Bälinge mossar : Kustbor i Uppland under yngre stenåldern : Neolithic coastal settlement in Uppland, eastern middle Sweden

Sammanfattning: This theses discusses the Early and Middle Neolithic in eastern middle Sweden. Special emphasis is placed on Uppland where Bälinge Bogs are situated. This is the name of a reclaimed wetland area c. 25 km north-west of Uppsala. During the Early and Middle Neolithic it was a salt-water bay with a series of settlements. Excavations of the sites in the early 20th century and my own excavations of several of them during the 1970s and 1980s form the base of the study.On the basis of their artifacts it has been possible to attribute the settlement sites to two main cultural and chronological periods: the Funnel Beaker Culture during the Early Neolithic and the Pitted Ware Culture during the middle Neolithic. The radiocarbon dates convincingly confirm the archaeological chronology and translate it to calendar years: The Early Neolithic settlement at the Bälinge Bogs lasted from 4000-3750 B.C. For the subsequent 350-400 years there are no traces of settlement, and it is not until 3400-2900 B.C. that the Pitted Ware settlements developed.There is an unquestionable relationship between the receding coastline and the decreasing age of Stone Age sites in the Bälinge Bogs. The proximity of open water was obviously important for the choice of settlement location.The natural environment at the Bälinge Bogs remained relatively unchanged during the millennium for which Stone Age habitation lasted. However, the Funnel Beaker site at Anneberg was closer to the open sea than the Pitted Ware sites.The faunal remains from Anneberg show that the exploitation of marine resources was already fully developed by the Early Neolithic. Seal hunting and fishing were of special importance. The Anneberg inhabitants were probably practising some agriculture in the form of stock-raising and cultivation of cereals. The stray finds from the inland areas west of the Bälinge Bogs do not suggest the presence of special agricultural sites. There is much to indicate that the inhabitants of the Anneberg site led an independent life along the coast, being at the same time members of a larger community with a shared material culture - the Funnel Beaker Culture. During the Middle Neolithic the Uppland archipelago filled up with new islands and Pitted Ware sites grew up along the mainland coast and on islands. In the main the Pitted Ware settlers were hunters and fishers, probably also practising some agriculture, mainly in the form of stock-raising. The position of the sites in the inner archipelago may suggest that people were sedentary to some extent.