Human responses to early Holocene climate variability in eastern Fennoscandia

Abstract

In eastern Fennoscandia numerous biological and physical proxy records provide ample evidence of Holocene climate-environment dynamics. The region therefore has great promise for studies concentrating on the impacts of past climate change on human populations in the early Holocene, that is, in the period that saw the beginning of postglacial human dispersal into the area. Here we provide a brief overview of the high and low frequency climate changes indicated by different proxy records in Finland and nearby areas in eastern Fennoscandia, and discuss the archaeological evidence for human responses to abrupt climate-related environmental change and low-frequency climate trends. The clearest archaeologically visible event-like responses seem to derive from ecotonal regions, i.e., the forestetundra or coastal regions and suggest a correlation between ecological "hinge-regions" and the archaeologically clearest signs of hunter-gatherer responses to climate stress. However, the evidence of the abrupt climate events is often ambiguous and their influence on early Holocene human populations remains equivocal.

Investigating long-term human ecodynamics in the European Arctic: Towards an integrated multi-scalar analysis of early and mid Holocene cultural, environmental and palaeodemographic sequences in Finnmark County, Northern Norway

“…Likewise, the demographic consequences of the 8200 cal BP cold event and the Storeggen tsunami can not at present be assessed for Finnmark, due to the limited data set and insufficient resolution of the archaeological record. Never-the-less the changes in lithic inventory at this time may indicate a response, although the details of why and how escape us at present (see also Manninen, 2014;Manninen et al, 2018 for considerations of these event in Eastern Fennoscandia).…”

Holocene vegetation change in northernmost Fennoscandia and the impact on prehistoric foragers 12 000–2000 cal. aBP– A review

“…; Manninen et al . ). Much of the recent research has specifically investigated links between demographic fluctuation and environmental change at a supra‐regional scale, rather than at site level.…”

An integrated analysis of Maglemose bone points reframes the Early Mesolithic of Southern Scandinavia

“…In Eastern Fennoscandia, a c. 200-year long gap seems to occur shortly after 10,300 cal. BP, which has been interpreted as a decline in the local population as a result of an abrupt climate event 58 . Radiocarbon dates of human skeletal remains in Central Germany also reveal a similar gap, indicating either an absence of humans in the period or potential preservation or sample bias 59 .…”