1900-talets början. Thalassa Förlag, Umeå
Norstedt G, Östlund L (2016) Fish or Reindeer? The relation between subsistence patterns and settlement patterns among the forest sami. Arct Anthropol 53:22–36. https://doi.org/10.3368/aa.53.1.22
Norstedt G, Axelsson A-L, Östlund L (2014) Exploring pre-colonial resource control of individual sami households. Arctic 67:223–237
Olofsson J, Kitti H, Rautiainen P, Stark S, Oksanen L (2001) Effects of summer grazing by reindeer on composition of vegetation, productivity and nitrogen cycling. Ecography 24:13–24. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0587.2001.240103.x
Östlund L, Bergman I (2006) Cultural landscapes in northern forests—time, space and affiliation to the land. In: Agnoletti M (ed) The conservation of cultural landscapes. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp 30–41
Östlund L, Zackrisson O, Axelsson AL (1997) The history and transformation of a Scandinavian boreal forest landscape since the 19th century. Can J For Res 27:1198–1206. https://doi.org/10.1139/x97-070
Östlund L, Ericsson TS, Zackrisson O, Andersson R (2003) Traces of past sami forest use: an ecological study of culturally modified trees and earlier land use within a boreal forest reserve. Scand J For Res 18:78–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2003.10383140
Östlund L, Hörnberg G, DeLuca TH, Liedgren L, Wikström P, Zackrisson O, Josefsson T (2015) Intensive land use in the Swedish mountains between AD 800 and 1200 led to deforestation and ecosystem transformation with long-lasting effects. Ambio 44:508–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0634-z
Pajunen A, Virtanen R, Roininen H (2008) The effects of reindeer grazing on the composition and species richness of vegetation in forest–tundra ecotone. Polar Biol 31:1233–1244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0462-8
Palm LA (2000) Folkmängden i Sveriges socknar och kommuner 1571-1997. Med särskild hänsyn till perioden 1571-1751. Gothenburg
Patterson WA, Edwards KJ, Maguire DJ (1987) Microscopic charcoal as a fossil indicator of fire. Quat Sci Rev 6:3–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-3791(87)90012-6
Pedersen EA, Widgren M (2011) Agriculture in Sweden - 800 BC - AD 1000. In: Myrdal J, Morell M (eds) The Agrarian History of Sweden - 4000 BC to AD 2000. Nordic Academic Press, Lund, pp 46–71
Pentikäinen J (1995) The Forest Finns as transmitters of Finnish culture from Savo via central Scandinavia to Delaware. In: Hoffecker CE, Waldron R, Williams LE, Benson BE (eds) New Sweden in America. University of Delaware Press, Newark, pp 291–301
Perrotti AG, van Asperen E (2019) Dung fungi as a proxy for megaherbivores: opportunities and limitations for archaeological applications. Veget Hist Archaeobot 28:93–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-0686-7
Poska A, Saarse L, Veski S (2004) Reflections of pre- and early-agrarian human impact in the pollen diagrams of Estonia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 209:37–50
Raper D, Bush M (2009) A test of Sporormiella representation as a predictor of megaherbivore presence and abundance. Quat Res 71:490–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2009.01.010
Räsänen S, Froyd C, Goslar T (2007) The impact of tourism and reindeer herding on forest vegetation at Saariselkä, Finnish Lapland: a pollen analytical study of a high-resolution peat profile. The Holocene 17:447–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683607077016
Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Blackwell PG, Bronk Ramsey C, Buck CE, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Friedrich M, Grootes PM, Guilderson TP, Haflidason H, Hajdas I, Hatté C, Heaton TJ, Hoffmann DL, Hogg AG, Hughen KA, Kaiser KF, Kromer B, Manning SW, Niu M, Reimer RW, Richards DA, Scott EM, Southon JR, Staff RA, Turney CSM, van der Plicht J (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:1869–1887. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947
Renbeteslära (1982) Rennäringsenheten. Lantbruksstyrelsen, Jönköping
Rheen S (1983) En kort Relation om Lapparnes Lefvarne och Sedher. In: In: Berättelser om samerna i 1600-talets Sverige, 27th edn. Skytteanska Smafundets Handlingar, Kungl
