For most of its recent geological past, the land that is now Finland lay buried under a sheet of ice up to three kilometres thick. Nothing lived there, and only the highest hilltops broke the frozen surface.
Then, around 10,000 years ago, the ice began to melt. As it drew back, it revealed a young, raw landscape of gravel, bare rock and cold lakes, and within a few thousand years the first humans walked into this new land.
The retreat of the ice
The last glacial maximum reached its peak roughly 20,000 years ago. At that point almost all of Scandinavia and Finland was covered by a massive ice cap. As the climate warmed, the southern edge of the ice retreated, and the land it exposed was slowly rebounding from the enormous weight it had carried.
For a long time the melting glacier fed an immense freshwater lake in the Baltic basin. Later, sea water broke through and turned the area into a cold inland sea. Only gradually did the Baltic settle toward the familiar shape we know today.
A landscape in motion
The land rose and the sea levels shifted with the melt. Coastlines moved by tens of kilometres over a few centuries, which is why the earliest settlements are often found inland from the present shores. Early Finns lived on a coast that no longer matches the modern map.
The first arrivals
The first hunter-gatherers reached the region as the ice opened up pathways from the south and east. These small, mobile groups followed the game, the fish and the seals, moving with the seasons along rivers and the Baltic shore.
- They hunted elk, deer, bear and seals.
- They fished from canoes and along the coast.
- They gathered plants, berries and roots as they moved.
Their tools were made of stone, bone and wood. Although they left no written records, their camp sites, tools and rock art tell the story of people who adapted quickly to a demanding northern environment.
Life on the edge of the ice
Survival demanded knowledge of the weather, the animals and the seasons. The earliest Finns lived in small kin groups, sharing the work of hunting, preparing hides and making tools. Winter was a time of lean stores; summer and autumn brought plenty.
These communities were not isolated. Goods and ideas moved along the waterways, connecting the region to a wide northern world long before any borders existed.
The Stone Age begins
The period that followed is called the Stone Age, named for the stone tools that define it. It spans thousands of years, from the first settlers to the arrival of new technologies and, much later, farming.
Along the way, the people of the region developed distinctive pottery, polished stone axes and a rich material culture. The foundations of Finnish history begin here, in the forests, lakes and fjords of a land still forming.
Frequently asked questions
How long ago did the ice retreat?
The ice began its final retreat around 10,000 years ago, and the first settlers arrived within a few millennia as the landscape became habitable.
Were there people in Finland during the last Ice Age?
No. The ice sheet made the land uninhabitable. The first people arrived only after it had melted enough to open the way.
Why does the earliest coastline not match the modern one?
The land has been slowly rising since the ice melted (isostatic rebound) and sea levels changed, so the ancient coastline has moved back and forth over the centuries.
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