Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Qupperneq 70

Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Qupperneq 70
74 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.
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