Peat humification in five cores from three ombrotrophic bogs in Varmland, south-central Sweden, was analysed in an attempt to investigate local and regional responses to climate changes during the Holocene. The chronology of the five peat sequences was constrained by means of AMS radiocarbon dates and tephrochronology. Four tephras were geochemically correlated with the Askja AD 1875, Hekla-3, Kebister and Hekla-4 tephras. A further tephra, the Stomyren tephra, dated by interpolation to 2200-2100 cal yr BP was found in one bog. A composite record of peat humification changes show several periods of wetter bog conditions. These occur during the later part of the Holocene, corresponding to known climate changes in the North Atlantic region, especially around 4500-4000, 3700-3200, 3000-2700 and 1700-700 cal yr BP. Wet shifts are inferred from individual peat cores and the composite record at c. 5500, 4200, 3700, 3500, 2900, 1700, 850, 650, 500 and 250 cal yr BP. Development of composite records could be a powerful tool to smooth the palaeohydrological records in order to reduce the influence of local fluctuations in the proxy data and to extract the regional climatic signal.

The middle Holocene Hekla-S/Kebister tephra originates in the Hekla volcanic system on SW Iceland. The distal distribution of the tephra includes the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Central Sweden, indicating a main dispersal towards the east. The chemical composition of the tephra follows the pattern of other major eruptions of Hekla, and ratios between selected oxides may in some cases allow separation from other major Holocene tephras from Hekla. Tephra from the Plinian phase dominates in eastern sites, while tephra also from later phases is found in the Faroe sites. Wiggle-matching of radiocarbon dates around the tephra in a Swedish peat-bog suggests an age around 3720 cal. yr BP (3750—3700 cal. yr BP), which is in accordance with previous attempts to date this tephra. This is within a period with significant climate changes in NW Europe and opens possibilities for exact comparisons of peat and lake sediment records from different geographical areas.

Tree‐ring and peat stratigraphy data were examined back to 5000 BC in order to identify and compare humidity changes in Fennoscandia. The temporal variation in distribution of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) was used as a measure of past lake‐level fluctuations in central Sweden. The chronology, which spans 2893 BC–AD 1998 with minor gaps in AD 887–907 and 1633–1650 BC and with additional floating chronologies back to 4868 BC, was cross‐dated and fixed to an absolute timescale using a chronology from Torneträsk, northern Sweden. The peat stratigraphy from the Stömyren peat bog, south‐central Sweden, was transformed into humification indices to evaluate humidity changes during the past 8000 years. The peat chronology is established by four tephra datings and eight 14 C datings. Synchronous periods of drier conditions, interpreted from regeneration and the mortality pattern of pine, tree‐ring chronology and peat humification, were recognized at c. 4900–4800 BC, 2400–2200 BC, 2100–1800 BC, 1500–1100 BC, AD 50–200, AD 400–600 and AD 1350–1500. Possible wetter periods were encountered at 3600–3400 BC, 3200–2900 BC, 2200–2100 BC, 1700–1500 BC, 1100–900 BC, 100 BC‐AD 50, AD 200–400, AD 750–900 and AD 1550–1700. The wet and dry periods revealed by the tree rings and peat stratigraphy data indicate considerable humidity changes in the Holocene.