Human impact and landscape utilization from the Mesolithic to medieval time traced by high spatial resolution pollen analysis and numerical methods

Pollen analysis in relation to archaeological excavations has been carried out by the coast of central Norway to investigate for the first time long-term human impact on the vegetation in this region. A total of 297 samples from eleven archaeological sites and connected bogs/peat profiles reveal the vegetation development from the Mesolithic until today. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to identify and elucidate the development through time and space, and the results of pollen diagrams from bogs are compared to the results of on-site pollen data. Human impact has transformed the vegetation to a varying degree in different time periods. A dense population connected to the shoreline is slightly visible as opening-up of the forest in the Mesolithic, whereas re-use of Mesolithic settlement sites for cultivation and grazing in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (from c. 2300 cal BC) is clearly documented by palaeobotany but weakly recorded in the archaeological record. Areas for settlement and cultivation are found from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and pollen analysis contributes to a detailed picture of utilization of the landscape. The investigation shows the potential of combining archaeological and botanical data and analysing several small pollen sequences within an excavation area to reveal spatial patterns in vegetation development and human impact through time.

► High spatial resolution pollen analysis from archaeological contexts and bogs.
► Changes in vegetation and resource exploitation in time and space.
► New empirical data on the development of agriculture at the coast of central Norway.
► Improved knowledge of activity by combining on-site pollen analysis and bogs.
► Numerical analysis important aid for pattern identification in complex data-sets.