[5] Finnic peoples are also significant minority groups in neighbouring countries of Sweden, Norway and Russia, especially Karelia.

Recently, a modified form of the Migration Theory has gained new support among the younger generation of linguists, who consider that archaeology, genes and craniometric data cannot supply evidence of prehistoric languages.

[7][8] The origin of the people who lived around the Baltic Sea area during the Mesolithic Era continues to be debated by scientists.

From the middle of the Neolithic onward, there is a certain extent of agreement among scholars: it has been suggested that Finno-Ugric tribes arrived in the Baltic region from the east or south-east around the period 4000–3000 BC and merged with the original inhabitants, who then adopted the proto-Finno-Ugric language and the Pit–Comb Ware culture of the newcomers.

[8] The Y-chromosomal data has also revealed a common Finno-Ugric ancestry for the males of the neighbouring Balts, speakers of the Indo-European Baltic languages.

[9] The results suggest that the territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been settled by Finno-Ugric tribes since the early Mesolithic period.

[6] The Finnic peoples share a common cultural heritage: the art of ancient "rune" (poem) singing in the Kalevala meter, estimated to be 2,500–3,000 years old.

The ancient rune singing has inspired the creation of the national epic of Finland, Kalevala compiled by Elias Lönnrot, and the music of Arvo Pärt, the best-known Estonian composer in the classical field.

[13] Bone and stone artefacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in Latvia, northern Lithuania and southern Finland.

This marks the beginning of the Neolithic, Until the early 1980s, the arrival of Finnic peoples, the ancestors of the Estonians, Finns, and Livonians on the shores of the Baltic Sea around 3000 BC, was associated with the Pit–Comb Ware culture However, such a linking of archaeologically defined cultural entities with linguistic ones cannot be proven and it has been suggested that the increase of settlement finds in the period is more likely to have been associated with an economic boom related to the warming of climate.

The majority of stones with man-made indents, which presumably were connected with magic designed to increase crop fertility, date from this period.

The opening chapter of the Old East Slavic Primary Chronicle (early 12th century) lists the following peoples living "in the share of Japheth" among others: Chud, Merya, Muroma, Ves, Cheremis, Mordvin, Chud Zavolochskaya ('beyond the portages'), Perm, Pechera, Sum (Suomi, possibly referring to Finns proper), Yam (Häme, referring to Tavastians), Yugra and Liv.

[20][21] The Chudes, as mentioned in the earliest East Slavic chronicles, are in a 12th-century context usually considered to be Estonians, although the name sometimes referred to all Finnic peoples in north-western Rus.

[20] In 1030 Yaroslav I the Wise invaded the country of the Chudes and laid the foundations of Yuriev (the historical Russian name of Tartu, Estonia).

When urbanization was peaking, less-numerous peoples rapidly lost capacity to maintain their village-based cultures and so were often assimilated to the mainstream society.