WORKING GROUP 5 
RASMUSSON 
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Fig. 8. Some natural and cultural elements still to be seen on the heath. Details from air 
photos of 1955. 1: Sand bar. 2: Depression between sand bars. 3: Forest. 4: Pine trees. 
5: Fence. 6: Ditch. 7: Water. 8: Wheel tracks. 9: New road. 10: Old road. 11: Medieval 
turf wall. 12: Medieval field. 13: Limit of the last turf cutting. 14: Damage to vegetation 
caused by cattle. 
degeneration phenomenon of the wet heath. In fig. 8b we can see the effect of 
turf cutting. The last cut area is still much darker than the surrounding ground, 
although no turf cutting has occurred here in this century. The difference in 
colour is due to the fact that some Cladonia species have not yet returned to 
the cut area, where Erica tetralix dominates. Another element in that picture 
consists of numerous wheel traces. Some of these tracks are made by waggons 
carrying the turf home to the town; others indicate how difficult it could be to 
travel to Skanor and Falsterbo over land before a permanent road was built. 
Fig. 8c shows three stages in the development of a road at a point where it 
crosses a natural ditch. The latest road (9) crosses it as a straight and broad 
white line but the former road (10), probably still in use in this century, made 
a sharp bend here. Still one stage earlier there was no bridge. Wheel tracks 
converge towards the most easily forded point, then diverge over the western 
part of the heath towards Skanor or Falsterbo. In the lower left corner there