TERNEUZEN AND BURIED FORESTS OF THE EAST ANGLIAN FENLAND

Abstract

At Terneuzen in south‐west Holland, Munaut has described a buried pine forest overgrown by Sphagnum bog. Dendrochronology has shown the forest to be a single generation stand lasting for 300 years or so, and radiocarbon measurement has given it a date between about 2600 and 2300 B.C. These conclusions and associated pollen analyses are here considered in relation to palaeoecological and geological studies in comparable deposits in coastal Britain, especially in the East Anglian Fenland. The natural ecological status of the yew (Taxus baccata) and the pine (Pinus sylvestris) are seen to be similar in these sites, and the role of the latter in the induction of raised bog is clarified. Copyright © 1968, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved