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

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Abstract
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 changes, seem to explain the uneven distribution of early highland sites.