Inland Mesolithic settlement in Central Jutland: What we have learned from the Lake Bølling Project and other Mesolithic investigations

In Central Jutland there are many traces of settlement throughout the Mesolithic, mostly represented by flint scatters. Yet we do not have a good understanding of the inland Mesolithic, since many sites are palimpsests with mixed flint assemblages from multiple visits making them hard to date and classify. Over the past decades Museum Midtjylland has excavated sites that help elucidate the inland settlement complex and variation through time. Especially the Lake Bølling project has yielded undisturbed sites with preservation for some organic materials making radiocarbon dating possible. This paper presents the overall results from the Lake Bølling project including a short presentation of sites yielding radiocarbon dates. The overall results are used as a starting point for discussing the inland Mesolithic in general, suggesting a change in settlement pattern and intensity as well as increased regionalisation from the onset of the Early Atlantic.