Hazelnuts from a peat deposit at Evijärvi, western Finland

The more extensive range of the hazel (Corylus avellana L.) in Sweden and Finland in ancient times had already attracted interest among researchers at the turn of the century (Andersson 1896, 1902, 1907, 1909). Andersson catalogued all finds of subfossil hazelnuts and studied the palaeoecology of the shrub. Later, Salmi (1963) made comprehensive investigations on the ancient distribution of the hazel in Finland on the basis of nuts found in mires and pollen stratigraphy. More recently, Tallantire (1981) has provided new insight into the ancient northernmost habitats of the hazel in Fennoscandia. In spring 1989 the Geological Survey of Finland received a peat sample (Fig. 1) from Evijärvi, western Finland, with eight well-preserved nuts of hazel attached to its surface. From information published to date (cf. Salmi 1963, Hultén 1971), Evijärvi is the northernmost site where subfossil hazelnuts have so far been found in Finland. Also the other northernmost hazelnut finds in Finland have been in peat, although as far as is known hazel does not currently grow on mires anywhere in Europe.