Abstract
Shielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmstead to sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. This paper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland, western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area near Kårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impact are charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca. ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250, possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomery iron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollen assemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sites in Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The study highlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure.
Highlights
Transhumance, the movement of livestock to grazing areas over longer or shorter distances, has occurred in many parts of the world since the early days of agriculture and Communicated by M.-J
Norwegian and Swedish historians proposed that shielings emerged as a part of increased cattle breeding following the late medieval agrarian crisis (14th and 15th centuries ad), or in early modern times when agriculture had recovered from the same crisis (Sandnes 1989, 1991; Larsson 2009)
A pollen study from Stor-Flen about 63 km east of Kårebolssätern gives the date of 410 bc-ad 30 for Picea colonisation (Segerström 1997) and other studies suggest similar dates (Påhlsson 1988; Eriksson 1991; Giesecke and Bennett 2004)
Summary
Transhumance, the movement of livestock to grazing areas over longer or shorter distances, has occurred in many parts of the world since the early days of agriculture and Communicated by M.-J. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (2021) 30:759–771 that transhumance and shielings in Scandinavia may have had an early beginning and preceded the establishment of permanent farms in the Norwegian inland river valleys in the Roman Iron Age Norwegian and Swedish historians proposed that shielings emerged as a part of increased cattle breeding following the late medieval agrarian crisis (14th and 15th centuries ad), or in early modern times when agriculture had recovered from the same crisis (Sandnes 1989, 1991; Larsson 2009). In Sweden, shielings were part of the general expansion of cattle breeding in the late middle ages and early modern times, probably to sell cattle to the Swedish Mining District (Svensson 1998; Emanuelsson 2001; Emanuelsson et al 2003; Larsson 2009)
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