Discovering Stone Age Secrets in the Bay of Aarhus

Bay of Aarhus (Denmark), Aug. 26 (AP) In the depths of the Bay of Aarhus in northern Denmark, archaeologists are delving into ancient coastal settlements long submerged by rising sea levels over 8,500 years ago.

This summer, researchers dove approximately 26 feet beneath the waters close to Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, where they collected evidence from a Stone Age settlement lying on the seabed.

Their efforts form part of a six-year international venture worth 13.2 million euros ($15.5 million), funded by the European Union, for mapping sections of the Baltic and North Sea seabeds. Participants include researchers from Aarhus, the UK's University of Bradford, and the Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research in Germany.

The initiative aims to uncover submerged Northern European landscapes and forgotten Mesolithic settlements as offshore wind farms and marine infrastructure proliferate.

Peter Moe Astrup, leading the underwater excavations in Denmark, noted that most evidence of such settlements had been uncovered inland from ancient Stone Age coasts.

“Here, we actually have an old coastline. We have a settlement that was positioned directly at the coastline,” he explained. “What we actually try to find out here is how was life at a coastal settlement.” Following the last ice age, colossal ice sheets thawed, causing sea levels to rise, submerging Stone Age settlements and driving hunter-gatherers inland.

Approximately 8,500 years ago, sea levels increased by about 6.5 feet per century, Moe Astrup said.

He and his colleagues from the Moesgaard Museum in Højbjerg, near Aarhus, have excavated around 430 square feet of this newly uncovered settlement near the current coastline.

“Rising sea levels preserved history 'like a time capsule.’”

Initial dives recovered remnants like animal bones, stone tools, arrowheads, a seal tooth, and a tiny piece of worked wood, possibly a tool. The team is meticulously examining the site, using an underwater vacuum to gather material for further analysis.

They aspire to discover harpoons, fishhooks, or remnants of fishing structures.

“It’s like a time capsule,” Moe Astrup elaborated. “When sea level rose, everything was preserved in an oxygen-free environment... time just stops.” He added, "We find completely well-preserved wood... hazelnut... Everything is well preserved.”

Excavations in the calm and shallow Bay of Aarhus, along with dives off Germany’s coast, will be succeeded by studies in the more challenging North Sea locations.

Among the submerged areas is Doggerland, a once vast terrain connecting Britain and continental Europe, now beneath the southern North Sea.

Danish scientists are utilizing dendrochronology, the analysis of tree rings, to chart the swift sea rise historically.

Submerged tree stumps encased in mud and sediment provide precise dating, indicating when coastal forests succumbed to rising tides.

“We can say very precisely when these trees died at the coastlines,” said Jonas Ogdal Jensen, dendrochronologist at Moesgaard Museum, as he examined a piece of Stone Age tree trunk under a microscope. “That tells us something about how the sea level changed through time.”

As modern society grapples with sea level increases from climate change, these researchers aim to illuminate how Stone Age civilizations adapted to shifting coastlines over eight millennia ago.

“It’s hard to answer exactly what it meant to people,” Moe Astrup remarked. “But it clearly had a huge impact in the long run because it completely changed the landscape.” Global sea levels rose by an average of 4.3 cm over the decade leading to 2023. (AP) SCY SCY

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