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Long-term history of land-use and vegetation at Femtingagölen — a small lake in the Småland Uplands, southern Sweden

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Abstract

Pollen analysis was carried out on gyttja from the small lake Femtingagölen in the Småland Uplands, southern Sweden. The interpretation of the pollen diagram focused on land-use history and comparisons were made to archaeological and historical information from the area. An absolute chronology, based on AMS dates from terrestrial plant macrofossils, was complemented by inferred dates. The pollen analytical data suggest interference with the woodland cover from ca. 1700 B.C. onwards. Intensified grazing and forest clearances resulted in semi-open pastures between ca. A.D. 400–600 which was followed by forest regeneration (chronology based on AMS 14C dates and cross-correlation with other well dated profiles). The landscape became more open again between A.D. 800 and 1400. Animal husbandry was complemented by small-scale shifting cultivation during the Iron Age. Permanent arable fields were probably not introduced until the Late Iron Age or the Middle Ages. Hordeum and Triticum were grown during the Iron Age, Hordeum, Triticum, Secale and Cannabis sativa during the Middle Ages and early Modern time, and Hordeum and Avena in the recent past. Sandy and silty soils, where stone clearance was not necessary, have probably been used for cereal growing in prehistoric and historic time.

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  1. Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Tornavägen 13, S-223 63, Lund, Sweden

    Per Lagerås

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Lagerås, P. Long-term history of land-use and vegetation at Femtingagölen — a small lake in the Småland Uplands, southern Sweden. Veget Hist Archaebot 5, 215–228 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217499

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