The Nordic Stone Age refers to the Stone Age of Scandinavia. During the Weichselian glaciation (115,000 - 11,700 years ago), almost all of Scandinavia was buried beneath a thick permanent ice cover and the Stone Age came rather late to this region. As the climate slowly warmed up at the end of the ice age, nomadic hunters from central Europe sporadically visited the region, but it was not until around 12,000 BCE before permanent, but nomadic, habitation took root.