Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on local vegetation in a non-uniform glacio-isostatic land uplift area, northern Sweden

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The oldest early Mesolithic settlements found so far (i.e. 8600 b.p.) in the interior of northern Sweden, in the province of Norrbotten, have been discovered through the application of a model simulating glacio-isostatic land uplift. The objective of this study was to investigate, through pollen and charred particle analyses, vegetation composition and the influence of man on vegetation and fire pattern in the vicinity of two of these early settlements. Early Holocene vegetation was characterised by Betula, Hippophaë and Salix-species, but no initial impact by hunter-gatherers on vegetation was detected. Subsequently Betula and Pinus became dominant but abrupt changes in the tree layer followed, Poaceae, Hippophaë and Salix-species increased, and Humulus occurred. These changes, which were synchronous with dates of archaeological findings at the settlements, indicated local vegetation changes caused by man. The relationship between these changes and fire was, however, subtle. Eventually Pinus forests became dominant and human impact on vegetation became less apparent. It is concluded that the impact of early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on vegetation was detectable, but that their effect on fire pattern was difficult to evaluate. Further, we show that the glacio-isostatic land uplift must be considered in the search for Mesolithic settlements in areas previously covered by the Weichselian Ice, and that the process has influenced the biological archives through re-deposition of material.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anonymous (1998) Arkeologi i Norrbotten (Archaeology in Norrbotten). Länsstyrelsen i Norrbotten, Ajtte, Norrbottens museum, Riksantikvarieämbetet, Silvermusseet. Ågrens/Solfjäderns Offset, Luleå, pp 24–29

  • Anonymous (2000) Väder och Vatten (Weather and Water), no 13. Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Adam A, Carcaillet C, Guendons J-E, Quinif Y, Roiron P, Terral J-F (2003) The Early Holocene treeline in the southern French Alps: new evidence from travertine formations. Global Ecology & Biogeography 12:411–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MK (1994) Prehistoric anthropogenic wildland burning by hunter-gatherer societies in the temperate regions—a net source, sink, or neutral to the global carbon budget. Chemosphere 29:913–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnekow L (1999) Holocene tree-line dynamics and inferred climatic changes in the Abisko area, northern Sweden, based on macrofossil and pollen records. Holocene 9:253–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baudou E, Biörnstrand M (1972) Introduction—The early Norrland research project. Early Norrland 1:7–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett KD, Simonson WD, Peglar SM (1990) Fire and man in Post-glacial woodlands of eastern England. J Archaeol Sci 12:635–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berglund BE (1991) The cultural landscape during 6000 years in southern Sweden, the Ystad project. Ecological Bulletins No 41, Munksgard, Copenhagen, 495 pp

  • Berglund BE, Björck S, Lemdahl G, Bergsten H, Nordberg K, Kolstrup E (1994) Late Weichselian environmental change in southern Sweden and Denmark. J Quatern Sci 9:127–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berglund BE, Barnekow L, Hammarlund D, Sandgren P, Snowball IF (1996) Holocene forest dynamics and climate changes in the Abisko area, northern Sweden – The Sonesson model of vegetation history reconsidered and confirmed. Ecol Bull 45:13–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Berglund M (2004) Holocene shore displacement and chronology in Ångermanland, eastern Sweden, the Scandinavian glacio-isotatic uplift centre. Boreas 33:48–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman I (1995) Från Döudden till Varghalsen. En studie av kontinuitet och förändring inom ett fångstsamhälle i övre Norrlands inland, 5200 f.Kr.–400 e. Kr. [From Döudden to Varghalsen. A study of continuity and change in hunter-gatherer society in the interior of northern Sweden, 5200 bc–ad 400] (In Swedish with English summary). Studia Archaeologica Universitatis Umensis 7, Umeå University

