A prehistoric stone wall more than half a mile long has been discovered on the floor of the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg off the coast of Germany. Around 11,000 years old, it is the oldest human-made structure in the Baltic Sea and one of the documented human-made hunting structures in the world. More than a half mile long, it is also one the largest known Stone Age structure in Europe.
It is composed of 1,673 individual boulders placed next to each other for 971 meters along what was the shore of a lake before rising sea levels submerged it around 8,500 years ago. The deliberate alignment of the stones, the way smaller stones were used to connect larger three-foot boulders and the length of the wall indicates this was a megastructure built by Neolithic people, not a natural development caused by movement of glaciers.
The stones were first spotted by geologists investigating natural formations of manganese crusts on the seabed of Mecklenburg Bay in 2021. They reported the find to the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation who arranged for a team of multi-disciplinary researchers to investigate the structure. They used submersibles to collected sediment samples, created a detailed 3D model of the wall from geophysical data and dove the site to explore the wall close-up.
From the sediment samples, researchers were able to date construction to around 11,000 years ago in the early Mesolithic period. It was built by hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area and was likely a drive lane (a means to control the movement of animals to force them into a restricted space or, in this case, the lake itself) used to hunt migrating Eurasian reindeer. Prehistoric stone walls like these have been found elsewhere in the world (Jordan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Greenland, the United States) but are all but unknown in Europe. The closest comparable example was found at the bottom of Lake Huron in Michigan where a stone wall was used to hunt migrating caribou 9,000 years ago. It is much shorter a wall than the Mecklenburg megastructure — 98 feet versus 3186 feet.
The stone wall and the surrounding seabed will be investigated in more detail using side-scan sonar, sediment echo sounder and multibeam echo sounder devices. Additionally, research divers from the University of Rostock and archaeologists from the LAKD M-V are planning further diving campaigns to search the stone wall and its surroundings for archaeological finds that could help with the interpretation of the structure.
Luminescence dating, which can be used to determine when the surface of a stone was last exposed to sunlight, may help in determining a more precise date that the stone wall was constructed. Furthermore, the researchers intend to reconstruct the ancient surrounding landscape in more detail.
“We have evidence for the existence of comparable stone walls at other locations in the Mecklenburg Bight. These will be systematically investigated as well,” explains Jens Schneider von Deimling from Kiel University.
The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and can be read here.
Jengo la kale la mawe lenye urefu wa zaidi ya kilomita moja limegunduliwa kwenye bahari ya Baltic katika Ghuba ya Mecklenburg, Ujerumani. Kwa miaka 11,000 hivi, ni jengo la kale zaidi lililojengwa na binadamu katika Bahari ya Baltic na moja ya majengo ya uwindaji yaliyoandikwa na binadamu ulimwenguni. Kwa urefu wa zaidi ya nusu maili, pia ni mojawapo ya majengo makubwa zaidi ya Enzi ya Jiwe yanayojulikana huko Ulaya. Mwamba huo umefanyizwa na miamba 1,673 iliyowekwa kando ya mwamba kwa urefu wa mita 971 kwenye eneo ambalo lilikuwa pwani ya ziwa kabla ya kuongezeka kwa kiwango cha bahari kuificha miaka 8,500 iliyopita. "Utaratibu wa kuweka mawe pamoja, jinsi mawe madogo yalivyotumiwa kuunganisha mawe makubwa ya mita tatu, na urefu wa ukuta huo, zinaonyesha kwamba ni jengo kubwa lililojengwa na watu wa enzi ya Neolithic, na si maendeleo ya asili yaliyosababishwa na mwendo wa barafu.""" Mawe hayo yaligunduliwa na wataalamu wa jiolojia waliochunguza miundo ya asili ya makapi ya manganese kwenye sakafu ya bahari ya Ghuba ya Mecklenburg mwaka wa 2021. Miongoni mwao ni Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation, ambayo inawakilisha kazi ya utafiti wa kihistoria. Kwa kutumia chombo cha chini ya maji, walichukua sampuli za matope, wakaunda mfano wa kina wa 3D wa ukuta kutoka kwa data ya kijiografia, na kupiga mbizi kwenye tovuti ili kuchunguza ukuta kwa karibu. Kwa kutumia sampuli za mchanga, watafiti waliweza kuamua kwamba ujenzi huo ulifanyika miaka 11,000 hivi iliyopita katika kipindi cha mapema cha Mesolithic. Mto huo ulianzishwa na wawindaji-wakusanyaji ambao waliishi katika eneo hilo na pengine ulikuwa njia ya kuendesha gari (njia ya kudhibiti harakati za wanyama ili kuwalazimisha kuingia katika nafasi ndogo au, katika kesi hii, ziwa lenyewe) iliyotumiwa kuwinda reindeer wa Eurasia wanaohama. Kuta za mawe za kabla ya historia kama hizi zimepatikana mahali pengine ulimwenguni (Jordani, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Greenland, Marekani) lakini hazijulikani kabisa huko Ulaya. Mfano wa karibu zaidi ulipatikana chini ya Ziwa Huron huko Michigan, ambapo ukuta wa mawe ulitumiwa kuwinda caribou waliohama miaka 9,000 iliyopita. Mzunguko wa ukuta wa Mecklenburg ni urefu wa mita 98 na mita 318. Ukuta wa mawe na sakafu ya bahari inayozunguka itachunguzwa kwa undani zaidi kwa kutumia sonar ya kutafiti upande, vifaa vya kusikiliza sauti ya sediment na vifaa vya kusikiliza sauti ya multibeam. Kwa kuongezea, watafiti wa utafiti kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Rostock na wataalamu wa akiolojia kutoka LAKD M-V wanapanga kampeni zaidi za kupiga mbizi kutafuta ukuta wa mawe na mazingira yake kwa ajili ya uvumbuzi wa akiolojia ambao unaweza kusaidia na tafsiri ya muundo. Luminiscence dating ni njia ya kujua wakati mwamba ulipokuwa wazi kwa jua kwa mara ya mwisho na inaweza kusaidia kuamua tarehe sahihi ya ujenzi wa ukuta. Isitoshe, watafiti hao wanataka kurekebisha kwa undani zaidi mandhari ya kale iliyozunguka eneo hilo. <unk>Tuna uthibitisho wa kuwepo kwa kuta za mawe zinazolingana katika maeneo mengine katika Ghuba ya Mecklenburg. Hizi pia zitachunguzwa kwa utaratibu, "anaeleza Jens Schneider von Deimling kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Kiel. Utafiti huo umechapishwa katika Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences na unaweza kusomwa hapa.