Colonizing seascapes: comparative perspectives on the development of maritime relations in the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in north-west Europe

The lowering of global sea-level during the Pleistocene by more than 100m constitutes a problem in terms of general research on early maritime-oriented societies. However, post-glacial isostatic rise in the glaciated regions has produced raised shorelines of Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene age, e.g. Scandinavia, Patagonia and North America. Comparative perspectives from these areas are of vital interest in this discussion. The extensive Norwegian coastline appears to have been colonized in the course of the few hundred years around 9500 cal BC. An overwhelming majority of Preboreal sites are found in the fiord/skerry coastal landscape, indicating that marine resources were vital in the subsistence pattern. The lithic tradition is clearly linked to specialized mega fauna hunters in the continental plains (Ahrensburg), but facts and dynamics of the development of the marine subsistence pattern is unclear. This paper focuses on this problem – with comparative perspectives towards the emergence of maritime foragers in Patagonia.