Northern Europe, 09 FINLAND (E): Introduction

Finland is part of Fennoscandia, an area that includes Norway, Sweden, Finland and adjacent parts of Russia (Kola Peninsula and Karelia). The Åland Islands (the capital is on Åland) form a devolved, autonomous and demilitarized region of Finland.

Finland emerged from the retreating ice around 11,000 years ago, but only the eastern four-fifths of today’s Finland was above water. The remainder, compressed under water by the weight of the ice (isostatic land depression), began to rise (postglacial rebound), closing off coastal inlets and creating thousands of lakes. Although Finland reached its current shape at around 3000 BC, but it is still rising at 8-9 mm per year compared with global sea levels rising at 3 mm per year 

Susiluola (‘Wolf Cave’) is a crack in the Pyhävuori Mountain, located between the Kristinestad and Karijoki municipalities, partly packed with soil to form the cave’s roof. Excavations, if confirmed, will make it the only preglacial (Neanderthal) site so far discovered in the Nordic Countries, and approximately 125,000 years old. 

Finland’s earliest inhabitants live by hunting, fishing, and gathering berries, roots and other plants. People lived in small-scale societies of roughly 15-50 people.