Southern Scandinavian Mesolithic research has one of the longest traditions within archaeology, dating
back to the 1820s and 1830s. However, a combination of site visibility and an emphasis on the Mesolithic-
Neolithic transition has meant that research has primarily been directed towards the Late Mesolithic Ertebølle
culture (c. 5400–4000 cal. BC) at the expense of the Early Mesolithic Maglemose culture (c. 9600–6400
cal. BC). Whilst fishing during the Ertebølle culture is well studied (Enghoff 2011; Ritchie 2010), fishing
during the Early Mesolithic is rarely discussed in any detail. In this contribution we attempt to rectify this
imbalance by collating all readily available data on fish remains and related technologies within the literature.
Although our primary focus is the Early Mesolithic Maglemose culture of Southern Scandinavia, an
area encompassing Denmark, Scania in Sweden and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, we draw on
contemporaneous sites within the broader region to provide a more nuanced picture of the exploitation of
this important resource, fish.
Robson, H.K.; Ritchie, K.: The Early Mesolithic fisheries of southern Scandinavia, in: Gross et al. (edd.), Working at The Sharp End at Hohen Viecheln, Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Steinzeit in Schleswig-Holstein und im Ostseeraum, Vol. 10, pp. 289–303, DOI: 10.23797/9783529018619-11.