SCIENCE AND ART IN PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTIONS

In the project ‘Man and environment in the Småland Uplands during the last 6000 years’, the long-term landscape development of a forested region in southern Sweden was investigated using an inter-disciplinary approach. Within the project, the medieval hamlet Axlarp with its predecessors was studied in detail by pollen analysis, archaeological investigations, and the study of old documents and maps. Based on the results and interpretations from Axlarp – as well as information on topography, hydrology, and the distribution of Quaternary deposits – landscape reconstructions for selected time-slices were painted in water-colour by a professional artist. Stimulating discussions between scientists and the artist during the reconstruction process raised new questions about past landscape types, and highlighted information-gaps in the data. The paintings are presented on the poster together with some of the background data. Details in vegetation and land-use are graphically linked to corresponding sequences in pollen diagrams, radiocarbon dates, etc, and some of the possibilities and limitations of the palaeoecological and archaeological records are discussed.