Richardson MJ (1972) Coprophilous ascomycetes on different dung types. Trans Br Mycol Soc 58:37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0007-1536(72)80069-X
Richardson MJ (2001) Diversity and occurrence of coprophilous fungi. Mycol Res 105:387–402
Rydström G (2006) Rapport över genomgång och bearbetning av fyndmaterial från undersökningar åren 1949-2001, raä nr 343, Gammplatsen, Lycksele socken, Lappland vol Rapport 8. Skogsmuseet Lycksele
Salmonsson J (2003) Human impact on the forest line—a pollen analytical study in connection to stalo dwellings in Vindelfjällen nature reserve, northern Sweden. Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
Sawyer PH (2000) Scandinavia in the Viking Age. In: Fitzhugh WW, Ward EI (eds) Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Institution Press, Wahsington and London, pp 27–30
SCB (1955) Historisk statistik för Sverige, i: Befolkning 1720-1950. Örebro
Schofield JE, Edwards KJ (2011) Grazing impacts and woodland management in Eriksfjord: Betula, coprphilous fungi and the Norse settlement of Greenland. Veget Hist Archaeobot 20:181–197
Segerström U, Emanuelsson M (2002) Extensive forest grazing and hay-making on mires—vegetation changes in south-central Sweden due to land use since Medieval times. Veget Hist Archaeobot 11:181–190
Segerström U, Bradshaw R, Hörnberg G, Bohlin E (1994) Disturbance history of a swamp forest refuge in northern Sweden. Biol Conserv 68:189–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(94)90350-6
SGU TGSoS (2007) Geological Bedrock of Sweden, 1:1250000.
Shipley LA, Blomquist S, Danell K (1998) Diet choices made by free-ranging moose in northern Sweden in relation to plant distribution, chemistry, and morphology. Can J Zool 76:1722–1733. https://doi.org/10.1139/z98-110
Sjörs H (1963) Amphi-Atlantic zonation, Nemoral to Arctic. In: Löve A, Löve D (eds) North Atlantic Biota and Their History. MacMillan, New York, pp 107–125
Sjörs H (1971) Ekologisk botanik. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm
Skogsmuseet (2017) Lämningar efter nybygge i Knaften - Odlingslämningar och husgrunder efter nybygge i Knaften: Hemraningen RAÄ-nr Lycksele 857. Skogsmuseet. Accessed 31 March 2017
St. Amour NA, Hammarlund DAN, Edwards TWD, Wolfe BB (2010) New insights into Holocene atmospheric circulation dynamics in central Scandinavia inferred from oxygen-isotope records of lake-sediment cellulose. Boreas 39:770–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00169.x
Staland H, Salmonsson J, Hörnberg G (2011) A thousand years of human impact in the northern Scandinavian mountain range: long-lasting effects on forest lines and vegetation. The Holocene 21:379–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683610378882
Stockmarr J (1971) Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. Pollen Spores 13:615–621
Stuiver M, Reimer PJ (1993) Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230
Sturdy DA (1975) Some reindeer economies in prehistoric Europe. In: Higgs ES (ed) Palaeoeconomy. Cambridge University Press, New York and London, pp 55–95
Sugita S (1998) Modelling pollen representation of vegetation. In: Gaillard M-J, Berglund BE (eds) Quantification of land surfaces cleared of forests during the Holocene—modern pollen/vegetation/landscape relationships as an aid to the interpretation of fossil pollen data. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, pp 1–18
Tallavaara M, Pesonen P, Oinonen M (2010) Prehistoric population history in eastern Fennoscandia. J Archaeol Sci 37:251–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.035
Troels-Smith J (1955) Characterization of unconsolidated sediments. Dan Geol Unders 3:1–73
Van Asperen EN, Kirby JR, Shaw HE (2019) Relating dung fungal spore influx rates to animal density in a temperate environment: implications for palaeoecological studies. The Holocene 30:218–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683619875804
Van de Veen HE, Van Wieren SE (1980) Grote Grazers, Kieskeurige Fijnproevers en Opportunistische Gelegenheidsvreters; over het gebruik van grote herbivoren bij de ontwikkeling en duurzame instandhouding van natuurwaarde. Rapport 80/11, Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken, Amsterdam.
