Boreal (age) - Humans

Humans

The Preboreal-Boreal in Europe was a time of transition from the Palaeolithic cultures to the Mesolithic. Forests and drowned coastlands were places of plenty. Human settlements avoided the deep forest in favor of streams, lakes, and especially bays of the ocean.

Pre-Boreal settlements have been found in north-central Europe, such as at Friesack. There an unusual find of net fragments made from plant fibers suggested that fishing was an important part of life.

Finds from another settlement at Vis, near the Vychegda River in Russia, offer more details of life in a settlement of the Boreal. Plant fibers were used for baskets and for hafting bone points to shafts. Fishermen crossed the waters in bark boats plied by oars, and set nets. They also made hand-held nets from wooden hoops and plant fiber.

Food gathering continued in winter: skis and sledge runners have been found. Reindeer continued to be hunted and probably herded. Bows, arrows, and spears have been found. Implements were likely to be embellished by sculpting in wood or bone. Only a few motifs were used: the elk's head, the snake, and human.

What is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth, the Middle Eastern city of Jericho, was first settled circa 11,000 BP, during the Preboreal period.

In Europe, the major culture was the Maglemosian (9000–6400 BC), extending into Denmark and Russia. Localized cultures included the Nieman of Lithuania, the Kunda of Latvia and Estonia, the Azilian of France, and the Epi-Gravettian of Italy. Towards the end of the Mesolithic, local traditions began to multiply, perhaps due to influences from the south, or due to the general advance of culture.

In North America the San Dieguito Complex and Lake Mojave Complex existed in this period, located in Southern California's coastal region and Mojave Desert, and in northern Mexico's Sonoran Desert in the Yuma Desert and Baja California peninsula.