Archaeologists discovered a submerged settlement of the Stone Age under the waters of Denmark

• The research of the submerged settlement of the Stone Age is ongoing in the waters of the Orkney Islands.
• The project is funded by the European Union and involves international cooperation.
• The artifacts found may help understand how humans adapted to climate change.

In the waters of Orkney in Denmark, archaeologists are studying the submerged settlements that were submerged beneath the sea level around 8500 years ago. This summer, divers explored a depth of about 8 meters near Orkney, the second largest city in Denmark, and collected evidence of the Stone Age settlement from the seabed.

This research is part of an international project worth 13.2 million euros, funded by the European Union. It involves researchers from Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The aim of the project is to map parts of the seabed of the Baltic and North Seas, as well as to study submerged landscapes of Northern Europe.

Sea level rise after the last glacial period

Petro Moie Astryup, an underwater archaeologist overseeing the research, notes that most of the finds were previously found at the edge of the coast, but here an ancient shoreline has been discovered directly at the settlement site. According to him, after the last glacial period, massive ice sheets melted, and the sea level rose, submerging the settlement of the Stone Age.

Approximately 8500 years ago, the sea level rose by 2 meters relative to the present. Researchers found on the day of the dive in the Orkney waters animal bones, stone tools, arrowheads, teeth of seals, and pieces of processed wood, likely simple instruments.

Preservation of history as a "time capsule"

Researchers describe the discovered materials as a "time capsule," since the seabed preserved them in conditions without oxygen. They hope to find even more artifacts, such as harpoons or traces of fishery constructions.

Further excavations are being conducted in the rocky and shallow waters of Orkney, as well as in deeper conditions of the North Sea. To study the speed of sea level rise, Danish researchers use dendrochronology, studying the annual rings of trees.

This research may help understand how the societies of the Stone Age adapted to changes in the environment, as today's world faces similar challenges due to climate change.

Tags: Europe/Research