The Mesolithic of Northern Europe

Abstract

The subject of this essay is 5,000 years of the early postglacial prehistory of northern Europe, from approximately 10,000 until 5,000 years ago. This part of the past is of interest in its own right, but also in a much broader context. Current evidence suggests that rather large and sedentary groups of hunter­ gatherers were present in northern Europe during the early Holocene. This information leads to two important messages for this paper: 1. The European Mesolithic was a period of dynamic change and innovation, rather than a time of cultural degeneration as it has often been portrayed; and 2. large and sedentary groups of hunter-gatherers are likely more typical of late Pleis­ tocene and early Holocene adaptations than the small and mobile ones de­ scribed for much of the ethnographic and archaeological record. This chapter begins with a discussion of the climatic, environmental, and chronological background of the northern European Mesolithic. I then focus on recent archaeological evidence before returning to the two points made above. For purposes of this essay, northern Europe includes all or parts of those countries that share the coasts of the Baltic Sea and Kattegat, including northern Poland and Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the northwestern comer of the Soviet Union, and the Baltic Republics (Figure 1). This is an immense area; it is further from one end of Norway to the other than