Hunter-gatherer adaptions during the Early Holocene in Northern Sweden

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Author: Ekholm, Therese
• Other Authors: Åke Wiberg Stiftelse, GW Ekmans stipendium, Berit Wallenbergs stiftelse, Gunvor och Josef Anérs stiftelse, Knut Stjernas stipendium, Doris och Gustav Holmgrens stipendium
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2020
• Subjects: Ice Sheet; Northern Sweden; taiga
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683620961482; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683620961482; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0959683620961482

This paper deals with the study of the ecology of early Holocene, 9000-4000 cal BC, specifically human and faunal dispersal into the Norrland and Dalarna areas of northern Sweden. It has been hypothesised that this region of Sweden was settled by hunter-gatherer groups of Butovo/Veretye ancestry moving in from the eastern taiga zone and at the same time groups from the West Scandinavian coast were moving north following the melting Weichselian ice sheet. Due to the speed of the melting ice these two groups must have encountered each other in the central part of northern Sweden. This article discusses the environment of these two separate groups and the possible consequences of their encounter, informed by results from the zooarchaeological analysis of burnt, radiocarbon dated bones from sites spanning much of Norrland and Dalarna. A compilation of previously dated sites are presented, and also new 14 C dates from excavated sites. The northern population preferred to hunt forest game and held on to it for a long time even if sea mammals were available. The southern population, on the other hand, hunted sea mammals and forest game through the whole period.