Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Page 70

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A NOTE ON THE OCCURENCE OF LAND PLANARIANS
vation (Godwin, 1975). The evidence also
suggests that the species was present in Bri-
tain well before that time since occurrences
of Late-glacial Plantago lanceolata pollen
are known from Nazeing in Essex, Flixton
and Seamer in Yorkshire and in Stirlingshire
and the Isle of Skye in Scotland amongst
others. All of these pre-date the Neolithic in-
vasions of the respective areas (Godwin,
1975). However, the few occurrences of Plan-
tago lanceolata that occur pre-settlement in
the Shetland Islands are explained as ar-
tifacts of long distance transport by Johan-
sen (1987, 1985). On the basis of numerous
radiocarbon dates P. lanceolata is thought to
have reached the Faroe Islands about
2300BP and again at 390BC and is used as
an indication of the prehistoric (and Pre-
Viking) settlement of Faroe; many more
records from ca. AD7000 awards are as-
sociated with the Viking settlement phase
(Johansen, 1989).
Conclusion
It appears clear that instances of pre-
settlement P. lanceolata pollen are known at
sites from Britain to North-west Iceland
although since the latter sites occur on the
periphery of the plants’ present day range,
occurrence has always been, and still is, very
restricted. In fact, whether P. lanceolata was
actually growing near Hvitahlid in North-
west Iceland in the early Holocene is an un-
resolved question. Therein lies the problem
with the use of P. lanceolata, on its own, as
an indicator of human settlement since small
quantities of naturally-occurring pre-
settlement pollen cast doubt upon its later
association with human settlement. In
Iceland, where pollen from P. lanceolata has
never been plentiful, it is difficult to use the
species as an indication of human activity.
In the Faroe Islands, a more benign environ-
ment serves to blur the question of whether
the background natural pollen count of P.
lanceolata is sufficiently different from that
associated with human activity to allow it to
be used diagnostically, without recourse to
alternative and supporting lines of evidence.
For example there is generally a close associ-
ation between settlement and the insect fau-
na co-introduced with livestock, yet any pre-
Norse Landnam is currently unrecognisable
in the fossil insect record from Faroe (Buck-
land, 1992). Plantago lanceolata probably
arrived in these western extremities of Eu-
rope in the same manner as other early spe-
cies, namely by rafting on sediment-laden ice
floes travelling westwards from mainlanđ
Europe (Buckland et al, 1986) or, later, via
carriage by birds. Either way the requirement
that the species be associated solely with hu-
mans needs careful evaluation.
Acknowledgments
Pollen and microplankton analysis was ex-
pertly performed by Dr. C.O. Hunt.
Field support was provided by a grant
from the University Sheffield Research Fund
and we are grateful to the British Geomor-
phological Research Group for funding of
the radiocarbon dates. The comments of Dr.
J. Johansen, Margret Hallsdóttir, Poul
Buckland and an anonymous referee are
gratefully acknowledged.