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Atlantic (period)
Encyclopedia
The Atlantic in palaeoclimatology was the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander
period, pollen zone
and chronozone of Holocene
northern Europe
. The climate was generally warmer than today. It was preceded by the Boreal
, with a climate
similar to today’s, and was followed by the Sub-Boreal, a transition to the modern. Because it was the warmest period of the Holocene, the Atlantic is often referenced more directly as the Holocene climatic optimum
, or just climatic optimum.
Beginning with the temperatures, as derivable from Greenland
ice core
data, it is possible to define an 'Early' or 'Pre-Atlantic' period at around 8,040 BC, where the 18-isotope
line remains above 33 ppm in the combined curve after Rasmussen et al. (2006), which then would end at the well-known 6,2 ka BC (8,2 ka calBP)-cold-event.
Or one single Atlantic period is defined, starting at that just mentioned cold-event.
After a lake-level criterion, Kul’kova and others define the Atlantic as running from 8000 to 5000 (cal?) BP. Early Atlantic, or AT1, was a time of high lake levels, 8000–7000; in Middle Atlantic, AT2, lakes were at a lower level, 7000–6500; and in Late Atlantic I, 6500–6000, and II, 6000–5700, levels were on the rise. Each period has its distinctive ratios of species.
Another criterion comes from bio-stratigraphy: The elm-decline. However, this appears in different regions between 4300 and 3100 BC.
The Atlantic was a time of rising temperature and marine transgression on the islands of Denmark
and elsewhere. The sea rose to 3 m above its present level by the end of the period. The oyster
s found there required lower salinity. Tide
s of up to 1 m were present. Inland, lake levels in all north Europe were generally higher, with fluctuations.
The temperature rise had the effect of extending southern climates northward in a relatively short period. The treelines on northern mountains rose by 600 to 900 m (2000–3000 feet). Thermophilous (“heat-loving”) species migrated northward. They did not replace the species that were there, but shifted the percentages in their favor. Across middle Europe, the boreal forests were replaced by climax or “old growth” deciduous ones, which, though providing a denser canopy, were more open at the base.
The dense canopy theory, however, has been questioned recently by F. Vera. Oak
and hazel
require more light than is allowed by the dense canopy. Vera hypothesizes that the lowlands were more open and that the low frequency of grass pollen was caused by the browsing of large herbivores, such as Bos primigenius and Equus ferus.
, Water Chestnut
(Trapa natans) and Ivy (Hedera helix) were present in Denmark
. Grass pollen decreased. Softwood forests were replaced by hardwood. Quercus, Tilia
, both cordata and platyphyllos, beech
, oak
, hazel
, linden
, Ulmus glabra, alder
, and ash
replaced Betula and Pinus, spreading to the north from further south. The period is sometimes called “the alder-elm-lime period”.
In northeast Europe, the Early Atlantic forest was but slightly affected by the rise in temperature. The forest had been pine
with an underbrush of hazel
, alder
, birch
, and willow
. Only about 7% of the forest became broad-leaved deciduous, dropping to Boreal levels in the cooling of the Middle Atlantic. In the warmer Late Atlantic, the broad-leaved trees became 34% of the forest.
Along the line of the Danube
and the Rhine, extending northward in tributary drainage systems, a new factor entered the forest country: the Linear Pottery culture
, clearing the arable land by slash and burn methods. It flourished about 5500–4500 BC, falling entirely within the Atlantic. By the end of the Atlantic, agricultural and pasture lands extended over much of Europe and the once virgin forests were contained within refugia. The end of the Atlantic is signaled by the "Elm decline", a sharp drop in Elm
pollen, thought to be the result of human food-producing activities. In the subsequent cooler Sub-Boreal, forested country gave way to open range once more.
The best picture of Atlantic Period fauna comes from the kitchen middens of the Ertebølle culture
of Denmark
and others like it. Denmark was more of an archipelago
. Humans lived on the shorelines, exploiting waters rich in marine life, marshes teeming with birds, and forests where cervids and suids
as well as numerous small species were plentiful.
The higher water levels offset the effects of the submarine toxic zone in the Baltic Sea. It contained fish now rare there, such as the anchovy
, Engraulis encrasicolus, and the three-spined stickleback
, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Also available were pike, whitefish
, cod
, and ling
. Three kinds of seals
were found there, the ringed, harp and grey. Mesolithic man hunted them and whale
s in the estuaries.
