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Research article2004Peer reviewed

Trees for food - a 3000 year record of subarctic plant use

Ostlund L, Bergman I, Zackrisson O

Abstract

The authors present a unique long record of inner bark use by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia extending back to 2800 BP Consistent patterns with respect to the direction and size of bark peeling scars shows that common values and standards were early applied. They further conclude that inner bark was important as a regular food and a vitamin C source at these northern latitudes. Bark-peeled trees as biological artefacts in forests also provide important data to understand subsistence strategies and spatial patterns of land use unique to areas with long winter seasons

Keywords

AMS dating; dentroecology; Sami; innerbark; forest history

Published in

Antiquity
2004, Volume: 78, number: 300, pages: 278-286
Publisher: ANTIQUITY PUBL LTD

      SLU Authors

    • Zackrisson, Olle

      • Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

      • Östlund, Lars

        • Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Forest Science

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/2939