Annu. Rev, Anthropol, 1991. 20:211-233 Copyright © 1991 by Annual Reviews Ine. AU rights reserved THE MESOLITHIC OF NORTHERN EUROPE T. Douglas Price Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, KEY WORDS: prehistory, Stone Age, uoter-gatherers, foragers, pre-farming INTRODUCTION The subject of this essay is 5,000 years of the early postglacial prehistory of northem 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 carly 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. | 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 northem Poland and Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the northwestern corner 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 21 0084-6570/91/1015-0211$02.00212 PRICE 1 Ertebolle 2 Nederst 3 Skateholm 4 Straby Egede 5 Tybrind Vig 6 Vedbaek NM s Figure 7 Map of northern Europe with the location of sites in the text and the Norwegian highlands (shaded). it is from Copenhagen to the boot of Italy. Northern Europe stretches from high northern latitudes well within the arctic circle to approximately 53° north, and from the west coast of Norway to the western part of the Soviet Union. To put the northerly aspect of this area into perspective for New World readers, the cities of Oslo, Stockholm, and Leningrad lie at the latitude of the middle of Hudson's Bay in North America. The warming effects of the GulfMESOLITHIC NORTHERN EUROPE 213 Stream and a maritime climate greatly ameliorate the colder conditions that could be expected given this northern location. Even in Finnmark, at the northern end of Norway, the sea does not freeze in the winter. The effect of this amelioration decreases from west to east and from north to south. The environment of this area ranges from the arctic tundra of the far north to the temperate forest and taiga of the Baltic basin. The area was heavily glaciated during the Pleistocene and, with the exception of the highlands in Norway and Sweden, the landscape is largely flat and rolling with many lakes, rivers, and wetlands. In the following discussion I emphasize southern Scandinavia (Denmark and southern Sweden) where there is a greater density of archaeological information; I mention new data from other areas only briefly. A number of regional summaries have been published in the last few years to which the interested reader may refer for more details on the Mesolithic in specific areas of northern Europe (8, 9, 33, 34, 37, 38, 42, 48, 53, 54, 72, 73, 74). THE MESOLITHIC OF NORTHERN EUROPE Although occupied only briefly in the span of Old World prehistory, northern Europe is an extraordinary laboratory for the investigation of human adapta- tion. Archaeology and natural history together provide a detailed picture of climate, vegetation, fauna, and human activities for the early postglacial. This area became ice free toward the end of the Pleistocene, opening a new landscape for human occupation, essentially for the first time. It is thus possible to witness in the span of 10,000 years the transition from mobile groups of reindeer hunters in the late Paleolithic to metal-using village farmers in the Neolithic. Moreover, archaeological and environmental research has long been well established in Scandinavia. More archaeologists work in Scandinavia than anywhere else, and more archaeological data are collected from the region than from anywhere else in the world. Thus the depth and density of informa- tion on the past, and particularly on the Mesolithic, provide a detailed view of human adaptation in the early postglacial period. Finally, the preservation of archaeological materials in the bogs and wetland deposits of northern Europe is exceptional, providing added dimension to the archaeological record. The Prehistoric Landscape The effects and consequences of Pleistocene glaciation dominate the land- and sea-scapes of postglacial northern Europe. Rather than a series of oscillations, the end of the Pleistocene in northern Europe is now seen as a process of continuous warming, from the Lateglacial Interstadial—interrupted by a sin-