During the prehistoric period, groups in the northern areas used unglazed ceramic vessels to store and prepare their food. This action left both visible and invisible residues on the walls of the ceramic vessels used. The current multidisciplinary study focuses on the invisible organic residues absorbed in the walls of ceramic vessels and uses organic chemistry methodology to study the changes that occurred in prehistoric food procurement patterns.

To detect changes in the food culture, organic residues from archaeological pottery from Finland and North Norway are studied. To create reference values from Finland and the Baltic Sea, compound-specific stable carbon isotope values for the palmitic and stearic acids from modern mammalian tissue, ruminant milk, and fish are presented.

Hunting and gathering was undertaken during the Comb Ware period in South Finland. In this study, the first evidence of dairy farming was found from Corded Ware vessels. Agriculture was less common during the Kiukainen Ware period, as residues of dairy fats were found only from one Kiukainen Ware vessel. Based on the results obtained for this thesis, agriculture intensified again during the Early Metal Period, as nearly half of the studied Morby vessels were found to have been used for storing or processing dairy products. Even after agricultural practises arrived in Finland, hunting and gathering remained still an important part of the food procurement cycle.

During the Early Metal Period, groups using Risvik Pottery in North Norway were practising farming, but also utilising the marine environment as a food source. The hunter-gatherer groups in the coastal areas of the Norwegian Sea also based their diet mainly on fish and marine mammals. The groups inland in North Norway and Finland, however, had a more diverse food procurement pattern that consisted of terrestrial animals and fresh water fish.

Together with the previous knowledge, the findings presented in this thesis shed more light on the food procurement patterns of the prehistoric groups that were living in the North.