A new study of flint mines and flint axes has shown that the earliest farmers in Denmark were central European immigrants and not Scandinavian hunter-gatherers, as had been previously thought.
The author of the new study Lasse Sorenson presented his recent findings at an international conference on the ‘Northern Worlds’ at the National Museum of Denmark.
Sorenson explained that around 6,000 years ago, agricultural hubs surfaced across southern Scandinavia, which led to Scandinavia’s first farmers. He went on to say that the people living there did not have the same approach as the hunter-gatherers to the flint axe, indicating that first farmers in the region arrived from the south.
He said that farming was introduced in central Europe around 7,000 years ago, while it didn’t arrive in Scandinavia until 6,000 years ago. He explained that as agriculture began to spread a polished flint axe that was better for clearing forest for farming started to appear in Scandinavia.
Sorenson went on to point out that agriculture is extremely complex, in which sowing, clearing, harvest and animal conditions need to be suitable. He noted that you don’t get the chance to fail harvests too many times, and the flint axes discovered in Scandinavia indicate that it was southern immigrants who taught the Scandinavian hunter-gatherers.
He explained that the early flint axes and the mines that they came from support the theory that the first farmers arrived from the Neolithic-age Michelsberg culture from central Europe. He said the mines were similar to those from the Michelsberg culture and indicate that the immigrants moved to Scandinavia with new ideas.