Oldest Man-Made Megastructure in Europe
A Stone Age hunting wall, estimated to have been built more than 8,500 years ago to hunt reindeer, has been discovered in the Baltic Sea. The kilometer-long wall, dubbed the Blinkerwall, is made up of several large rocks linked together by over 1,500 smaller stones.
Accidental Discovery
The wall was stumbled upon in September 2021 by students on a training exercise with the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde in Germany. Using a multibeam sonar to map the seafloor near the town of Rerik, the students uncovered the structure 21 meters under the sea. The alignment of stones is so precise that a natural origin is deemed unlikely by researchers.
Significance of the Discovery
Experts believe that the hunting wall was used to corral reindeer, which inhabited the region 11,000 years ago. This finding sheds light on early hunter-gatherer communities and their survival strategies. The discovery could lead to the identification of other Stone Age walls submerged underwater, offering a deeper understanding of ancient civilizations.
This groundbreaking discovery was detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, marking a significant milestone in archaeological research.