  • Bergman I, Påsse T, Olofsson A, Zackrisson O, Hörnberg G, Hellberg E, Bohlin E (2003) Isostatic land uplift and Mesolithic landscapes: lake-tilting, a key to the discovery of Mesolithic sites in the interior of Northern Sweden. J Archaeol Sci 30:1451–1458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman I, Olofsson A, Hörnberg G, Zackrisson O, Hellberg E (2004) Deglaciation and colonisation: pioneer settlements in northern Fennoscandia. J World Prehistory 18:155–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bérubé A (2001) Geophysical investigations of the Dumpokjauratj and Ipmatisjauratj archaeological sites of Lapland, Sweden. Division of Applied Geophysics, Luleå Univiversity of Technology, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Bos JAA, Janssen CR (1996) Local impact of Palaeolithic man on the environment during the end of the Last Glacial in the Netherlands. J Archaeol Sci 23:731–739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bos JAA, Urz R (2003) Late Glacial and early Holocene environment in the middle Lahn river Valley (Hessen, central-west Germany) and the local impact of early Mesolithic people—pollen and macrofossil evidence. Veget Hist Archaeobot 12:19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman S (1990) Radiocarbon dating—interpreting the past. British Museum Publications, Ltd London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw RHW (1988) Spatially precise studies of forest dynamics. In: Huntley B, Webb T III (eds) Vegetation history. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 725–751

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown T (1997) Clearances and clearings: deforestation in Mesolithic/Neolithic Britain. Oxford J Archaeology 16:133–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB (1993) An 11400 year paleoecological history of a British chalk grassland. J Veget Sci 4:47–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS (1988) Particle motion and the theory of charcoal analysis. Source area, transport, deposition and sampling. Quat Res 30:67–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day P (1995) Devensian Late-glacial and early Flandrian environmental history of the Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, England. J Quat Sci 11:9–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman M (1993) Postglacial rebound and sea level phenomena with special reference to Fennoscandia and the Baltic Sea. Nordic Geodetic Commission. In: Kakkuri J (ed) Geodesy and Geophysics, Vol. 115. Publication of Finnish Geodetic Institute, pp 35–60

  • Fjerdskaar W, Lindholn C, Dehls JF, Fjerdskaar I (2000) Postglacial uplift, neotectonics and seismicity in Fennoscandia. Quat Sci Rev 19:1413–1422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming MP, Clarke RC (1998) Physical evidence for the antiquity of Cannabis sativa L. J Int Hemp Assoc 5:80–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsberg LL (1996) The earliest settlement of northern Sweden: problems and perspectives. In: Larsson L (ed) The earliest settlement of Scandinavia and its relationship with neighbouring areas, Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 80, No 24. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 242–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Hättestrand C, Stroeven AP (2002) A relict landscape in the centre of Fennoscandian glaciation: Geomorphological evidence of minimal Quaternary glacial erosion. Geomorphology 44:127–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks S (2001) The use of annual arboreal pollen depositions values for delimiting tree-lines in the landscape and exploring models of pollen dispersal. Rev Palaeobotany and Palynology 117:1–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks S, Hyvärinen H (1999) Pollen influx values measured in different sedimentary environments and their palaeoecological implications. Grana 38:228–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hörnberg G, Wallin J-E, Påsse T, Wardle DW, Zackrisson O (2004) Holocene non-uniform land uplift and its influence on fire history and ecosystem development in boreal Sweden. J Veget Sci 15:171–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Innes JB, Simmons IG (2000) Mid-Holocene charcoal stratigraphy, fire history and palaeoecology at North Gill, North York Moors, UK. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164:177–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Innes JB, Blackford JJ (2003) The ecology of Late Mesolithic woodland disturbances: model testing with fungal spore assemblage data. J Archaeol Sci 30:185–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iversen J (1941) Landnam i Danmarks Stenålder (Landnam in Denmarks Stoneage). Danmarks Geologiska Undersökelser, II(66):68

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen J (1954) The late-glacial flora of Denmark and its relation to climate and soil. In: Iversen J (ed) Studies in Vegetational History in honour of Knud Jenssen. Geological Survey of Denmark, II Series No. 80. Reitzels, Copenhagen, 87–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen J (1973) The development of Denmark's nature since the Last Glacial. Geological Survey of Denmark, V Series, No. 7-C. Copenhagen, 125 pp

