egetation history and land use in the Vendel area, Uppland, eastern Sweden

Abstract

In connection with current archaeological excavations in the Vendel area in Uppland, a pollen analysis has been conducted on a peat seguence from a fen called "Hovgårdsberg fen" situaced c. 700m of the church at Vendel. The vegetarion history of the area has been reconstructed from the present investigarion combined wirh earlier pollen analys of sediments and peat from Lake Vendel basin and
cartographical material. Vegetation maps constructed for time slices 4000 BP, 1600-1200 BP, 200 BP and recent times (1979) illustrate the vegetational changes and expanding land use. The resulr show that cultivation and grazing have been sporadic from the Bronze Age to the Early lron Age and continuous from the Late Iron Age (Vendel time) onwards. The immigration of spruce (Picea) is estimated at around 2500 BP 14C-years or slightly earlier.