log switch on shutdown

Although still not certain this is hat happened, but I had this issue:

There's a database, a test database, which is in archivelog mode. But, it's used very rarely; it can happen I don't use it for 1 or 2 years. When doing restore of an old backup, it seemed like he was asking for a redo-log file dating way back (for about the same period as it was shutdown). I did have a full backup AFTER the long period, but still he was asking for an old redolog.

What I was thinking is this: given the database is used very little - because being down - the redo history dates back a long time. Remember : not a lot happens on this database, but also the redos are just of normal size (not extremely big).