The Earliest Settlement in the Middle Scandinavian Inland: A Discussion about Joel Boaz's Pioneers in the Mesolithic

A new set of 101 radiocarbon datings on burned bone from inland sites in central Scandinavia is used here. These show a similar pattern to the previously used 261 datings on charcoal. The two dating methods thus confirm each other. They also show a great resemblance to a model proposed by Joel Boaz in 1999, based on excavation results from two inland areas. Boaz’s model has two main periods of Mesolithic inland settlement, separated by low inland use after 6000 BC, also known as the “classic hiatus.” This hiatus marks the end of what is here considered the pioneer phase. There is also an Early Mesolithic phase of inland settlement, not known in Eastern Norway, but represented in Western Norway and West Sweden. After the Early Mesolithic there was a change from the use of both inland and coast to a concentration of settlement at the coast. This period of low inland use lasted for more than 1,000 years. At 6900 BC inland settlement takes off, showing an exponential increase until 6200 BC. Here it is argued that this is not the result of an expansion from the coast, but rather a separate inland population originating from the north and east. The explanation could be the contemporary increase in woodland and in the elk population. This leads to the highest density of inland settlement during the entire Stone Age at c. 6200 BC.