Knutsson et al./Technology of Early Settlement, 10. Middle Mesolithic Blade Technology in Sweden, c. 8th Millennium BC

Recently, a hypothesis has been put forth that the characteristic pressure technology comprising conical cores spread from the Russian plain into northern Fennoscandia and the eastern Baltic during the 9th millennium BC. This technology was commonly applied in Scandinavia in the centuries to come. The article discusses the evidence from sites in the regions from southern Norrland in the north to southernmost Sweden, where this technology has been identified. A general survey of conical cores used in pressure flake technology in the area is also carried out. The data are integrated in a watershed analysis and it is argued that the main communication lines in the pioneer settlement of Sweden and most likely the whole of western Scandinavia followed the waterways along coasts and into the inland areas. It is demonstrated that different technological profiles can be identifies along the different drainage systems. It is demonstrated that initial occupation of the area happened in the late preboreal/early boreal period by groups belonging to the Maglemose 2 tradition. It also seems that pressure blade technology must have been introduced into southernmost Scania and Denmark, not from Poland and Germany as previously thought, but from central Scandinavia.