Pollen, women, war and other things: reflections on the history of palynology

Kevin J Edwards

doi:10.1007/s00334-017-0629-8

Abstract

The development of palynology since its recognised launch in 1916 by Lennart von Post is examined in terms of its historiography, the biographies of pollen analysts and the role of those who have influenced the discipline. Emphasis is placed upon research beginnings in Scandinavia (especially Sweden), Great Britain and Ireland. Within an analytical narrative which includes archival and published sources, special consideration is given to a ‘proclamation’ on methodology which appeared in 1909, on a supposed geology/botany dichotomy stemming from von Post’s background, on the forgotten early practitioners in Britain and Ireland and their connections, on the role of women up to the end of the Second World War and on issues related to wartime hostilities. Present day palynology can trace a continuity from von Post and palynologists are part of an extended disciplinary genealogy. Ignorance of these can be seen as a loss of heritage and to represent an intellectual impoverishment.

Highlights

Since its recognised launch in 1916, pollen-based palynology has had a generally positive billing. Roberts’s (2014, p. 33) statement that palynology is ‘the single most important branch of terrestrial palaeoecology for the late Pleistocene and Holocene’ will presumably be agreeable to most of us
Gustaf Lagerheim was a seminal influence on Lennart von Post, the purported father of pollen analysis
Palynology has maintained a foothold in the worlds of environmental science and cultural history and there is a vigorous engagement with such topics as climate change (MacDonald et al 2008), biodiversity (Gillson 2015), genetics (Parducci et al 2017), archaeology (Edwards et al 2015), forensic science (Wiltshire et al 2015) and health (Burge 2002)

Summary

Introduction

Since its recognised launch in 1916 (von Post 1916a [a summary with discussion], fully published as Von Post 1918), pollen-based palynology has had a generally positive billing. Roberts’s (2014, p. 33) statement that palynology is ‘the single most important branch of terrestrial palaeoecology for the late Pleistocene and Holocene’ will presumably be agreeable to most of us. Keywords Lennart von Post · Gustaf Lagerheim · Gunnar Erdtman · Palynology · Historiography · Pioneers · Biographies

Results

Conclusion