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280 MAGNUS FRIESonly rarely been investigated with a detailed pollenanalyticaltechnique that takes the effects of culturefully into consideration.Studies of seeds, fruits, and comparable remainsof prehistoric settlement and agriculture are, besidepollen analysis, a rich source of information(HELBJEK 1955; HJELMQVIST 1955; BERGGREN 1956;ScHIEMANN 1958). This is especially valuable concerningthe history of the different kinds of cereals,the pollen of which are difficult to identify (phasecontrastmicroscopy is needed).The pollen-analytical tool is generally not sharpenough to dissect the vegetational developmentduring the most recent centuries. Also the radiocarbon-datingmethod gives results too unsure forthis time. Written sources that can be applicable tothese studies occur from Medieval time on (inSweden about 1050-1500 A.D.), although little isleft from the early part. They may be provinciallaws, documents of court, itineraries (for instancerecords of ecclesiastical inspections), etc. Mapswith information about the vegetational environmentbegin to be delineated in the seventeenthcentury. They consist of "geographical maps" ofprovinces or similar areas and "geometric maps"of land properties. The last-mentioned maps arecadastral plans, generally with valuable informationabout the yield of grain fields and meadowsand about the pasture land (forest, heath, etc.).The originals are kept by the provincial authorities,and copies are deposited in Kungl. LantmateristyrelsensArkiv, Stockholm (Archives of the RoyalLand-Survey Board). In fact these maps aregenerally more instructive than the enclosuremaps ("lagaskifte" maps) from the nineteenthcentury.Investigations on the development of the vegetationallandscape, based on archival records, havebeen carried out for some areas of South and to asmall extent Central Sweden by MALMSTROM (1939),ATLESTAM (1942), H1KANSSON (1948), G. WEI­MARCK (1953), SJORS (1954), M. FRIES (1958 b), andothers.Some information about former vegetational conditions,especially about the distribution of forestor particular kinds of trees, may be obtained fromancient place names (B. LINDQUIST 1931, pp. 370-377; ATLESTAM 1942, pp. 32-34; M. FRIES 1958 b,pp. 20-23, 77).The profound changes of the cultural landscapeduring the latest century or so have largely beenbrought about by a shift in aims and methods ofrural economy. They are dealt with in this volumeby BENGT PETTERSSON. In such investigations, oldmaps can be compared with the most recent ones,especially the photomaps, and also directly withaerial photographs. Repeated ground photographyfrom an exactly identical point has also proveduseful for such studies (BENGT PETTERSSON 1958).Photo maps or "Economic maps" based on airphotos, both in the scale 1: 10,000, are now availablefor large parts of the country.RetrospectIn this paper the principal features of the vegetationaldevelopment in Sweden after the wastage ofthe latest land-ice are described. Starting froman open-ground vegetation of shade-intolerantpioneer plants (South Sweden) the developmentpassed through a long stage of luxuriant forestgrowth, favoured by a comparatively warmclimate, and ended in a vegetation influenced byclimatic deterioration and the formation of rawhumus and peat and transformed through the activitiesof man. The knowledge of the vegetation andits environment during these three stages, theprotocratic, mesocratic, and telocratic stages (I VERSEN1958), has certainly increased considerably sincevoN PosT, in 1916, introduced pollen analysis as amethod in the study of vegetational history. Themap f, Fig. 2, shows, however, that much remainsto be done in this field in Sweden, in fact not onlyin the white areas but also in those marked asalready investigated.Acta Phytogeogr. Suec. 50