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While the environmental impact of the industrial age is massive, including climate change, pollution, microplastics and habitat loss, our influence reaches further back than many recognize. In Sweden, an early and important activity with large potential impact was the mining and smelting of iron, copper and silver ores over the last ~800 years. This occurred in a mineral rich region called Bergslagen, where thousands of smelters and forges and tens of thousands of mines produced the metal riches central to the growth of both local and national economies. In this thesis, I and collaborators present data from >30 lakes in Bergslagen and its surroundings with the aim to identify and track both the metallurgical activities themselves and the environmental impacts associated with this early agricultural-metallurgical society. The results indicate that the metallurgical activities can be traced using multiproxy sediment analyses including charcoal particles from the blast furnace and other metallurgical activities at the sites, metals from the ores (Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg) and indicators of erosion associated with activity at the site or damming and rechanneling of streams. We show a widespread pattern of a spread of mining and smelting throughout Bergslagen from ~1250 CE, including activities at Moshyttan close to Nora, Gammalkroppa close to Filipstad, a hitherto unknown blast furnace close to Norberg, the copper mines in Falun and the mine and smelters at Gladhammar. A notable exception to this medieval pattern is evidence from Garpenberg of copper mining already from the 4thcentury BCE. This widespread, medieval expansion of metallurgy occurred during a time of few written sources, and indicates that this was a period of technological proliferation in Sweden. The environmental effects of these activities were wide-ranging. Pollen-inferred vegetation reconstructions (using REVEALS) indicate a minor decline in forest cover (~10–15%) starting in the 12th and 13th centuries whe

While the environmental impact of the industrial age is massive, including climate change, pollution, microplastics and habitat loss, our influence reaches further back than many recognize. In Sweden, an early and important activity with large potential impact was the mining and smelting of iron, copper and silver ores over the last ~800 years. This occurred in a mineral rich region called Bergslagen, where thousands of smelters and forges and tens of thousands of mines produced the metal riches central to the growth of both local and national economies. In this thesis, I and collaborators present data from >30 lakes in Bergslagen and its surroundings with the aim to identify and track both the metallurgical activities themselves and the environmental impacts associated with this early agricultural-metallurgical society. The results indicate that the metallurgical activities can be traced using multiproxy sediment analyses including charcoal particles from the blast furnace and other metallurgical activities at the sites, metals from the ores (Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg) and indicators of erosion associated with activity at the site or damming and rechanneling of streams. We show a widespread pattern of a spread of mining and smelting throughout Bergslagen from ~1250 CE, including activities at Moshyttan close to Nora, Gammalkroppa close to Filipstad, a hitherto unknown blast furnace close to Norberg, the copper mines in Falun and the mine and smelters at Gladhammar. A notable exception to this medieval pattern is evidence from Garpenberg of copper mining already from the 4thcentury BCE. This widespread, medieval expansion of metallurgy occurred during a time of few written sources, and indicates that this was a period of technological proliferation in Sweden. The environmental effects of these activities were wide-ranging. Pollen-inferred vegetation reconstructions (using REVEALS) indicate a minor decline in forest cover (~10–15%) starting in the 12th and 13th centuries whe

