Scandinavian prehistory

The Scandinavian Peninsula became ice-free around 11,000 BC, at the end of the last ice age. The Nordic Stone Age begins at that time, with the Upper Paleolithic Ahrensburg culture, giving way to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers by the 7th millennium BC (Maglemosian culture c. 7500 BC – 6000 BC, Kongemose culture c. 6000 BC – c. 5200 BC, Ertebølle culture c. 5300 BC – 3950 BC). The Neolithic stage is marked by the Funnelbeaker culture (4000–2700 BC), followed by the Pitted Ware culture (3200 BC – 2300 BC).

Around 2800 BC, metal was introduced in Scandinavia in the Corded Ware culture. In much of Scandinavia, a Battle Axe culture became prominent, known from some 3,000 graves. The period 2500 BC – 500 BC also left many visible remains to modern times, most notably the many thousands rock carvings (petroglyphs) in western Sweden at Tanumshede and in Norway at Alta. A more advanced culture came with the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1800 BC – 500 BC). It was followed by the Iron Age by the 4th century BC.

The pre-history of Sweden begins at the end of the epoch at the beginning of Holocene epoch, following the last ice age, the Weichselian glaciation. At the end of the ice age, large parts of south and middle Sweden were covered by water.

...
Wikipedia