Agriculture reached the coast of southern Denmark around 4000 BCE, but these prehistoric Scandinavians continued to fish and hunt too, according to a study published May 13, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Daniel Groß from the Museum Lolland-Falster, Denmark, Sofie Folsach Hellerøe from Aarhaus University, Denmark, and colleagues.
The coast of southern Denmark features archeological sites revealing a rich history of human habitation across millennia. In this study, the research team analyzed aquatic and land animal remains from the Syltholm Fjord on the island of Lolland, including samples dating back to the transition from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic (roughly 4500 - 3500 BCE), the Middle Neolithic (3500 - 2800 BCE), the Late Neolithic (2800 - 1800 BCE) and into the Bronze Age, from 1800 - 800 BCE. The samples spanned the introduction of agriculture into the region, around 4000 BCE.
Remains from domestic animals such as cattle were found in all of these eras, indicating an introduction of agricultural practices. However, remains from fish also showed up consistently, suggesting that fish were a part of the human diet during each of these periods. Flatfish like flounder made up a large proportion of the fish remains from all eras, as did eels, which were commonly found in all eras except the Late Neolithic, when settlement activity in the area may have been lower. The researchers suggest that fishers here targeted the same species for thousands of years — and that their fishing practices may have been sustainable for generations.
Land animal composition fluctuated a little more. Remains from deer were more common from around 3000 BCE, for example, potentially due to a resurgence of hunting amid cultural changes in Denmark around this time. The researchers also noted that species diversity declined between around 4000 and 3000 BCE, possibly as a result of increased human pressure on the ecosystem, before stabilizing.
The researchers believe that their findings challenge the notion of an abrupt Neolithic transition to eating domesticated animals, illustrating instead a more diverse dietary strategy integrating fishing and hunting alongside agricultural practices over millennia.
Dr. Daniel Groß adds: "Even though people were fishing in the fjord for millennia, their impact on the environment was not clearly traceable. This research indicates that Neolithic fishing was sustainable, to a degree."
"The introduction of livestock is often considered a major change in subsistence strategies, yet we do not see any significant changes in other areas of food production – fish just continued to be a relevant food source."
"At Syltholm Fjord, the introduction of Neolithic traditions did not alter the composition of food as much as earlier assumed, whereas the changing landscape does translate in the archaeological datasets."
"Our analysis shows that it is important to incorporate different perspectives and datasets of different character into reconstructing the past."
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4n3bceo
Citation: Groß D, Hellerøe SF, Koivisto S, Schmölcke U (2026) Fishing for millennia: Effects and impacts of prehistoric fishing in the Syltholm Fjord, Denmark. PLoS One 21(5): e0347863. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0347863
Author countries: Denmark, Finland, Germany.
Funding: This paper is part of the project "Fishing in the Prehistoric Syltholm Fjord - a diachronic analysis", funded by Augustinus Fonden (project number 22-1518; https://augustinusfonden.dk/) awarded to DG. The funder did not influence the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
