Boreal Age

the beginning phase of the Holocene, lasting from 9,500 to 7,500 years ago. The relatively dry and initially cool climate in northwestern Europe gradually became warmer during the Boreal Age, and by its end the broad-leaved forests had advanced significantly farther north than their present distribution (beginning of the postglacial climatic optimum). In the history of the Baltic Sea the freshwater Ancylus Lake stage corresponds to the Boreal Age.