This chapter describes how Europe was covered by a closed forest in its natural state, a conclusion based on pollen studies. It deals with the premises which are used in pollen analysis and describes Iversen's Landnam theory, and examines whether a pollen collection believed to come from a closed...

Prehistoric cultures are called 'pre-historic' because written historic sources about their history were not produced in prehistoric times. It is therefore necessary to quote other sources and evidence to reconstruct the history of prehistoric cultures and their environment. Pollen diagrams give...

It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before man intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, the forest would still be there, and if left the grassland...