Ancylus Lake - North Scandinavia

North Scandinavia

By 9000 BP the northern channel ceased functioning, joining Skåne to Sweden rather than to Denmark. However, only an isthmus connected Skåne to the new northern lands. If Skåne acquired its designation as an island on a geographic basis, it must have been no later than the Ancylus lake phase. At that time Mesolithic cultures moved into newly released land around the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. They were fishing along the shores, hunting seals and following the reindeer into their new ranges.

In Lapland Mesolithic fishers, hunters and probably herders found pine-birch forest with tundra-like open spaces. In addition to pinus and betula were aspen, alder, willow, crowberries, grass and sedge. Much of the new Finnish land was covered by mire. Moraine ridges and drumlins formed an extensive island system. The shores around the lake were stony ground.