This paper (
Sami Prehistory Revisited by John Weinstock, University of Texas) states, "the maps (above) show the ice sheet at 10,000 BP and 9,300-9,200 BP (Eronen et al. 2001: 19). They illustrate how rapidly the ice was shrinking and the avenues by which humans could reach Fennoscandia."
By ca. 13,000 BP long stretches of the Norwegian coast were ice-free but, as Hein Bjartmann Bjerck points out, there was “no certain evidence of human settlement in this rich arctic biotope” until near the end of the Younger Dryas (1,300 year cold snap) about 10,000 BP (2008: 65). The earliest evidence of human activity in Scandinavia is during the Early Mesolithic chronozone from 10,020-8,900 BP (9,500-8,000 cal BC); Bjerck lists 37 key sites in Norway (Ibid. 75-78). There were three coastal techno-complexes: the Fosna along the coast of southern Norway, the Hensbacka in southwest Sweden near Bohuslän and the Komsa in northern Norway, all with a forerunner in the late Paleolithic Ahrensburg culture further south (Ibid. 74). The Middle Mesolithic chronozone 8,900-7,690 BP and the Late Mesolithic chronozone 7,690-5,230 BP follow, the latter period witnessing an increase in rock art.
Since it looks like my motherline may ultimately originate with the Saami people, I'm following this line back into prehistory. The Saami, the oldest ethnic group in Northwestern Europe, is considered to be the indigenous population of the area. Additionally, the Saami are considered to be a cultural continuation of the Paleolithic and early Mesolithic Komsa culture which existed from around 10,000 BCE in Northern Norway. The Komsa culture is itself part of the "pure hunter-gatherer" Fosna-Hensbacka culture. The Hensbacka culture later evolved into the Sandarna culture which is found along the coast of western Sweden (a primary autsosomal STR match for me). The majority of Hensbacka sites (ca.75%) are located the islands in the outer archipelago (another mtDNA genetic match for me through Roots For Real). Sometimes the Sandarna culture appears as the name of an intermediary form between the Swedish Hensbacka and Lihult cultures. This name comes from a settlement near Gothenburg (approximately 7000 BC–5000 BC). The Lihult culture lived in Norway and Sweden.
It looks like my motherline is indeed very anciently Nordic, as are many of my ancestors by autosomal genomic analysis.
Nordic History - Unto a Good Land, Early Mesolithic Colonization of Eastern Central Sweden
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