 Thank you so much. My name is Gata Saesh. I work in the southern part of Norway in Vestakter County Council. My work is as advisor and curator. So what I will present today is our recent work in the region of Lista which is in southern Norway and I will tell you what we concluded in our discussion. This presentation will discuss the early inhabitants of southern Norway and will highlight the causes behind leaving well-functional hunting gathering societies and moving into more complex agrarian societies, something that demands more work and responsibilities. The earliest evidence for human presence in southern Norway dates to the end of the last ice age in the form of pioneer settlements along the coastal area approximately 12,800 calibrating years before present. These people most likely moved northwards from European mainland and from Doggerland, which today is completely submerged under sea level due to climatic changes and ice melting. Wild animals and game found new grazing area in the newly ice-free territories and many hunter gatherers followed. These societies functioned for millennia and people survived by fishing, hunting, and gathering without being a major pressure on natural resources. In 1994 human skeleton remains were found at Homer Week, Pullman, a small island in Søgna, southern Norway. These remains are the oldest dated skeleton remains found in Norway. Remains from at least five individuals were uncovered in the material from Homer Week, Pullman. The human bones and teeth were subjected to stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to investigate dietary patterns. The analysis indicated a massive consumption of marine mammal protein and there is no suggestion of any significant changes in the diet during their lifetime. The isotope data demonstrates a pronounced coastal adaptation which requires flexibility and transportation by using of bones. To date the skeleton remains of Homer Week, Pullman are from the most prominent submerged mesolithic site in Norway and dated back to approximately 9,400 calibrated years before present. DNA analysis from the skeleton remains shows 80% Iberian origin from Portugal and Spain and 20% of Black Sea origin from the Ukraine. These results suggest two different early post-glacial migration into Scandinavia, initially from the south and later from the northeast. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia creating a genetically diverse population which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high-latitude environment. If we look at this map we can see the narrow distance between south and Norway where Homer Week, Pullman is situated which is here and northern Denmark which is here. The continent shelf is only 70 kilometers and people could either walk over the icy surface of the sea during the winter or use boats to cross the sea towards the mainland of Europe. A person might ask why should a well functional society adapted a new method which requires more work and responsibilities? At the same time it is appropriate to ask how such transition could occur. Are we talking about the same people who change methods according to an influence from other places or are we talking about the new waves of immigrants that moved to south and Norway bringing their new methods of adaptation? According to recent studies conducted by many scholars such as Kønder and others in 2018, artifacts and tools found in south and Norway show similarities with the traditions of northern and central Europe. This kind of evidence indicate connections between those who lived in the main continent and those who lived in south and Norway in the form of material culture and adaptation of new method. Unlike the rest of south and Norway where the landscape is mountainous divided by fjords and valleys, the Lister region is a mosaic of small islands, lagoons, shallow bays and fjords. This landscape was ideal for a mixed economy based on fishing, hunting, animal husbandry and serial cultivation. Furthermore, the flat landscape of the Lister region is very similar to the Danish landscape and any new functional method which might function in Denmark would have similar results in the Lister region. The finds of serial pollen grain and pastoral farming is well documented by many of the pollen diagrams from Lister. These diagrams indicate that the transition to agriculture took place in the Lister region at least a millennium earlier than in neighboring regions such as Rugelland in the west and Telemark in the east and provides the earliest non-evidence for agriculture in Norway. This early transition to agriculture and domestication of animals seems likely to have come to Lister directly from Denmark by crossing the Kagerak Sea around 6000 BP. Archaeological finds tell the same story. Artifacts recognized as belonging to the early North European fauna baker culture are concentrated on Lister while in the rest of Agdeur only a few isolated finds are known. This strengthens the hypothesis that the nearest culture reached Lister as a direct cultural continuity from Denmark. Generally, it is acceptable that immigrants introduced agriculture to Scandinavia from the main continent through Sweden and eastern Norway. The hunter gatherers of Scandinavia started to mix with the new immigrants and eventually all ended up living together as farmers. However, the situation of the Lister region tells a different story. The contact between the mainland Europe and the hunter gatherers of southern Norway was well established for millennia. Stone age societies brought the Danish Flintstones to Norway to produce their artifacts. They used boats for millennia and crossed the Kagerak Sea. This sea route gave the inhabitants of southern Norway a reciprocal of gift exchange, raw material, knowledge and even spouses. However, the social complexity of the society is not the topic of this paper. In this regard, it is naturally to introduce the new method of adaptation either by exchange of knowledge or by transporting the Danish farmers toward Norway. In this way, the newcomers could settle down and practice farming. Lister is one of the few regions in Norway which looks similar to the Danish landscape. The early farmers would not find any difficulties in practicing their new method of adaptation without struggling otherwise with the harsh Norwegian landscape. Regardless what was the cause behind introducing agriculture to Lister, the transition occurred many centuries before it arrived to Telmark County in the southeastern part of the country and Drugaland County in the southwest. The reason for this early transition might due to, as mentioned before, the similarities between the landscape of Denmark and the landscape of Lister region. It might also be due to pressure on resources in this small area of Lister. The hunter-gatherers of Norway communicated with each other and moved between the different parts of the country and beyond. Why did the transition occur in Lister region centuries before it was practiced in surrounding regions? In my opinion, it was a matter of choice. Many hunter-gatherer societies did not see the necessity of adapting the new technology, particularly along the harsh Norwegian landscape, and kept their way of living as hunter-gatherers. To conclude my speech, there are many similarities in material culture between southern Norway and northern Denmark, which indicates that farming might have reached southern Norway directly from the main continent across the Skogarak Sea. Early inhabitants of Norway were expert in using boats and could sail across the Skogarak Sea to transport raw material, knowledge, and even people who were willing to move. The earliest pollen evidence from grain cultivation in the Lister region indicates that this happened shortly after agriculture had reached Denmark itself, and perhaps as much as a millennium before farming appeared along the western and eastern coast of Norway. The rest of Norway did into that farming as early as the Lister region by choice. They probably did not see the necessity of doing so. Thank you.