Palaeolithic sites in the Baltic States are generally sparse, as the extensive cover of the Weichselian ice sheet (c.115-11.7 kya) effectively scoured the landscape, precluding earlier habitation across much of the region. Consequently, the initial colonization of the eastern Baltic littoral only became viable following the retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and the subsequent recession of the Baltic Ice Lake – a vast freshwater body that preceded the modern Baltic Sea. The earliest surviving evidence of human activity in the region dates to the Late Weichselian (Late Glacial) period, spanning approximately 15,000 to 11,700 years ago, as pioneer hunter-gatherer groups followed reindeer herds into the emerging tundra landscapes.
The primary cultures associated with the Late Palaeolithic (c.13,000-9500 cal BC) post-glacial recolonisation of the Baltic Region are the Hamburgian (c.13,500-11,200 cal BC), the Federmesser (c. 12,000-10,800 cal BC), and the Swiderian (c.10,000-9000 cal BC).
The Balts, or Baltic peoples, are those who speak Baltic languages (Indo-European family), among whom are modern-day Lithuanians (including Samogitians) and Latvians (including Latgalians). The Baltic Finnic peoples are those who speak Finnic languages (Finno-Ugric), among whom are the Finns and the Estonians.
Although the Roman Empire never occupied Northeast Europe, its cultural and economic influence reached these lands, thus giving rise to the archaeological terms Pre-Roman Iron Age (c.500-00-50) and the Roman Period (50-450).
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