  • Jackson LJ, Ellis C, Morgan AV, McAndrews JH (2000) Glacial lake levels and Eastern Great Lakes Palaeo-Indians. Geoarchaeology 15:415–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jahns S (2001) On the Late Pleistocene and Holocene history of vegetation and human impact in the Uckler valley, north-eastern Germany. Veget Hist Archaeobot 10:97–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen C (2004) The vegetation history of coastal stone-age and iron-age settlement at 70°N, Norway. Veget Hist Archaeobot 13:269–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen C, Kuiper JGJ, Vorren KD (2002) First post-glacial establishment of forest trees: early Holocene vegetation, mollusc settlement and climate dynamics in central Troms, North Norway. Boreas 31:285–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeppsson N (2000) Sea buckthorn: Swedish plant with exciting past, present and future. Fauna och Flora 95:61–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalis AJ, Merkt J, Wunderlich J (2003) Environmental changes during the Holocene climatic optimum in central Europe—human impact and natural causes. Quat Sci Rev 22:33–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleman J, Hättestrand C (1999) Frozen-bed Fennoscandian and Laurentide ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 402:63–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolstrup E (1988) Late Atlantic and early Subboreal vegetational development at Trundholm, Denmark. J Archaeol Sci 15:503–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Königsson L-K (1970) Traces of Neolithic human influence upon the landscape development at the Bjurselet settlement, Västerbotten, northern Sweden. Kungliga Skytteanska Förbundets Handlingar 7:13–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Königsson L-K (1992) The recent pollen rain in some alpine and sub-alpine environments in the southern parts of the Scandinavian mountains and its bearing on investigations of Holocene forest-line shifts. Acta Botanica Fennica 144:19–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Kullman L (2002) Boreal tree taxa in the central Scandes during the Late-Glacial: implications for Late-Quaternary forest history. J Biogeography 29:1117–1124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kullman L, Kjällgren L (2000) A coherent postglacial tree-limit chronology (Pinus sylvestris L.) for the Swedish Scandes: aspects of paleoclimate and “recent warming”, based on megafossil evidence. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Res 32:419–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lagerbäck R (1988) The Veiki moraines in northern Sweden–widespread evidence of an Early Weichselian deglaciation. Boreas 17:469–486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lagerbäck R (1990) Late Quaternary faulting and paleoseismicity in northern Fennoscandia, with particular reference to the Lansjärv area, northern Sweden. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar 112:333–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Lagerås P (1996) Vegetation and land-use in the Småland uplands, southern Sweden, during the last 6000 years. Lundqua Thesis No. 36, Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

  • Lundqvist J (1986) Late Weichselian glaciation and deglaciation in Scandinavia. Quat Sci Rev 5:269–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundqvist J, Vilborg L (1998) Isavsmältningen och israndlinjer i Sverige. Israndlinjer i Norden (Deglaciation and ice-marginals in Sweden. Ice-marginals in Fennoscandia). TemaNord 584:61–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann DH, Reanier RE, Peteet DM, Kunz ML, Johnson M (2001) Environment change and arctic paleoindians. Arctic Anthropol 38:119–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellars P (1976) Fire ecology, animal populations and man: a study of some ecological relationships in prehistory. Proc Prehistoric Soc 42:15–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikkelsen E, Hoeg HI (1979) A reconsideration of Neolithic agriculture in eastern Norway. Norwegian Archaeol Rev 12:33–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Milne GA, Davis JL, Mitrovica JX, Scherneck HG, Johansson JM, Vermeer M, Koivula H (2001) Spacegeodetic constraints on glacial isostatic adjustment in Fennoscandia. Science 291:2381–2385

