'Gooseberry is the only thing left' - a study of declining biological cultural heritage at abandoned crofts in the province of Sodermanland, Sweden

• This is a study about cultivated and 'wild' plants as components of the material heritage of crofters, an overlooked group of people in former agrarian landscapes. Despite abundant remains of crofts in Sweden, inhabited during the period from the eighteenth century until the 1940s, crofters have been subject to few studies. We used a survey conducted 1967 of botanical remains at abandoned croft as a basis for a re-survey in 2019. As with all biological traces of former human activities, cultivated plants and wild species favoured by former management ultimately disappear, but with long delays. We describe the patterns of this decline. In general, about a third of the species were gone after 52 years. The rate of disappearance of single species occurrences was about 1% annually. We discuss the interpretation of botanical remains from since long abandoned crofts in the context of heritage. In some cases, the botanical remains were the only material evidence left. We conclude that the material heritage of crofters deserves further studies and that botanical remains at abandoned crofts should be documented and at least at some sites protected.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Agrarian landscapes

boreal forest

cultivated plants

ethnobotany

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)