While the environmental impact of the industrial age is massive, including climate change, pollution, microplastics and habitat loss, our influence reaches further back than many recognize. In Sweden, an early and important activity with large potential impact was the mining and smelting of iron, copper and silver ores over the last ~800 years. This occurred in a mineral rich region called Bergslagen, where thousands of smelters and forges and tens of thousands of mines produced the metal riches central to the growth of both local and national economies. In this thesis, I and collaborators present data from >30 lakes in Bergslagen and its surroundings with the aim to identify and track both the metallurgical activities themselves and the environmental impacts associated with this early agricultural-metallurgical society. The results indicate that the metallurgical activities can be traced using multiproxy sediment analyses including charcoal particles from the blast furnace and other metallurgical activities at the sites, metals from the ores (Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg) and indicators of erosion associated with activity at the site or damming and rechanneling of streams. We show a widespread pattern of a spread of mining and smelting throughout Bergslagen from ~1250 CE, including activities at Moshyttan close to Nora, Gammalkroppa close to Filipstad, a hitherto unknown blast furnace close to Norberg, the copper mines in Falun and the mine and smelters at Gladhammar. A notable exception to this medieval pattern is evidence from Garpenberg of copper mining already from the 4thcentury BCE. This widespread, medieval expansion of metallurgy occurred during a time of few written sources, and indicates that this was a period of technological proliferation in Sweden. The environmental effects of these activities were wide-ranging. Pollen-inferred vegetation reconstructions (using REVEALS) indicate a minor decline in forest cover (~10–15%) starting in the 12th and 13th centuries whe

While the environmental impact of the industrial age is massive, including climate change, pollution, microplastics and habitat loss, our influence reaches further back than many recognize. In Sweden, an early and important activity with large potential impact was the mining and smelting of iron, copper and silver ores over the last ~800 years. This occurred in a mineral rich region called Bergslagen, where thousands of smelters and forges and tens of thousands of mines produced the metal riches central to the growth of both local and national economies. In this thesis, I and collaborators present data from >30 lakes in Bergslagen and its surroundings with the aim to identify and track both the metallurgical activities themselves and the environmental impacts associated with this early agricultural-metallurgical society. The results indicate that the metallurgical activities can be traced using multiproxy sediment analyses including charcoal particles from the blast furnace and other metallurgical activities at the sites, metals from the ores (Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg) and indicators of erosion associated with activity at the site or damming and rechanneling of streams. We show a widespread pattern of a spread of mining and smelting throughout Bergslagen from ~1250 CE, including activities at Moshyttan close to Nora, Gammalkroppa close to Filipstad, a hitherto unknown blast furnace close to Norberg, the copper mines in Falun and the mine and smelters at Gladhammar. A notable exception to this medieval pattern is evidence from Garpenberg of copper mining already from the 4thcentury BCE. This widespread, medieval expansion of metallurgy occurred during a time of few written sources, and indicates that this was a period of technological proliferation in Sweden. The environmental effects of these activities were wide-ranging. Pollen-inferred vegetation reconstructions (using REVEALS) indicate a minor decline in forest cover (~10–15%) starting in the 12th and 13th centuries whe

While the environmental impact of the industrial age is massive, including climate change, pollution, microplastics and habitat loss, our influence reaches further back than many recognize. In Sweden, an early and important activity with large potential impact was the mining and smelting of iron, copper and silver ores over the last ~800 years. This occurred in a mineral rich region called Bergslagen, where thousands of smelters and forges and tens of thousands of mines produced the metal riches central to the growth of both local and national economies. In this thesis, I and collaborators present data from >30 lakes in Bergslagen and its surroundings with the aim to identify and track both the metallurgical activities themselves and the environmental impacts associated with this early agricultural-metallurgical society. The results indicate that the metallurgical activities can be traced using multiproxy sediment analyses including charcoal particles from the blast furnace and other metallurgical activities at the sites, metals from the ores (Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg) and indicators of erosion associated with activity at the site or damming and rechanneling of streams. We show a widespread pattern of a spread of mining and smelting throughout Bergslagen from ~1250 CE, including activities at Moshyttan close to Nora, Gammalkroppa close to Filipstad, a hitherto unknown blast furnace close to Norberg, the copper mines in Falun and the mine and smelters at Gladhammar. A notable exception to this medieval pattern is evidence from Garpenberg of copper mining already from the 4thcentury BCE. This widespread, medieval expansion of metallurgy occurred during a time of few written sources, and indicates that this was a period of technological proliferation in Sweden. The environmental effects of these activities were wide-ranging. Pollen-inferred vegetation reconstructions (using REVEALS) indicate a minor decline in forest cover (~10–15%) starting in the 12th and 13th centuries whe