Fishing for ways to thrive

In this publication, life in Early and Middle Mesolithic Scandinavia is explored. Using interdisciplinary methods the author analyses zooarchaeological remains in order to evaluate the subsistence strategies of Early Holocene Scandinavian foragers. The importance of aquatic resources is highlighted, and humans are shown to rely on fish to a higher degree and from an earlier date than previously assumed. These results have implications for how Early Holocene societies are interpreted, and indicate emerging sedentism and growing territoriality were already taking place during the Early Mesolithic period. The emergence of social stratification is therefore conceivable at an early stage of Scandinavian prehistory.
Adam Boethius is a zooarchaeologist at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University. This is his doctoral thesis.