Tracking medieval and early modern expansion of livestock farming in Sweden’s boreal forest: two high-resolution studies of pollen, coprophilous fungi and charcoal from Hälsingland and Jämtland

Today much of northern Europe’s boreal forest is managed for commercial forestry. But up to the early 20th century it was a landscape of smallholder farming, with rearing of cattle, goats and sheep the key economic activity. In the boreal forest ‘outlands’ of central Sweden, previous palaeoecological research has shown there to be a long history to this farming, stretching back to the 1st millennium ad in many areas, and the 1st millennium bc in some places. Previous studies have, however, been biased towards the remains of settlement sites and their chronological resolution is often coarse. This article presents the results of two palaeoecological studies, at Kronvallen mire in Hälsingland and Väster-Brännåsflon in Jämtland. Pollen, spores of coprophilous fungi and microscopic charcoal particles have been analysed to determine when livestock grazing expanded in the wider boreal forest, away from settlement sites, and assess how pastoralism impacted forest ecology over time. A high number of radiocarbon dates and chronological modelling was used to facilitate comparison with historical trends. Our results show that in both areas livestock grazing began in the early 2nd millennium ad and expanded in the 13th century, with no major impact from the Black Death being detected. Farming activity increased further after ca. 1450, including limited cereal cultivation around Kronvallen, but none around Väster-Brännåsflon. Short-lived lulls in activity, possibly related to climatic challenges and socio-political demands, are evident during the early modern period. In the long term, the forest became more open, supporting a wider diversity of herbs. However, there was a gradual decline of the fire and grazing intolerant spruce, with possible effects on wild animal populations requiring further study.