Early Farming in Finland: Was there Cultivation before the Iron Age (500 BC)?

Maria Lahtinen, Peter Rowley-Conwy

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Abstract

We review the evidence for the earliest agriculture in Finland. The claims are all based on pollen analysis. Some claims go back to the Neolithic period. We contest these claims critically and argue that the ‘early cereal-type’ pollen grains may in fact come from large-grained wild grasses, and cannot be taken as clear evidence for cultivation in the absence of other lines of evidence. Cultivation of cereals in Finland may have started as late as the start of the Iron Age in c. 500 BC.
Original languageFinnish
JournalEuropean Journal of Archaeology
Volume16
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)660-684
ISSN1461-9571
Publication statusPublished - 2013
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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