Ancient Estonia is the prehistoric period in the history of Estonia that concerns the emergence of human settlement in the area of what is now modern-day Estonia. It follows the period in the history of Estonia from the middle of the 8th millennium BC (around 8000 BC) until the conquest and subjugation of the local Finnic tribes in the first quarter of the until the 13th century during the Teutonic and Danish Northern Crusades during the Middle Ages. The prehistory of Estonia is divided into the Middle Stone Age (9600–3900 BC), New Stone Age (3900–1800 BC), Bronze Age (1800–500 BC), and Iron Age (500 BC – 13th century), and these in turn into sub-periods.
Overview Methods In the study of Estonian prehistory since the late 1950s, scientific dating methods have been increasingly used to determine the dates of different artifacts. Over time, scholars have revised the sub-periods and dating of Estonian prehistory as radiocarbon years have been recalibrated and period definitions updated. For example, while the start of the Neolithic once marked the introduction of pottery, it is now defined by the shift from a foraging to a productive economy. Some evidence of human activity was destroyed in the Paleolithic era by the movement of the continental ice sheet.
The main source material for the prehistory of Estonia consists of archaeological sites. Written sources (such as the Norse sagas collection "Heimskringla", Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum, Adam of Bremen's chronicle, Old Russian chronicles, especially the "Tale of Bygone Years", Henry's Chronicle of Livonia, Liber Census Daniae) are few and date from the end of the prehistoric period. The study of plant remains, especially pollen, provides insight into the history of plants, while also reflecting human impact and land use methods. Paleozoology provides information about animals, including game and domestic animals. Also helpful are paleogeographical, geological, and pedological studies, which make it possible to determine changes in relief and water regime, the development of soils, etc. Additional information has been provided by linguistics, physical anthropology, population genetics, ancient DNA research, ethnography, numismatics, and folklore. With archaeological research methods, using the stratigraphic method, it is only possible to determine the relative age of monuments and historical events to one another. As a result of human activity, soil layers accumulate on top of each other over time, forming a cultural layer, where ancient artifacts located in the lower layers are generally older than the finds in the upper layers. So, to determine the absolute age of monuments, information obtained through written sources was initially used. Since artifacts from literate regions also spread to surrounding groups, including in the area of Estonia, it was possible to estimate their age as well. Dating Presently, the radiocarbon dating method is primarily used to determine age However, in Estonia, it is still common to also date artifacts using objects whose age can also be determined by other means (such as written sources, dendrochronology, or coral). The currently used periodization of Estonian prehistory is as follows:
Main Period Sub-Period Specific Era Date Range Stone Age — Late Stone Age or Paleolithic Until 9600 BC Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic 9600 – 3900 BC Stone Age or Neolithic 3900 – 1800 BC Bronze Age — Early Bronze Age 1800 – 1100 BC — Late Bronze Age 1100 – 500 BC Iron Age Late Iron Age Pre-Roman Iron Age 500 BC – 50 AD Roman Iron Age 50 – 450 AD Middle Iron Age Migration Period 450 – 600 AD Pre-Viking Age 600 – 800 AD Early Iron Age Viking Age 800 – 1050 AD Late Iron Age 1050 – 1200/1250 AD
The following table presents examples of periodizations by Estonian scholars from the years 1982 (which was before radiocarbon year calibration), 2001, and 2003/2017.
+Time periodJaanits et al 1982Lang &
Kriiska 2001Kriiska &
Tvauri 2002Lang 2003/
Kriiska 2017Middle Stone Age7500 – 3000 BC9000 – 4900 BC9600 – 5000 BC9600 – 3900 BCNew Stone Age3000 – 1500 BC4900 – 1800 BC5000 – 1800 BC3900 – 1800 BCEarly Bronze Age1500 – 1000 BC1800 – 1100 BC1800 – 1100 BC1800 – 1100 BCLate Bronze Age1000 – 600 BC1100 – 500 BC1100 – 500 BC1100 – 500 BCEarly / Pre-Roman Iron Age600 – 0/100 AD500 BC – 50 AD500 BC – 50 AD500 BC – 50 ADLate / Roman Iron Age0/100 – 5th c. II half AD50 – 450 AD50 – 450 AD50 – 450 ADMiddle Iron Age5th c. II half – 900 AD450 – 800 AD450 – 800 AD450 – 800 ADEarly Iron Age
(Viking Age and Late Iron Age)900 – 13th c. beginning AD800 – 1200/1250 AD800 – 1210/1250 AD800 – 1200/1250 AD
Holocene and Mesolithic period During the Holocene, there were periods of both ice melt, which raised sea levels, and periods of glacial retreat. The drainage of glacial lakes significantly impacted the region's overall climate. Over 100 settlement sites from the end of the Ice Age have been discovered in the Baltics: most in southern Lithuania, and the northernmost in central Latvia along the Daugava River. Since the Estonian territory was also likely mostly ice-free and habitable at that time, it is plausible that people reached there as well, although no signs of human activity that early have been discovered yet.
