Forest reindeer herding A.D. 1-1800 : an archaeological and palaeoecological study in northern Sweden

Sammanfattning: This thesis deals with reindeer domestication and herding in northern Sweden. The work is focussed on the introduction of forest reindeer herding but this problem is discussed in a wider economic and cultural context.The archaeological material is considered from sourcecritical aspects. The material remains of reindeer herding consist mainly of organic material which breaks down comparatively quickly in the acid podzol soils of northern Sweden. Artefacts indicative of reindeer herding are very unusual as archaeological finds. The attention is directed to vegetational changes at places where domesticated reindeer have been driven together. Palaeoecological investigations of these vegetational changes were carried out. The vegetational changes and pollen rain around reindeer pens are studied and a method to indicate reindeer herding by pollen analysis is developed.The source materials for the study of the introduction of forest reindeer herding in northern Sweden are archaeological and palaeoecological investigations at 7 sites with cultural remains of dwellings, reindeer pens and reindeer milking grounds. The archaeological material indicates a change of the settlement patterns during the first millenium A.D. A settlement expansion on the traditional reindeer summer pasture grounds is realized. The settlement pattern shows similarities with recent settlements of the reindeer-herding Forest Saami. The pollen analyses indicate small openings in the forest with flourishing grasses and herbs. Pastoral semi-nomadism with small-scale reindeer herding is a possible explanation to the settlement pattern and recorded cultural influence on the forest vegetation. Presumably forest reindeer herding started in the first millenium A.D. In the early phase of forest reindeer herding the numbers of domesticated reindeer must have been small. The cultural influence on the forest vegetation is weak. An expansion of forest reindeer herding occurred in the 1700's. The local influence from reindeer herding on the forest vegetation is evident for the last 200-250 years.The archaeological find material demonstrates far reaching east-west contacts during the Early Iron Age. It seems possible that influences from the reindeer herding cultures in Siberia reached Fennoscandia.The recorded settlement pattern and palaeoecological indications of reindeer herding are set into a context of economic specialisation and exchange, social organization and ideology. Social interaction, diversification and trade seem to have favoured and enforced the expansion of reindeer pastoralism all over Eurasia.