The main birds were maritime, as you might expect: the red-throated diver
, the black-throated diver
, andb the gannet
. The Dalmatian pelican
(Pelecanus crispus), which is now found only as far north as south-eastern Europe, has been found in Denmark. The capercaillie
, as is the case now, was found in forested areas.
In the lofty canopy could be found a continuous zone of smaller animals, such as the ubiquitous squirrel
, Sciuris vulgaris. Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) was common. In and around the big trees hunted the wildcat
, pine marten
, polecat (Mustela putorius), and wolf.
The forest floor was prolific with larger browsers and rooters as well: the red deer
, roe deer
, and wild boar. Not all the former plains mammals had abandoned the country. They remained in the open forest and meadows. These include the aurochs
, ancestor of cattle, and the wild horse
which, as a discovery, was something of a revelation. The horses were not entirely hunted out, were not confined to the plains further east, and were not entirely the property of the Indo-European
cultures there. The Mesolithic Ertebölle people were hunting them in Denmark.
Human cultures of north Europe were primarily Mesolithic
. The Kongemose culture
(6400–5400 BC) settled on the coastline and lake margins of Denmark. Late in the Atlantic, Kongemose culture settlements were abandoned due to rising water of the Littorina Sea
and the succeeding Ertebølle culture
(5400–3900 BC) settled more densely on the new shorelines.
Northeast Europe was uninhabited in the Early Atlantic. When the Mesolithic Sertayan Culture appeared there in the Middle Atlantic, around 7000 BP, it already had pottery and was more sedentary than earlier hunter-gatherers, depending on the great abundance of wild-life. Pottery was being used around the lower Don and Volga from about 8000 BP.
In the Late Atlantic the Sertayan evolved into the Rudnyaian, which used pottery like that of the Narvian and Dnieper Cultures. This use of pottery upsets the idea that pottery belongs to the Neolithic. Further to the south the Linear Pottery culture
had already spread into the riverlands of central Europe and was working a great transformation of the land. On the steppe to the east the Samara culture
was deeply involved with large numbers of horses although in what capacity is not yet clear.
Blytt-Sernander
The Blytt-Sernander classification, or sequence, is a series of north European climatic periods or phases based on the study of Danish peat bogs by Axel Blytt and Rutger Sernander...
period, pollen zone
Pollen zone
Pollen zones are a system of subdividing the last glacial period and Holocene paleoclimate using the data from pollen cores. The sequence provides a global chronological structure to a wide variety of scientists, such as geologists, climatologisists, geographists and archaeologists, who study the...
and chronozone of Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
. The climate was generally warmer than today. It was preceded by the Boreal
Boreal (period)
In paleoclimatology of the Holocene, the Boreal was the first of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of north European climatic phases that were originally based on the study of Danish peat bogs, named for Axel Blytt and Rutger Sernander, who first established the sequence. In peat bog sediments, the...
, with a climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
similar to today’s, and was followed by the Sub-Boreal, a transition to the modern. Because it was the warmest period of the Holocene, the Atlantic is often referenced more directly as the Holocene climatic optimum
Holocene climatic optimum
The Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years B.P.. This event has also been known by many other names, including: Hypsithermal, Altithermal, Climatic Optimum, Holocene Optimum, Holocene Thermal Maximum, and Holocene Megathermal.This warm period...
, or just climatic optimum.
Subdividing the Atlantic
The Atlantic is equivalent to Pollen Zone VII. Sometimes a Pre-atlantic or early Atlantic is distinguished, on the basis of an early dividing cold snap. Other scientists place the Atlantic entirely after the cold snap, assigning the latter to the Boreal. The period is still in the process of definition.Beginning of the Atlantic period
It is a question of definition and the criteria:Beginning with the temperatures, as derivable from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
ice core
Ice core
An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet, most commonly from the polar ice caps of Antarctica, Greenland or from high mountain glaciers elsewhere. As the ice forms from the incremental build up of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper, and an ice...
data, it is possible to define an 'Early' or 'Pre-Atlantic' period at around 8,040 BC, where the 18-isotope
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
line remains above 33 ppm in the combined curve after Rasmussen et al. (2006), which then would end at the well-known 6,2 ka BC (8,2 ka calBP)-cold-event.
Or one single Atlantic period is defined, starting at that just mentioned cold-event.
