Environmental Development around Falun Copper Mine during Late Holocene

Sammanfattning: The area at and around the Falun copper mine has always been of great interest. To begin with it was the valuable ore that drew people to the area. Now it is the historical, archaeological and environmental aspects that draw researchers from different fields of study to Falun. Peat cores were taken in several peatlands throughout an area extending toward about 2 kilometres to the west, southwest and south of the Falun mine. One core was selected for more extensive studies including plant macrofossil analysis, loss on ignition (LOI) and 14C – analysis. These methods are combined to give a picture of the environmental conditions at different periods in time, using plants and their preferred growth environment as an aid. The untouched environment changing into the well-known mining landscape that prevailed in the hey-day of the mine, with the change being the focal point, is the reason for this study.The cores presented in this thesis generally show lake areas drying up and transforming into peatlands, some peatlands may however have been formed in other ways. The location chosen for further studies is now almost transformed to a forest floor. This study provides a solid foundation for further studies as well as adds more information to existing knowledge. However, more research is needed to fully understand how the environment changed due to the opening of the mine.