2001-2003

People and the environment in forests and mountains

The project focused on the interaction between climate, vegetation and humans in a long-term perspective. The aim of the project was to investigate human involvement in the development of specific vegetation types and the long-term effects this had on the structure and function of ecosystems. Fire was central to the project, as humans have actively used fire as a tool to change vegetation.

The project's questions concerned the relationship between social and economic change processes and different forms of landscape utilization in alpine environments. The research work was based on the changes that Sami communities underwent in connection with the transition from a hunting to a pastoral economy. The emphasis was placed on the settlement expansion in the high mountain area that took place in the 7th century AD.

The aim of the project was to clarify whether settlements with stall plots represented the first organized use of the forest frontier and what role humans played in subsequent ecosystem processes. The aim was to identify the social, economic and ecological factors that interacted in the transition to domestic reindeer husbandry.

The Silvermuseet's researchers were the initiators of the project and project owners. The research was conducted in an interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeology, forest history, ecology and soil chemistry with researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå and the University of Montana, Missoula.

Financier: EU Structural Funds, Objective 1.
Project duration: 2001 - 2003
Grant awarded: SEK 6 840 000
Project leader: Ingela Bergman
Grant administrator: Silvermuseets