The Fosna/Hensbacka ( 8300 BCE – 7300 BCE, or 12000 cal BP – 10500 cal BP), were two very similar Late Palaeolithic/early Mesolithic

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

s in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, and are often subsumed under the name Fosna–Hensbacka culture. This complex includes the

Komsa culture The Komsa culture () was a Mesolithic culture of hunter-gatherers that existed from around 10,000 BC in Northern Norway. The culture is named after Mount Komsa in the present-day Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, where the remains of the cu ...

that, notwithstanding different types of

tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

s, is also considered to be a part of the Fosna culture group. The main difference is that the Fosna/Komsa culture was distributed along the coast of Northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, whereas the Hensbacka culture had a more eastern distribution along the coast of western Sweden; primarily in central

Bohuslän Bohuslän () is a Provinces of Sweden, Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the ...

to the north of

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. The Hensbacka culture evolved into the later Sandarna culture which is found along the coast of western

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Recent investigations indicate that this particular area, i.e. central

, may well have had the largest seasonal population in

northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

during the Late

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

/early

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

transition. This was due to environmental circumstances brought about by the relationship between the

Vänern Vänern ( , , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the sou ...

basin in the east, and topographical features in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

basin to the west.

Fosna–Hensbacka culture group

The name ''Fosna'' takes its name from ''Fosna'' or ''Lille-Fosen'', the former name of

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...

, and it is an umbrella term for the oldest settlements along the Norwegian coast, from

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

. The oldest settlements in

on the Swedish west coast (the Hensbacka), derive from the Ahrensburgian culture group from

Northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

. The oldest

Fosna Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of K ...

settlements in

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

are found at Høgnipen in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

. New finds (2008) on

Pauler Pauler is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ákos Pauler (1876–1933), Hungarian philosopher * Ildefons Pauler (1903–1996), Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights *Tivadar Pauler (1816–1886), Hungarian politician See also * ...

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

seem to be even older. The settlements were located close to the contemporary seashore but, due to constant land uplift after

deglaciation Deglaciation is the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages, to warm interglacials, characterized by global warming and sea level rise due to change in continental ice volume. Thus, it refers to the retreat of a glacier, an ice shee ...

, they are now 60–70 m above present-day sea level in western

, while Høgnipen is as high as 150 m above present-day sea level, the difference being due to the greater crustal rebound on the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

side of the

Scandinavian Peninsula The Scandinavian Peninsula is located in Northern Europe, and roughly comprises the mainlands of Sweden, Norway and the northwestern area of Finland. The name of the peninsula is derived from the term Scandinavia, the cultural region of Denm ...

. Site locations indicate that fishing and seal hunting were important for the economy and it is assumed that hide covered wooden framed boats were used in that the majority of Hensbacka sites ( 75%) are located on islands in the outer

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

. The Fosna/Hensbacka culture represent a pure

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

culture. On settlements, archaeologists have only found stone tools and the remains of the production of the same. Characteristic tools include flake axes, lanceolates and tanged

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

References

External links

The Swedish National Historic Museum on the Hensbacka cultureImages of Hensbacka toolsImages of Hensbacka tools 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fosna-Hensbacka culture Mesolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Norway Archaeological cultures in Sweden Archaeology of Northern Europe Nordic Stone Age States and territories established in the 9th millennium BC

Fosna–Hensbacka culture group

See also

References

Further reading

External links