After a lake-level criterion, Kul’kova and others define the Atlantic as running from 8000 to 5000 (cal?) BP. Early Atlantic, or AT1, was a time of high lake levels, 8000–7000; in Middle Atlantic, AT2, lakes were at a lower level, 7000–6500; and in Late Atlantic I, 6500–6000, and II, 6000–5700, levels were on the rise. Each period has its distinctive ratios of species.
End of the Atlantic period
According to the ice-core criterion it is extremely difficult to find a clear boundary, because the measurements still differ too much and alignments are still under construction. Many find a decline of temperature significant enough after 4800 BC.Another criterion comes from bio-stratigraphy: The elm-decline. However, this appears in different regions between 4300 and 3100 BC.
Description
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and elsewhere. The sea rose to 3 m above its present level by the end of the period. The oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s found there required lower salinity. Tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s of up to 1 m were present. Inland, lake levels in all north Europe were generally higher, with fluctuations.
The temperature rise had the effect of extending southern climates northward in a relatively short period. The treelines on northern mountains rose by 600 to 900 m (2000–3000 feet). Thermophilous (“heat-loving”) species migrated northward. They did not replace the species that were there, but shifted the percentages in their favor. Across middle Europe, the boreal forests were replaced by climax or “old growth” deciduous ones, which, though providing a denser canopy, were more open at the base.
The dense canopy theory, however, has been questioned recently by F. Vera. Oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
require more light than is allowed by the dense canopy. Vera hypothesizes that the lowlands were more open and that the low frequency of grass pollen was caused by the browsing of large herbivores, such as Bos primigenius and Equus ferus.
Flora
During the Atlantic period the deciduous temperate zone forests of south and central Europe extended northward to replace the boreal mixed forest, which found refugia on the mountain slopes. MistletoeMistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
, Water Chestnut
Water caltrop
The water caltrop, water chestnut, buffalo nut, bat nut, devil pod or Singhara or Pani-fol is either of two species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis...
(Trapa natans) and Ivy (Hedera helix) were present in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Grass pollen decreased. Softwood forests were replaced by hardwood. Quercus, Tilia
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
, both cordata and platyphyllos, beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
, oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
, linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
, Ulmus glabra, alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
, and ash
Ash tree
Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
replaced Betula and Pinus, spreading to the north from further south. The period is sometimes called “the alder-elm-lime period”.
In northeast Europe, the Early Atlantic forest was but slightly affected by the rise in temperature. The forest had been pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
with an underbrush of hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
, alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
, birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
, and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
. Only about 7% of the forest became broad-leaved deciduous, dropping to Boreal levels in the cooling of the Middle Atlantic. In the warmer Late Atlantic, the broad-leaved trees became 34% of the forest.
Along the line of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and the Rhine, extending northward in tributary drainage systems, a new factor entered the forest country: the Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
, clearing the arable land by slash and burn methods. It flourished about 5500–4500 BC, falling entirely within the Atlantic. By the end of the Atlantic, agricultural and pasture lands extended over much of Europe and the once virgin forests were contained within refugia. The end of the Atlantic is signaled by the "Elm decline", a sharp drop in Elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
pollen, thought to be the result of human food-producing activities. In the subsequent cooler Sub-Boreal, forested country gave way to open range once more.
Fauna
Ertebølle culture
The Ertebølle culture is the name of a hunter-gatherer and fisher, pottery-making culture dating to the end of the Mesolithic period. The culture was concentrated in Southern Scandinavia, but genetically linked to strongly related cultures in Northern Germany and the Northern Netherlands...
of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and others like it. Denmark was more of an archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
. Humans lived on the shorelines, exploiting waters rich in marine life, marshes teeming with birds, and forests where cervids and suids
Suidae
Suidae is the biological family to which pigs belong. In addition to numerous fossil species, up to sixteen extant species are currently recognized, classified into between four and eight genera...
as well as numerous small species were plentiful.
The higher water levels offset the effects of the submarine toxic zone in the Baltic Sea. It contained fish now rare there, such as the anchovy
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
, Engraulis encrasicolus, and the three-spined stickleback
Stickleback
The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera. However several of the species have a number of recognised subspecies, and the taxonomy of the family is thought to be in need of revision...
, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Also available were pike, whitefish
Freshwater whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...
, cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, and ling
Ling
Ling may refer to:*-ling, an English diminutive suffix*Ling , a traditional Chinese medicine concept of shamanic power and spirituality*Ling County, in Shandong, China*Ling, the legendary Kingdom, ruled by king Gesar, in Mongol-Tibetan myth...