Van der Linden M, Barke J, Vickery E, Charman DJ, van Geel B (2008) Late Holocene human impact and climate change recorded in a North Swedish peat deposit. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 258:1–27
Van Geel B, Buurman J, Brinkkemper O, Schelvis J, Aptroot A, van Reenen G, Hakbijl T (2003) Environmental reconstruction of a Roman Period settlement site in Uitgeest (The Netherlands), with special reference to coprophilous fungi. J Archaeol Sci 30:873–883. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-4403(02)00265-0
Vasari Y (1988) The role of peatlands and wooded meaddows in the economic history of Kuusamo. Oulanka Rep 8:96–102
Vasari Y, Väänänen K (1986) Stratigraphical indications of the former use of wetlands. In: Behre K-E (ed) Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 65–72
Von Düben G (1873) Om Lappland och lapparne, företrädesvis de svenske. Etnografiska studier. Facsimile 1977 edn., Stockholm
Vuorela I (1973) Relative pollen rain around cultivated fields. Acta Bot Fenn 102:1–27
Walker LR, Wardle DA (2014) Plant succession as an integrator of contrasting ecological time scales. Trends Ecol Evol 29:504–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.002
Wallin J-E (1996) History of sedentary farming in Ångermanland, northern Sweden, during the Iron Age and Medieval period based on pollen analytical investigations. Veget Hist Archaeobot 5:301–312
Wam HK, Hjeljord O (2010) Moose summer diet from feces and field surveys: a comparative study. Rangel Ecol Manag 63:387–395. https://doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-09-00039.1
Wedin M (2007) Den skogsfinska kolonisationen i Norrland. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet
West GJ (2003) A late Pleistocene–Holocene pollen record of vegetation change from Little Willow Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. In: Starratt SW, Blomquist NL (eds) Pacific Climate Workshop, Pacific Grove, California. pp 65–80
Westerdahl C (1986) Samer nolaskoks. En historisk introduktion till samerna i Ångermanland och Åsele Lappmark, Örnsköldsvik
Wood JR, Wilmshurst JM, Worthy TH, Cooper A (2011) Sporormiella as a proxy for non-mammalian herbivores in island ecosystems. Quat Sci Rev 30:915–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.01.007
Yafetto L, Carroll L, Cui Y, Davis DJ, Fischer MW, Henterly AC, Kessler JD, Kilroy HA, Shidler JB, Stolze-Rybczynski JL, Sugawara Z, Money NP (2008) The fastest flights in nature: high-speed spore discharge mechanisms among fungi. PLoS One 3:e3237. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003237
Yu Q, Epstein HE, Walker DA, Frost GV, Forbes BC (2011) Modeling dynamics of tundra plant communities on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, in response to climate change and grazing pressure. Environ Res Lett 6:1–12
Zachrisson I (1984) De samiska metalldepåerna år 1000-1350 vol 3. Archaeology and Environment, Umeå
Zackrisson O (1976) Vegetation dynamics and land use in the lower reaches of the river Umeälven. Early Norrland 9:7–74
Zackrisson O (1977) Influence of forest fires on the North Swedish Boreal Forest. Oikos 29:22–32
Acknowledgements
Thanks are offered to Timothy Mighall, Jeff Blackford, Kjell-Åke Aronsson and Mari Kuoppamaa for their comments, Audrey Innes for laboratory assistance, Gordon Cook for AMS radiocarbon analyses, and Martin Konert and the late Sjoerd Bohncke for assistance with LOI and related analyses.
Funding
This research was funded by the Leverhulme Trust through the Footprints on the Edge of Thule project, and was written up under the auspices of the ERC-funded project Arctic Domus.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Kamerling, I.M., Schofield, J.E. & Edwards, K.J. Palynological evidence for pre-agricultural reindeer grazing and the later settlement history of the Lycksele region, northern Sweden. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 42 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01275-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01275-7