During the Late-glacial period the early colonist of Denmark and south Sweden may be supposed to have possessed a highly sophisticated knowledge of how most economically to exploit the reindeer herds and other game of the region.
Late Mesolithic cultures, such as Ertebolle/Ellerbek in Denmark and Scania in southern Sweden are considered to represent complex hunter and gather societies diverse economies depended on the exploitation of marine and terrestrial resources.
Agriculture in the Neolithic and Bronze Age used relatively simple tools. People rarely cleared stones or used the same ground for any length of time, two things that were to be the distinguishing marls of after periods.
Farming was introduced in extensive areas of south and middle Scandinavia in the period 3500 - 2700 BC by the Funnel Beaker culture.
In Finland, some of the coastal foraging and fishing communities began to keep domestic animals on a small scale from the end of the third millennium BC, the period of first expansion of farming into northern Scandinavia.
During the period of decreased farming intensity, 2700-2200 BC and during the third stage of expansion of farming 2200 – 2000 BC, the coasts of the Baltic were inhabited by the people of the Pitted Ware culture and the Comb-Ornamented culture.
The middle of the first millennium AD marked a climatic amelioration in Scandinavia and once a gain the Norrland coastal zone take into cultivation.
Early farming in Scandinavia