. Three kinds of seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
were found there, the ringed, harp and grey. Mesolithic man hunted them and whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s in the estuaries.
The main birds were maritime, as you might expect: the red-throated diver
Red-throated Diver
The Red-throated Loon or Red-throated Diver is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. It breeds primarily in Arctic regions, and winters in northern coastal waters. It is the most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family. Ranging from in length, the Red-throated...
, the black-throated diver
Black-throated Diver
The Black-throated Loon is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The species is known as an Arctic Loon in North America and the Black-throated Diver in Eurasia, its current name is a compromise proposed by the International Ornithological Committee.-Taxonomy:The...
, andb the gannet
Gannet
Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
. The Dalmatian pelican
Dalmatian Pelican
The Dalmatian Pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe to India and China in swamps and shallow lakes. The nest is a crude heap of vegetation....
(Pelecanus crispus), which is now found only as far north as south-eastern Europe, has been found in Denmark. The capercaillie
Capercaillie
The Western Capercaillie , also known as the Wood Grouse, Heather Cock or Capercaillie , is the largest member of the grouse family, reaching over 100 cm in length and 6.7 kg in weight. The largest one ever recorded in captivity had a weight of 7.2 kg....
, as is the case now, was found in forested areas.
In the lofty canopy could be found a continuous zone of smaller animals, such as the ubiquitous squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
, Sciuris vulgaris. Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) was common. In and around the big trees hunted the wildcat
Wild cat
The wildcat is a small cat with several subspecies and a very broad distribution, found throughout most of Africa, Europe, and southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. Sometimes included is...
, pine marten
Pine Marten
The European Pine Marten , known most commonly as the pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as Pineten, baum marten, or sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. It...
, polecat (Mustela putorius), and wolf.
The forest floor was prolific with larger browsers and rooters as well: the red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
, roe deer
Roe Deer
The European Roe Deer , also known as the Western Roe Deer, chevreuil or just Roe Deer, is a Eurasian species of deer. It is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. Roe Deer are widespread in Western Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from...
, and wild boar. Not all the former plains mammals had abandoned the country. They remained in the open forest and meadows. These include the aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
, ancestor of cattle, and the wild horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
which, as a discovery, was something of a revelation. The horses were not entirely hunted out, were not confined to the plains further east, and were not entirely the property of the Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , a reconstructed prehistoric language of Eurasia.Knowledge of them comes chiefly from the linguistic reconstruction, along with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics...
cultures there. The Mesolithic Ertebölle people were hunting them in Denmark.
Human cultures
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
. The Kongemose culture
Kongemose culture
The Kongemose culture was a mesolithic hunter-gatherer culture in southern Scandinavia ca. 6000 BC–5200 BC and the origin of the Ertebølle culture. It was preceded by the Maglemosian culture...
(6400–5400 BC) settled on the coastline and lake margins of Denmark. Late in the Atlantic, Kongemose culture settlements were abandoned due to rising water of the Littorina Sea
Littorina Sea
Littorina Sea is a geological brackish-water stage of the Baltic Sea, which existed around 7500–4000 BP and followed the Mastogloia Sea, transitional stage of the Ancylus Lake...
and the succeeding Ertebølle culture
Ertebølle culture
The Ertebølle culture is the name of a hunter-gatherer and fisher, pottery-making culture dating to the end of the Mesolithic period. The culture was concentrated in Southern Scandinavia, but genetically linked to strongly related cultures in Northern Germany and the Northern Netherlands...
(5400–3900 BC) settled more densely on the new shorelines.
Northeast Europe was uninhabited in the Early Atlantic. When the Mesolithic Sertayan Culture appeared there in the Middle Atlantic, around 7000 BP, it already had pottery and was more sedentary than earlier hunter-gatherers, depending on the great abundance of wild-life. Pottery was being used around the lower Don and Volga from about 8000 BP.
In the Late Atlantic the Sertayan evolved into the Rudnyaian, which used pottery like that of the Narvian and Dnieper Cultures. This use of pottery upsets the idea that pottery belongs to the Neolithic. Further to the south the Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
had already spread into the riverlands of central Europe and was working a great transformation of the land. On the steppe to the east the Samara culture
Samara culture
The Samara culture was an eneolithic culture of the early 5th millennium BC at the Samara bend region of the middle Volga, discovered during archaeological excavations in 1973 near the village of Syezzheye in Russia...
was deeply involved with large numbers of horses although in what capacity is not yet clear.