Boreal period

The first climatic maximum of the Holocene epoch, the early Atlantic period, is more often included in the next Atlantic period . The average annual temperature at this time was significantly higher than the current.

Sea level was slowly rising as a result of the global melting of ice: the boreal period was the last Holocene period, during which Britain was connected to the European continent by land isthmus ( Doggerland ). The area of ​​the North Sea has expanded. In place of the former Ioldian Sea, a closed Antsilovoe lake arose, whose boundaries far exceeded the modern Baltic Sea .

In the boreal period, heat-loving plants, such as common ivy and white mistletoe , which spread all the way to Denmark, spread in northern Europe. Within the limits of the pollen zone V, pioneer plants ( de: Pionierpflanze ) of the preboreal period are increasingly being replaced by coniferous forests in symbiosis with common hazel , which in the palenology has received the name pine-walnut forest .

By the end of the boreal period, the composition of the vegetation changes - the number of different oak species grows, and the geographical zone of oak-mixed forests gradually forms. Instead of pine , birch and hazel , oak , elm , linden and alder are increasingly common. In the marshy territories, such species as the cattail broadleaf grow.

Such animals include deer , wild boar , wolf , bear , lynx and tour . Beaver and otter live in swampy territories and in rivers, such fish as pike and catfish are often found.

The Boreal period in human life corresponded to the Mesolithic - the period when people in Central and Northern Europe more and more often settled down in permanent places, although they remained committed to hunting and gathering . Although agriculture was already spreading in the Middle East and Southern Europe by that time, the transition to it would take place only a few millennia later: this is due to the fact that the forest provided enough food for the local inhabitants, so the benefits of slash-and-burn farming were first The pores were not obvious. ^[4]

Some features of the way of life of people of the boreal period have become known from the monument to Vys 1 on Vychegda ^{[5] [6]} . The inhabitants of this settlement were able to make baskets and nets from plant fibers. The finds of oars indicate the regular use of boats. In winter, skids were used as a vehicle. Weapons found: bows, arrows and spears, as well as household items with decorations in the form of snakes, people and animals.