Pollen zone

The sequence provides a global chronological structure to a wide variety of researchers, such as geologists, climatologists, geographers and archaeologists, who study the physical and cultural environment of the last 15,000 years.

The palynological aspects of the system were first investigated extensively by the Swedish palynologist Lennart von Post[1] in the years before the First World War.

Von Post was able to confirm the Blytt–Sernander climatic sequence showing fluctuations between warmer and colder periods across thousands of years.

In 1940 Harry Godwin began applying von Post's methods to pollen cores from the British Isles to produce the wider European sequence accepted today.

These are matched to period names called "biostratigraphic divisions" in the table, which were defined for Denmark by Iverson based on layers in the peat bogs.

Moreover, the names are apt to be used interchangeably for glacials, interglacials, stadial, interstadials, or oscillations, leading some scientists to deplore the lack of system.