Svein Indrelid

Human presence in the European Arctic nearly 40,000 years ago

The transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, approximately 40,000–35,000 radiocarbon years ago, marks a turning point in the history of human evolution in Europe. Many changes in the archaeological and fossil record at this time have been associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans. Before this transition, the Neanderthals roamed the continent, but their remains have not been found in the northernmost part of Eurasia. It is generally believed that this vast region was not colonized by humans until the final stage of the last Ice Age some 13,000–14,000 years ago. Here we report the discovery of traces of human occupation nearly 40,000 years old at Mamontovaya Kurya, a Palaeolithic site situated in the European part of the Russian Arctic. At this site we have uncovered stone artefacts, animal bones and a mammoth tusk with human-made marks from strata covered by thick Quaternary deposits. This is the oldest documented evidence for human presence at this high latitude; it implies that either the Neanderthals expanded much further north than previously thought or that modern humans were present in the Arctic only a few thousand years after their first appearance in Europe.

Problems relating to the early Mesolithic settlement of Southern Norway

The former status of the Mesolithic research in Southern Norway is presented with an addition of the latest investigation results from the highlands and the west coast. It is concluded that the earliest N⊘stvet elements in West Norway cannot be later than 5 600–6 100 BC, that the earliest Fosna elements cannot be later than from the Preboreal Period, and that there were settlement possibilities in South and West Norway in the Aller⊘d Period, possibly also in the B⊘iling Period. There ate typological, as well as environmental data suggesting an earlier settlement in South and West Norway than in East Norway. A migration on the ice across the North Sea, from the former North Sea Continent to the southernmost part of Norway is proposed as the earliest migration path to Southern Norway. The ‘tanged point traditions’ of the Northwest European plains survived in Norway, especially in the highland areas, for several thousand years after they disappeared from the Continent. Differences in the tool kits between th...

A study of environment and early man in the Southern Norwegian highlands

Thirty‐seven Early Mesolithic settlement sites in the southern Norwegian highlands have been radiocarbon‐dated. The results indicate that the earliest habitation of the northern parts of the area dates to the middle of the 9th millenium B.P., while the oldest sites of the southern plains are almost 1000 years younger. At ca. 7500 B.P. there was a sudden increase in the number of southern sites. Palynological investigations indicate that the southern plains were partly forested from ca. 8500 to 8000 B.P. In the northern areas the higher relief left large areas unforested. The southern plain forest disappeared during the first half of the 8th millenium B.P. During the forest period, the northern areas were the most favourable for reindeer. It is probable that the deforestation caused a rapid expansion of the reindeer population into the southern plains soon after 8000 B.P. Reindeer was the most important resource for the early highland hunters. Fluctuations of the reindeer population, caused by vegetational...

The site Hein 33: Typological and chronological problems of the New Stone Age of Southern Norway

In this issue of Norwegian Archaeological Review the article Hein 33 ‐ En steinalderboplass pa Hardangervidda. Fors⊘k pa kronologisk og kulturell analyse by Svein Indrelid (1973) has been chosen for discussion. The research into the Norwegian Stone Age has always been dependent on the results obtained by studies of the South Scandinavian material. Indrelids main goal has been to free himself from this dependence when trying to establish local southwest Norwegian chronology. This new approach has given important results also for the understanding of the South Scandinavian Stone Age. Comments by Egil Bakka, Carl Cullberg, Arne B. Johansen, and Egil Mikkelsen are followed by a reply from Svein Indrelid.