The Influence of Prehistoric Man on Vegetation

Abstract

The present paper is a verbatim copy of the original manuscript used in a lecture, which was given at the University of Cambridge 14th Oct. 1946. The views expressed in the context are in all essentials the same as in a more detailed paper published in 1941, but the basis of my interpretations is considerably wider. Four of the diagrams given here are quite new, they are worked out with the definite object of throwing more light on some aspects of the influence of Neolithic man on vegetation. The diagram from Sækkedammen shows an especially early settlement of short duration (Atlantic time). The peculiar circumstances prevailing in the infertile Jutland heath plains, is illustrated in a diagram from Tinglev Sø. Finally there is a diagram from a district, which differs greatly, both as regards vegetation and Neolithic culture, namely Mogetorp mosse in Södermanland in the Swedish Midlands, known from Sten Florins archaeological and geological investigations of the Mogetorp-Vråculture. Also the presentation and discussion of the material diverges from that in my former paper, and so with some reluctance I have followed a request, that I should publish the lecture and the pollen diagrams.