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2d ago

8,500-Year-Old Coastal Settlement Found Off Denmark in EU Seabed Project

Oxygen-poor sediments in the Bay of Aarhus preserved tools, bones and wood, offering a direct view of Mesolithic coastal life.

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Dendrochronologist Jonas Ogdal Jensen looks at a suspected Stone Age tree trunk, unearthed at an 8,500-year-old coastal settlement submerged in his lab at Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark. Aug.18, 2025. (AP Photo/James Brooks)
Underwater archaeologist Peter Moe Astrup inspects a tiny animal bone, unearthed at an 8,500-year-old Stone Age coastal settlement submerged by sea level rise in Bay of Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark. Aug.18, 2025. (AP Photo/James Brooks)
A suspected Stone Age tree trunk, unearthed at an 8,500-year-old coastal settlement submerged by sea level rise in the Bay of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark. Aug.18, 2025. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Overview

  • Divers excavated roughly 40 square meters at about 8 meters depth, recovering animal bones, stone tools, arrowheads, a seal tooth and a worked piece of wood.
  • The settlement dates to around 8,500 years ago during rapid post–Ice Age sea-level rise that drowned former coastlines and displaced hunter-gatherer communities.
  • Researchers describe the site as a time capsule where organic materials, including wood and hazelnuts, survived in an oxygen-free environment.
  • The discovery is part of a €13.2 million six-year EU-funded program involving Moesgaard Museum, the University of Bradford and Germany’s Lower Saxony Institute to map submerged Baltic and North Sea landscapes.
  • Analyses such as dendrochronology on submerged tree stumps are underway to refine dating and sea-level reconstructions, with follow-up dives planned off Germany and later at two North Sea locations.