| Summary: | The Baltic Sea catchment area extends from the upper course of the Elbe in the Czech Republic to northernmost Lapland where the Tornionjoki river (Sw. Torneälven = Lake Torne) marks the border between Finland and Sweden today. This article concentrates on the coastal regions of the sea and discusses a mutual dialogue between climate and man. Oxygen isotope 18 O and hydrogen isotope 2 H in the layers of polar ice sheets indicate climate change in the time span of thousands, even tens of thousands, of years. In northern areas, much climatologic information is based on polar ice drilling data from Greenland. The influence of climate changes on human subsistence is clearly visible in pollen data from the numerous ponds and swamps in the Baltic Sea coastal zone. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of carbon remains in archaeological materials (such as the crusts of ceramic pieces) are used to build detailed chronological sequences. Human adaption to conditions dictated by nature is usually interpreted as innovation and progress in prehistory. But numerous raw materials, once used, cannot be replaced, while land exploitation is often followed by side effects such as erosion and eutrophication. For example, the Neolithic “revolution”—the beginning of crop cultivation and large-scale cattle breeding—is an example of such changes in southern Europe from ca . 6,000 <sc>bce</sc>. Between ca . 200 <sc>bce</sc> and 100 <sc>ce</sc>, during the Early Iron Age, the climate was relatively warm here. Local iron production expanded in the Baltic Sea region and allowed effective slash-and-burn crop cultivation for the first time in prehistory. Since then, human activity has caused damage to forests all around the Baltic Sea. A colder phase followed in 100–600 <sc>ce</sc>. Even today slight changes in annual temperature have great impact on subsistence in areas with harsh climate conditions, such as close to the Polar Circle. An abrupt and radical fall of temperature surely ...
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