Patches of bark have been removed from older pines in the Øvre Dividalen National Park, but not in ways that would prevent the trees from continuing to grow. (Photo: UiT)
Posted on 07/04/2012 6:07:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
During a recent mapping of the rare virgin forest in and around the Øvre Dividalen National Park in Troms, Norway, scientists noticed some scars reappearing on the trees. Many trees had some of their bark cut away on one side, leaving marks that were hard to explain.
Arve Elvebakk of the University of TromsØ (UiT) headed the study. He worked together with Andreas Kirchhefer, an expert in dating old trees by tree-ring analysis. He had already used ancient pines to chart weather and climate conditions.
Could the cuts in the bark have been left by settlers who started farms in the Dividalen valley in 1850? These dalesmen logged the pine forest, but the scars appeared to be from long before this.
Some suggested the cuts in bark could have been made by indigenous Sami herders as markers of reindeer migration routes and indicators of territorial grazing rights – or simply as signs marking footpaths.
A third proposal was that the cuts were made by Finnish immigrants who used the trees for bark bread. In hard times with failed crops and famine at home they could cross over to Norway in search of food and game.
"How wrong we were," says Elvebakk.
The mystery was solved when the scars in the bark were dated back to the 17th and 18th centuries. This was over a century before the dalesmen arrived. There were also too many of the scars for the footpaths or reindeer routes theory to be plausible.
"It turned out that this came from the ancient Sami practice of harvesting pine bark for food," explains Elvebakk. "In a laborious process the bark was converted into flour that could be used in cooking."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenordic.com ...
Patches of bark have been removed from older pines in the Øvre Dividalen National Park, but not in ways that would prevent the trees from continuing to grow. (Photo: UiT)
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Retsina ping? Nope, Saami diet and cuisine. |
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I don't have a recipe for that.
/johnny
I hear tell pine bark biscuits with turpentine sauce makes a tasty breakfast.
The stuff was terrific for pains I had and overall healthful feeling.
I networked it, but life circumstances interfered, I dropped out, never got back, etc.
This might be a simular tree product.
The article states onlly the word, "pine", which could be any of a number of trees.
It’s from a French pine. I take it for tinnitus.
It was Trolls, they're lying to you.
Ugg, hideous movie, btw. :-)
“Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.”
/Euell Gibbons
LOL!
As the late “Uel Gibbins” “spelling im sure im wrong” Used to say,,,,,”some parts are edible”
Now, in all the promotional I received, I never heard of tinitus as something it worked on.
I have tinitus and how well does Pychnoginal work?
Whoops, thanks Renfield!! I’m on dialup here, and the blips and delays distract me. :’o
Chuck Norris visited there on vacation. It’s not a virgin forest anymore.
Of course, there is tinnitus, which is a simple ringing in the ears. Then, much more seriously, there is Rin-tin-tin-itus, which is a barking in the ears.
Was it The Beatles?
First thing I thought too.
Save the Forest. Pull Euell Gibbons’ teeth.
Bumper sticker from the period.
This must be the source of the old adage: “His bark is worse than his bite.”
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