Pleistocene Ice Sheet of northern Europe was almost com-
pletely melted by about 7000 b.c.e.
Th e melting of the glaciers meant that large amounts of
water were released into the oceans, dramatically aff ecting
sea levels and coastlines. Th e phenomenon of rising and fall-
ing sea levels is known as eustasy. Postglacial eustasy caused
sea levels to rise over 100 meters, drowning the continental
shelves of North America and Europe. In the Mediterranean,
the northern Adriatic sea, which had been a large plain, was
inundated. Th e entrance to Cosquer cave in southern France
with its spectacular ice age paintings made between 25,000
b.c.e. and 17,000 b.c.e. is now just over 120 feet below the
surface of the Mediterranean, whereas it was once high above
the water.
In northern Europe eustasy had even more dramatic ef-
fects. In 8000 b.c.e. Britain was connected to the continent
by a vast land bridge across the southern North Sea. It was
possible for hunter-gatherers to walk from Poland to York-
shire, getting wet only when they had to swim across the riv-
ers. Over the next 5,000 years, rising sea levels inundated this
terrain, creating the English Channel (which was previously
a large Atlantic bay) and the current coasts of the North Sea.
Recent research using seismic data produced by oil explora-
tion has enabled archaeologists at the University of Birming-
ham to map a remarkable drowned landscape with river
channels and hills, essentially the western end of the North
European Plain.
In Scandinavia, which had borne the greatest burden of
the Pleistocene ice sheets, another force was at work to coun-
teract eustasy. Released from the weight of the ice, the earth’s
mantle rebounded upward, a process known as isostasy. Th e
eff ects of isostasy are best seen in northern Denmark and
in central and northern Scandinavia. In the northernmost
reaches of Sweden, land is now about 820 feet higher than
it was before the ice melted, and it is still rising. Near Stock-
holm, Neolithic sites far inland were previously on the coast,
and hunter-gatherer shoreline sites are now 262 to 295 feet
above sea level. Bronze Age rock carvings made on coastal
boulders are now 82 to 98 feet above the water level.
Th e European vegetation and climate changed dramati-
cally as the ice sheets retreated, for the tundra and other peri-
glacial landscapes that lay before the ice front also moved
northward. Warm and cold periods alternated during the last
stages of the ice age. A rapid increase in temperature about
12,000 b.c.e., followed by general warmth, was suddenly
interrupted by a sharp cold period, known at the Younger
Dryas, about 9000 b.c.e., when tundra again characterized
the landscape across the North European Plain and northern
England. Aft er about 600–700 years the climate warmed up
again, and around 8300 b.c.e. a transition to an essentially
modern climate and vegetation occurred across much of Eu-
rope. Th is transition marks the beginning of the postglacial
period known as the Holocene.
As the ice sheet retreated northward, the reindeer herds
that roamed the periglacial landscapes of western and cen-
tral Europe also moved northward. Th e establishment of the
Holocene forests brought the forest fauna that character-
ized later European prehistory, including red deer, roe deer,
brown bears, beavers, wild horses, wild cattle, and wild pigs.
Fish were abundant in the lakes and streams while fl ocks of
waterfowl and solitary forest birds populated their preferred
habitats. Along the coasts shellfi sh and seals were abundant.
Th e result was an extraordinarily rich menu of resources for
the hunters and gatherers who lived in these forests, known
to archaeologists as Mesolithic societies. Th e change was not
nearly so dramatic in Mediterranean Europe, but rising sea
levels made it possible to take advantage of fi sh and shellfi sh
that had previously been far off shore.THE HOLOCENE CLIMATIC OPTIMUM
The onset of warmer temperatures resulted in the growth
of forests across temperate Europe, first birch and later
pine. By about 7000 b.c.e. the first oaks, elms, and hazel
began to appear. During the millennium that followed, a
type of woodland, known as “mixed oak forest” but whose
primary constituent was linden, appeared throughout
much of temperate Europe. In the Mediterranean zone,
broad-leaved deciduous trees still dominated the wood-
land, although the typical evergreen forests and shrubs
that characterize modern vegetation in this area were be-
ginning to appear.
During the Holocene the climate became progressively
warmer such that between 6000 and 5000 b.c.e. it reached
what is called the Postglacial Climatic Optimum. Summer
temperatures averaged about 2 degrees warmer than they are
today, and the winters were very mild, yet abundant rainfall
resulted in lush vegetation. Such favorable climatic conditions
were a major factor in the spread of farming across much of
temperate Europe, resulting in the introduction of domes-
ticated plants and livestock. Th e climate of Mediterranean
Europe, however, appears to have cooled off somewhat at the
same time, according to recent evidence.COOLER, MOISTER CLIMATE
A sharp cold period called the Piora Oscillation, during which
glaciers in the Alps again advanced signifi cantly, brought the
Postglacial Climatic Optimum to an end between 4000 and
3000 b.c.e. Th e climate of temperate Europe remained warm
and dry between about 3000 and 1000 b.c.e. but then became
progressively cooler and moister. By 700–500 b.c.e. tempera-
tures were much lower than even 500 years earlier, though
the weather in the British Isles remained relatively mild, and
everywhere north of the Alps was much wetter and windier.
Th en the climate warmed again, such that the fi rst few centu-
ries c.e. were milder.
During these fi nal millennia of prehistoric Europe the
environment was irrevocably modifi ed by human settlement,
cultivation, and stockbreeding. Just aft er 4000 b.c.e. agricul-
ture was introduced to Scandinavia and the British Isles, and
by 3000 b.c.e. its spread throughout Europe was virtuallyclimate and geography: Europe 255