Abstract
Southern Scandinavia experienced significant environmental changes during the early Holocene. Shoreline displacement reconstructions and results from several zooarchaeological studies were used to describe the environmental changes and the associated human subsistence and settlement development in the Hanö Bay region of southern Sweden during the Mesolithic. GIS-based palaeogeographic reconstructions building on shoreline displacement records from eastern Skåne and western Blekinge together with a sediment sequence from an infilled coastal lake were used to describe the environmental changes during five key periods. The results show a rapid transformation of the coastal landscape during the Mesolithic. During this time, the investigated coastal settlements indicate a shift towards a more sedentary lifestyle and a subsistence focused on large-scale freshwater fishing. The development of permanent settlements coincided with an extended period of coastline stability and the development of rich coastal environments in a more closed forest vegetation. This study provides a regional synthesis of the shoreline displacement, coastal landscape dynamics and settlement development during the Mesolithic. It also demonstrates a new way of combining zooarchaeological and palaeoecological approaches, which can produce multi-faceted and highly resolved palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in a wide range of settings.
Highlights
Southern Scandinavia experienced significant environmental changes during the climatically and geographically dynamic early Holocene
The highstands are manifested by raised beaches in southern Sweden [10,11], Estonia [12,13] and southern Finland [14]
The Preboreal Oscillation (PBO), a cooling event dated to about 11,400–11,100 cal BP, and linked to meltwater-induced disturbance of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and possibly a decline in solar activity, led to vegetation responses and halted ice retreat in northern Europe [18,20,21]
Summary
Southern Scandinavia experienced significant environmental changes during the climatically and geographically dynamic early Holocene. Due to shifting outlets and differential land uplift, large coastal areas along the southern Baltic Basin became exposed during the Yoldia Sea Stage, 11,700–10,800 cal BP, and the Initial Littorina Sea Stage, 9800–8500 cal BP [1,2,3], and today, preserved remains of these landscapes can be found on the seafloor [4,5,6,7,8,9] These periods of shore-level lowstand were followed by shore-level highstands during the Ancylus Lake Stage, 10,800–9800 cal BP and the Littorina Sea. Stage, 8500–6000 cal BP. The Preboreal Oscillation (PBO), a cooling event dated to about 11,400–11,100 cal BP, and linked to meltwater-induced disturbance of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and possibly a decline in solar activity, led to vegetation responses and halted ice retreat in northern Europe [18,20,21]
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