The 10,000-Year-Old Man Found In A British Cave — And The DNA Test That Changed What Scientists Thought Early Europeans Looked Like
Into this newly ice-free landscape, plants and animals were moving north, recolonizing the habitable territory that the retreating glaciers revealed.
Birch and Scots pine were among the first trees to establish; they grew into the early postglacial forest that covered much of Britain within a few thousand years.
As the climate continued to warm, hazel, elm, and eventually oak followed, creating the dense mixed forest that characterized the later Mesolithic.
Animals returned with the plants.
Red deer were among the most significant prey species of the Mesolithic.
Wild boar were common.