Holocene landscape development in the low arctic tundra zone was studied through fossil pollen analysis and sedimentary studies of a radiocarbon-dated core of lake sediment. The results indicate that Holocene landscape development in this area consists of three main stages. The first stage occurred between 8500 and 6300 1 4 C yr B.P. when the local vegetation shifted from a herb and graminoid tundra to Betula shrub tundra, and finally to spruce forest tundra following the regional deglaciation. Soil erosion decreased greatly in response to vegetation development. The second stage is between 6300 and 3000 1 4 C yr B.P. during which spruce forest tundra was developed and catchment soil erosion decreased due to increased vegetative cover. The chronological difference of several hundred years in the rise of black spruce population among the treeline sites may have been caused by edaphic conditions. During the third stage from 3000 1 4 C yr B.P. to the present, vegetation degraded to the modern Betula-dominated shrub tundra. Peatlands expanded to its modern extent in the treeline zone from 1300 1 4 C yr B.P. It seems treeline advanced northerly ca. 50 km beyond its present position between 6300 and 3000 1 4 C yr B.P., reflecting likely a northward retreat of the polar front following the demise of the ice sheet in the middle Holocene. The retreat of the treeline at ca. 3000 1 4 C yr B.P. may have been responded to an expansion of the north polar vortex or an intensification of the meridional airflow.