A stone age wall discovered beneath the waves off Germany’s Baltic coast may be the oldest known megastructure built by humans in Europe, researchers say.
The wall, which stretches for nearly a kilometre along the seafloor in the Bay of Mecklenburg, was spotted by accident when scientists operated a multibeam sonar system from a research vessel on a student trip about 10km (six miles) offshore.
Closer inspection of the structure, named the Blinkerwall, revealed about 1,400 smaller stones that appear to have been positioned to connect nearly 300 larger boulders, many of which were too heavy for groups of humans to have moved.
The submerged wall, described as a “thrilling discovery”, is covered by 21 metres of water, but researchers believe it was constructed by hunter-gatherers on land next to a lake or marsh more than 10,000 years ago.
While the purpose of the wall is hard to prove, scientists suspect it served as a driving lane for hunters in pursuit of herds of reindeer.
Constructed more than 10,000 years ago. That could have been before the last ice age. Incredible find.
The last Glacial Period (aka Ice Age) lasted between 115000 years ago to about 11700 years ago. Roughly. So constructed more than 10000 years ago still putsit after the glacial period but could very well have been built by the first groups in the thawed area. Who knows, perhaps they could see glaciers to their north?
The fact it‘s so submerged and likely wasn‘t found until recently suggests the water levels were much lower than today or even some thousands of years ago. Late ice age seems plausibles from that standpoint. Also 11700 years ago kind of qualifies as „more than 10000 years ago“ right?
Water levels were lower during the glacial periods because of all the water in those frozen glaciers. The brittish islands were connected to mainland Europe for example. So there really isn’t that much of a suggestion that sea levels were lower, established science that.
The original commentator probably got dates (or zeroes) mixed up. More than ten thousand years ago definitely doesn’t put anything on the other side of the last glacial period (one hundred and twenty thousand tears ago).
An interesting side note is that due to the sea level rise many of the first human settlements of the Americas are now well under water and possibly lost forever. This makes dating the human arrival very difficult as we only have later very much inland settlements to go by.
presumably the water was locked up in ice - I suspect that no one really knows when the wall was constructed
The glacier would move the stones if it would have been built before ice age. The big stones were most probably left there by the glacier and the wall was built after it receded.
This is a great find.
We like to think we are leaps ahead of our ancestors in terms of ingenuity and problem solving but real difference has only been our few millennia of technological advancement. They were every bit as ingenious and as excellent problem solvers as we are today. Their craftsmanship and cunning never ceases to amaze me.
They were every bit as ingenious and as excellent problem solvers as we are today.
It isn’t like they are around to be harmed but it stuff like ancient aliens still bothers me for their lack of respect. Can we just acknowledge that every age had smart humans and hard working humans and humans who took pride in what they could do and humans that were really good at motivating others humans to work together. Why not let the dead have their honor? It costs us nothing.
A project manager I work with I sometimes imagine being involved in the construction of the pyramids. Running around with a clay tablet and screaming at the suppliers for “more stones damn it!” “Give me some good news, tell me the Phrahoh looks healthy today and won’t die soon”
A lifetime ago I used to work in the construction field. I have every respect for the people who planned and built the pyramids. The level of coordination, resource management, engineering expertise would have rivalled the biggest projects of the modern day.
Sometimes its nice to be reminded we haven’t advanced all that far. For all the machinery and gadgetry we have today, some of the works still require the same techniques and methods used by our ancient ancestors. Like shifting heavy equipment onto its final position. Like rolling it on top of steel pipes and then using a bunch of pulleys and levers to just jimmy it to its exact angle required. For all the laser levellers we have, sometimes nothing beats a bit of clear tubing, water, string and a good eye to level a final coat of flooring.
While the purpose of the wall is hard to prove, scientists suspect it served as a driving lane for hunters in pursuit of herds of reindeer.
Just imagine the caveman who sold that vaporware giggling that he convinced everyone to help him stack those rocks…because it was cool!
