Résumé
In the heathlands of northern Europe, medieval herding / farming people developed a unique practice: they cut large numbers of sods and transported them to stables to serve as bedding, where they absorbed excrement of livestock kept over the winter. In spring, the nutrient-enriched mix was added to nearby fields. Variants of this practice, known as « plaggen agriculture », were found from the British Isles in the west to Siberia in the east. Practiced over many centuries, plaggen agriculture transformed landscapes. The amendments applied to fields turned sandy, acid infertile podsols into some of the world’s richest soils, while areas from which sods were intensively exploited lost their vegetation cover, creating Europe’s largest dunefields. The massive movements of soil and vegetation also produced elevational differences of two meters or more. Plaggen agriculture thus created heterogeneous landscapes. While plaggen agriculture disappeared with the adoption of artificial fertilizers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its ecological legacy endures. Centuries of plaggen agriculture shaped the region’s heritage landscapes and biodiversity. Plaggen soils have also left a legacy in ecological thought. As the first emblematic example of soils transformed by humans, they spurred burgeoning interest in Anthrosols throughout the world.