Scandinavia: 08 SWEDEN (Central); Late Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic Period

Sweden is bordered by Norway (west) and by Finland (northeast), separated from Finland (east), the Baltic States (southeast) and Poland (south) by the Baltic Sea, and from Denmark (southwest) by the Øresund and Kattegat straits.

The country is divided into three geographical regions: Norrland (north) sixty percent mountainous except for a low coastal plain to the east, Svealand (central) deeply forested, and Götoland (south) the fertile southern plateau and plain.

The land is 69% forest, 9% lakes, 8% cultivated, 3% built up land, 2% pasture, and 9% other (heathland, mire, etc).

Late Upper Palaeolithic (15-11.7 kya)

During the Last Glacial Period (LGP, 115-11.7 kya) the ice spread southwards from the country’s mountains, destroying all life in its path and eventually covering the whole of Sweden. With more of Earth’s water locked in the ice, sea levels were low and the Øresund became a land bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

Around 19 kya as the ice began to recede in the south; plants, animals and humans started to move into Sweden. 

The first traces of human presence are from Mölleröd, Hässleholm Municipality, northern Scania, where the finds (dated by comparative technology only) indicate brief visits by people of the Hamburg culture (15.5-13.1 kya).

Permanent occupation began with people of the Bromme culture (13.6-12.5 kya), their first known site being Segebro, Malmo Municipality, in the southwest corner of Scania. Tools of the Ahrensburg culture (12.9-11.7 kya) from north-central Europe have been found scattered across Scania.

Mesolithic Period (9700-4000 BC)

At the Aareavaara site in Pajala Municipality, Norrbotten County, on the border with Finland, analysis of quartz shards and burnt bones revealed that it was a Mesolithic campsite of reindeer hunters about 8700 BC. Its location suggests that it was settled by hunter-gatherers from the Russian plains in the east moving westwards behind the retreating ice sheet.

Sites of the Hensbacka culture (10,500-8500 BC) have been found in the northwest corner of Scania. At Balltorp, south of Gothenburg, Västra Götaland County, on the southwest coast of the Mölndal Municipality, a site belonging to the Sandarna culture (8000-7000 BC) transitioned into the Lihult culture (7000-3200 BC). This culture outlasted three cultures to the south: the Maglemose (7500-6000 BC), the Kongemose (6000-5200 BC) and the Ertebølle (5300-3950 BC).