Insects, Man and the Earliest Settlement of the Faroe Islands: a case not proven

Abstract

It cannot be claimed that the fossil insect evidence in any way detracts from the palynological record. It is possible that Irish
monks had so little overall impact on the landscape as to be undetectable in the entomology but, if the Færeyrar were the islands of sheep, it is surprising that they were without their dung beetles. It is possible that, if we were to sacrifice our one
specimen for an accelerator radiocarbon date (cf. Elias & Toolin, 1900), a different conclusion would be reached but, presently
Papar remain as elusive in the Faroes as they are in Iceland.