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore J (2000) Forest fire and human interaction in the early Holocene woodlands of Britain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164:125–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore PD, Webb JA, Collinson ME (1991) Pollen analysis. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulk I-M (1982) Arkeologisk undersökning på Killingholmen, Järtajaure, Jokkmokk sn, Lappland, 1980–81 (Archaeological study at Killingholmen, Järtajaure, Jokkmokk parish, Lappland, 1980–81). Rapport 7, Department of Archaeology, Umeå University

  • O’Connell M (1987) Early cereal-type pollen records from Connemara, western Ireland, and their possible significance. Pollen et Spores 29:207–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Odgaard BV (1994) The Holocene vegetation history of northern West Jutland, Denmark. Opera Botanica 123:9–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohlson M, Tryterud E (2000) Interpretation of the charcoal record in forest soils: Forest fires and their production and deposition of macroscopic charcoal. Holocene 10:519–525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olofsson A (2003) Pioneer settlement in the Mesolithic of northern Sweden. Archaeology and Environment 16. Department of Archaeology and Sami Studies, Umeå University

  • Påsse T (1996) Lake–tilting investigations in southern Sweden. SKB Technical Report 96–10:1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Påsse T (1998) Lake-tilting, a method for estimation of glacio-isostatic uplift. Boreas 27:69–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Påsse T (2001) An empirical model of glacio-isostatic movements and shore level displacement in Fennoscandia. SKB Technichal Rep 01–41:1–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson WA, Edwards KJ, Maguire DJ (1987) Microscopic charcoal as a fossil indicator of fire. Quat Sci Rev 6:3–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peteet DM (1991) Postglacial migration history of lodge-pole pine near Yakutat, Alaska. Canad J Botany 69:786–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pengelly JW, Tinkler KJ, Parkins WG, McCarthy FM (1997) 12 600 years of lake level changes, changing sills, ephemeral lakes and Niagara Gorge erosion in the Niagara Peninsula and Eastern Lake Erie basin. J Paleolimnology 17:377–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Regnell J (1989) Vegetation and land use during 6000 years. Palaeoecology of the cultural landscape at two lake sites in southern Skåne, Sweden. Lunberqua thesis 27:1–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Regnell M, Gaillard M-J, Bartholin TS, Karsten P (1996) Reconstruction of environment and history of plant use during the late Mesolithic (Ertebølle culture) at the inland settlement of Bökeberg III, southern Sweden. Veget Hist Archaeobot 4:67–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertsson A-M, Miller U (1985) Garaselet—biostratigraphical studies of human impact during different periods of settlement from the Mesolithic to Medieval times. Iskos 5:127–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandegren R (1943) Hippophaë rhamnoides (L.) i Sverige under senkvartär tid (Hippophaë rhamnoides (L.) in Sweden during late Quaternary), (in Swedish with German summary). Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 37:1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerström U (1990) The post-glacial history of vegetation and agriculture in the Luleälv river valley. Archaeology and Environment No 7, Department of Archaeology, Umeå University

  • Segerström U, Renberg I (1986) Calculating net annual accumulation rates of sediment components exemplified by pollen. Hydrobiologia 143:45–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segerström U, von Stedingk H (2003) Early-Holocene spruce, Picea abies (L.) Karst., in west-central Sweden as revealed by pollen analysis. Holocene 13:897–906

