1.3 - Northern Scandinavia: Paleogeography of the Kola Peninsula

Abstract

The beginning of human settlement at the Kola Peninsula is dated to the Early Holocene. The main factors affecting it were sea level changes. Fourteen Early Mesolithic sites, dated to the 8th millennium BC, have been reported. In the end of the Preboreal, small groups appeared in the northernmost part of the peninsula. People advanced along the northern coast to the east during the Boreal. The Middle Mesolithic sites lie on the marine terraces 33–45m high; these are dated to the 7th and 6th millennium BC. Only in the 6th and 5th millennium BC did people began to penetrate into the inner areas of the Kola Peninsula. Apart from the sea coastland, people settled along the river valleys and lake shores, which could be connected with the transgression of the Barents Sea.