As the glacier retreated toward the Scandinavian Mountains, the southeastern regions were the first to emerge from under the ice, and northwestern Estonia, Hiiumaa, and western Saaremaa were the last. In total, this process took about 2,000 years in what is now Estonia. The continental ice sheet and its meltwaters reshaped the landscape by both eroding and accumulating material. Meltwaters gathered in lower areas, especially in the basins of Peipus and Võrtsjärv, and flooded all of northwestern and western Estonia, the islands, and a large part of northeastern Estonia. In front of the ice margin, the Baltic Ice Lake formed, encompassing the southern part of the present Baltic Sea along with the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga.
The climate was arctic and subarctic; in the open landscape, tundra-like vegetation spread, herds of reindeer and wild horses moved about, and mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, and aurochs were also found. During the Allerød climate period (12,000 – 10,700 BC), a temporary warming and drying of the climate occurred (average temperature about 6° lower than today), which led to the arrival of temperate zone plants (birch and pine forests, dwarf birch, herbaceous plants such as goosefoot, mountain avens, botrychium, valerian, etc.) and animals (probably wolf, lynx, beaver, brown bear, red fox, moose, otter, mountain hare), but during the Younger Dryas chronozone (10,700–9600 BC), the climate cooled sharply and tundra and steppe-like landscape with cold-loving grasses, moss, dwarf birch, willow, and juniper became dominant again. Pine or birch grew in the small remaining forests. Wild animals retreated to the south, and reindeer and mammoths moved into the Estonian region once more.
While no direct evidence has been found of the Older Stone Age or Paleolithic human settlement in the Estonian territory, it is possible that the first hominins arrived even before the last, Weichselian glaciation, or even during its milder climate period around 30,000 BC, when conditions were suitable for the life of mammoths, for example. At that time, Homo sapiens inhabited most of the habitable regions of Europe. In the Estonian region, however, the continental ice sheet destroyed all potential signs of this. Evidence of human presence in the Baltics dates from around 11,000 BC. Settlement in the eastern Baltic region arose as a result of two migration waves: first, people of the Bromme culture (from 11,000 BC) originating from the Hamburg culture in northern Central Europe, upon which the Ahrensburg culture was based, and 1,000 years later, a settlement wave of the Świdry culture originating from the area of modern day Poland. These two archaeological cultures coexisted for some time, influencing each other. Eventually, the Świdry culture integrated with the Ahrensburg culture.
Comb ceramic culture Ancestry Little is known about the genes of the earliest inhabitants of the Estonian territory, as no human remains that old have been found in Estonia or its immediate surroundings. The oldest bones whose DNA has been studied originate from people of the Narva culture who lived in the 5th millennium BC. Their mitochondrial DNA, i.e., DNA sequence inherited in the maternal line, belongs to haplogroup U and is typical of the Mesolithic European population. Other components of genetic material show similarity to people living in the Baltics at the same time and slightly earlier. In a broader sense, they are close to Western European hunter-gatherer-fishers, although characteristics typical of people living further east at the time are also present. Soon (from 3700–3600 BC), however, cultural unity decreased, and regional specificities developed. This was reflected in pottery making, which began to be distinct. This was particularly true between the islands and the mainland. This period is called the Late Comb Ware culture.
DNA analysis of the remains of four Estonian Comb Ceramic culture individuals showed that all 3 women belonged to the maternal lineage haplogroup U. This result fits with other studies on early Neolithic Europe. One tested man belonged to the paternal lineage haplogroup R1a5. Similar paternal lineages have also been found among Eastern Hunter-Gatherers. While genome-wide analyses of Mesolithic inhabitants of the eastern Baltic coast showed greatest affinity with Western Hunter-Gatherers, individuals of Estonia's Neolithic Comb Ceramic culture were most similar to people belonging to the same culture in Latvia and eastern hunter-gatherers, which indicates that the arrival of Comb Ceramic brought additional genetic material to Estonia from the east.
Signs of more intensive and diverse activity in settlements, and the coexistence of animal bones with different peak hunting seasons, point to the emergence of villages in use year-round. Villages usually had 2–4 dwellings and presumably a couple of dozen to fifty people. Both above-ground and semi-subterranean rectangular houses with floors sunken into the ground were used as dwellings, with walls woven between wooden structures or partially made of horizontal logs. Based on dwelling remains excavated in Latvia and Lithuania, it can be assumed that houses often had gable roofs. Dwellings were generally built next to each other, parallel to the shore, with the doorway facing the body of water. The main living activity took place between the buildings and the waterline. Lighter shelters were presumably established during and for hunting trips.
It has been suggested that the earliest inhabitants of the Estonian territory were relatively tall, based on early Mesolithic skeletons from eastern Europe. Men at that time averaged 174 cm. Women averaged 160 cm in height. Later, stature appears to have decreased. Judging by Estonia's oldest human remains from the 6th–5th millennium BC, the average height of men at that time was 164 cm and of women 157 cm. Mesolithic people were long- or medium-headed, with a wide and high facial area and a projecting nose.
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