Riddarfjärden
Riddarfjärden (, "The Knight Firth") is the easternmost bay of Lake Mälaren in central Stockholm. Stockholm was founded in 1252 on an island in the stream where Lake Mälaren (from the west) drains into the Baltic Sea (to the east); today the island is called Stadsholmen and constitutes Stockholm's Old Town.
Prehistory and origin of Stockholm
Three million years ago, a series of ice ages started to grind down the north-bound faults, leaving the south-bound formations intact. During the latest ice age (70,000-9,500 BCE), the area surrounding Stockholm was covered by an ice layer up to two kilometres thick. While the ice effectively eliminated every trace of pre-ice age life, it is assumed humans probably did inhabit the area before the ice age, notwithstanding no archaeological traces can confirm it. Nevertheless, bones from a mammoth have been found in the Brunkebergsåsen esker stretching north to south through central Stockholm.