Pollen analysis in the context of clearance cairns from boreal forests - a reflection of past cultivation and pastoral farming

► Peat profiles and samples from two clearance cairn fields were analysed for pollen. ► Cultivation at cairn fields dated to three periods: AD 200-400, 400-570 and 1050-1537. ► Pioneer trees common on the clearance cairn fields during the Iron Age. ► The clearance cairn fields were more open in the medieval period than earlier. ► Cereal cultivation on cairn fields in forests is difficult to detect in local peat deposits.