, GLACIAL SUCCESSION IN NORWAY. 1 41 



depression of the coast land why neolithic man did not go farther 

 up in Sweden than 61° northeast, while the Norwegian coast was 

 free all along, and permitted his advance up to 70°. Another 

 consequence is that the northern part of the long valleys in 

 southeastern Norway must get its first population from the west 

 coast. This is also proved to be the case, not only by the exist- 

 ence of a well-marked anthropological boundary across these 

 continuous valleys, but also by a singular contrast in dialects and 

 traditions. Reversedly, this signifies that the present Scandi- 

 navian race really was the first post-glacial occupant of the coun- 

 try. In the administrative divisions we find traces of the old ice 

 barrier as far down as only a century ago. It is thus possible to 

 follow the effect of the ancient land ice in Norway down to our 

 own day. 



In closing this hasty summary of the Quaternary history of 

 Norway I cannot quite omit the doubtful question about the abso- 

 lute chronology. We have seen that in the bronze age which the 

 archeologists are able to date in Scandinavia from 1 700 to 500 B.C., 

 more than ten per cent, of the post-glacial upheaval was not yet 

 accomplished. As the upheaval has not been uninterrupted, we 

 cannot directly conclude that the whole elevation has had a dura- 

 tion of about 30,000 years. The long time from early iron age 

 in which the shore line has been constant enters into our standard. 

 But we can draw a more reliable comparison between the ter- 

 races from the different periods, when we take the greater eroding 

 power of the old inland ice and its greater glaciers in due con- 

 sideration. I cannot here specify my calculations, but will say 

 that I regard myself- as on the safe side when I compute the 

 time for forming the subglacial terraces and beaches to not more 

 than double the last constant period, which may be reckoned at 

 2,000 years. For these two constant post-glacial periods together 

 we thus get about 5 ,000 to 6,000 years. The relatively small terrace 

 deposits from the remainder of post-glacial time cannot by any 

 means give more than half this value. We may, therefore, on 

 this, as I think, very reliable estimate, calculate the whole post- 

 glacial time to be 7,000 to 9,000 years. To about the same numbers 