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seppälä H, Hammarlund D (2000) Pollen-stratigraphical evidence of Holocene hydrological change in northern Fennoscandia supported by independent isotopic data. J Paleolimnol 24:69–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons IG, Innes JB (1994) Disturbance phases in the Mid-Holocene vegetation at North Gill, North York Moors: Form and process. J Archaeol Sci 23:183–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skogen A (1972) The Hippophaë rhamnoides alluvial forest at Leinøra, central Norway. A phytosociological and ecological study. Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab Skrifter 4:1–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AG, Whittle A, Cloutman EW, Morgan LA (1989) Mesolithic and Neolithic activity and environmental impact on the South-East fen-edge in Cambridgeshire. Proc Prehistoric Soc 55:207–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver M, Reimer PJ (1993) Extended14C database and revised CALIB 3.014C age calibration program (rev. 4.3). Radiocarbon 35:215–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita S, Gaillard M-J, Broström A (1999) Landscape openness and pollen records: a simulation approach. Holocene 9:409–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal M, Sundriyal RC (2001) Wild edible plants of the Sikkim Himalaya: nutritive values of selected species. Econ Botany 55:377–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundström J (1989) Juvuln—3000 år i fjällnära fångstland [Juvuln—3000 years in mountain hunting grounds]. In: Hemmendorf O (ed) Arkeologi i fjäll, skog och bygd. Del 1, stenålder—tidig järnålder (Archaeology in mountains, forests and settled contrysides. Part 1, Stone age—Early Iron age). Bohuslänningens Boktryckeri AB, Uddevalla, 83–102

  • Svenning J-C (2002) A review of natural vegetation openness in north-western Europe. Biological Conservation 104:133–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolonen K (1978) Palaeoecology of annually laminated sediments in Lake Ahvenainen, S. Finland. 1. Pollen and charcoal analyses and their relation to human impact. Annales Botanici Fennici 15:177–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Vorren K-D (1979) Anthropogenic influence on the natural vegetation in coastal North Norway during the Holocene. Development of farming and pastures. Norwegian Archaeol Review 12:1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorren K-D (2005) Stone Age settlements at Sørøya, sub-arctic Norway: impact on the vegetation. Veget Hist Archaeobot 14:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuorela I (1970) The indication of farming in pollen diagrams from southern Finland. Acta Botanica Fennica, 87, Helsinki

  • Walker MJC (1995) Climate change in Europe during the last Glacial/Interglacial transition. Quat Int 28:63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallin J-E (1989) Jägarkulturens inverkan på landskapet (The influence of hunter communities on the landscape). In: Hemmendorf O (ed) Arkeologi i fjäll, skog och bygd. Del 1, stenålder—tidig järnålder (Archaeology in mountains, forests and settled contrysides. Part 1, Stone age—Early Iron age). Bohuslänningens Boktryckeri AB, Uddevalla, 103–107

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallin J-E, Segerstöm U (1994) Natural resources and agriculture during the Iron Age in Ostrobothnia, western Finland, investigated by pollen analysis. Veget Hist Archaeobot 3:89–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wastegård S, Björck J, Risberg J (1998) Deglaciation, shore displacement and early-Holocene vegetation history in eastern middle Sweden. Holocene 8:433–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welinder S (1989) Mesolithic forest clearance in Scandinavia. In: Bosall C (ed) The Mesolithic in Europe, Edinburgh, 362–366

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to A.-B. Lindström for preparing the pollen slides, H. Karlsson and E.-M. Nordström for making pollen influx analyses and calculations, D.A. Wardle, U. Segerström, F. Bittmann, E. Kolstrup and an anonymous referee for valuable comments on the text and for linguistic improvements. The study received financial support from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (K1998-5116:01-05)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Greger Hörnberg, Elisabeth Bohlin, Erik Hellberg & Olle Zackrisson

  2. The Silvermuseum of Arjeplog, Storgatan 20, SE-930 90, Arjeplog, Sweden

    Ingela Bergman

  3. Department of Archaeology and Sami Studies, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Anders Olofsson

  4. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Jan-Erik Wallin

  5. Geological Survey of Sweden, Earth Sciences Centre, SE-413 20, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Tore Påsse

Authors
  1. Greger Hörnberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elisabeth Bohlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Erik Hellberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ingela Bergman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Olle Zackrisson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Anders Olofsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jan-Erik Wallin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Tore Påsse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Greger Hörnberg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hörnberg, G., Bohlin, E., Hellberg, E. et al. Effects of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on local vegetation in a non-uniform glacio-isostatic land uplift area, northern Sweden. Veget Hist Archaeobot 15, 13–26 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-005-0006-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-005-0006-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation