This History Time documentary explains how people migrated north into Scandinavia starting at about 15,000 years ago when the climate started to warm up after the last Ice Age.

Following are points made in the video:

— 15,000 years ago, most of the land masses in northern Europe were joined together due to the lower sea levels, allowing people to walk into the area white pursuing game.  The people were initially only hunter-gatherers, without having knowledge of agriculture.

— The “Koelbjerg Man” is the oldest known “bog body” found in Denmark, dating to about 8,000 BC.

— By about 8,000 BC, people in the north had domesticated dogs that resembled the Siberian Spitz breed, which they used to assist them with hunting.

— Widespread usage of boats started at this time as well, initially being hollowed-out logs that were used as single-person canoes.  Modern-day fishermen often dredge up early relics from that time period, such as spear heads and sculptures.

— In 1900, important discoveries were made at a site called Maglemos, where a hunter-gathering culture was discovered that was named “the Maglemosian,” spanning from 9,000 BC to 6,000 BC.  They mostly settled along lakesides and coasts, moving to highlands in the winter.  Most of the North Sea didn’t exist at the time, where the area was a vast open plain that is today known as “Doggerland.”  Doggerland disappeared under the sea at around 6,000 BC.

— Musical instruments have been discovered that have been made from bone in 8,000 BC, being called “Bullroarer” and “mouth bows,” where they were likely used in a ritualistic fashion.  The “Mullerup instrument” was made in 7,000 BC, being the oldest known stringed instrument in the world.

— Small objects began to be carved out of amber (petrified tree sap) at that time as well, such as jewelry and small sculptures, which suggest the beginning of a religion.

— Doggerland disappeared underneath the North Sea during a very abrupt event at around 6,000 BC, which some suggest could have been the basis for the Biblical story of the Great Flood.

— The new culture living in the newly-segmented landscape of Scandinavia was called “The Kongemose,” spanning from 6,000 BC to 5,000 BC, where people lived along the coastlines eating shellfish, seals, and whales.  They also ate deer and boars that they hunted in the woodlands.  Today most of those settlements are submerged under the sea.

— At about 5,500 BC, Scandinavian hunters made the first contact with new groups of people migrating north from central Europe who were the first farmers on the continent, however it took more than a thousand additional years for agriculture to fully be established in the north.