Giant prehistoric structure 970 meters long discovered underwater in the Baltic Sea

Geologists have discovered a 970-metre-long (970-metre-long) gigantic structure made of stones arranged in a straight line on the ocean floor at a depth of 21 meters in Mecklenburg Bay in the Baltic Sea. 

This massive structure is made up of around 1,500 stones and large boulders and was built around 11,000 years ago during the Early Mesolithic period.  

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), this massive structure was created by Stone Age hunter-gatherers, who drove herds of  Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) that migrated seasonally across sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscapes. It is said that it was built for hunting. 

Similar structures, so-called driveways, are used to manipulate the  direction of movement of animals, making it easier to trap animals  in small areas and kill them. In the  Mecklenburg Bay example, this bottleneck is located between the adjacent lakeshore and  wall, or even within the lake.  Marcel Bradmeler from the University of Rostock said: ``If natural processes and  modern origins are excluded, this stone wall could only have been built after the end of the last ice age, when the landscape had not yet been flooded by the Baltic Sea.'' ” he said. 

"At this time, the total population of all of Northern Europe was probably less than 5,000 people. One of their main food sources was reindeer herds that moved seasonally through a sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscape. ” Bradmeler added. 

Image Credit : Michał Grabowski

According to the researchers, this discovery is of great scientific importance as it not only represents the oldest known human structure  in the Baltic Sea, but also provides new insights into the habits of early hunter-gatherer societies. It is said that 

Further investigation of the stone walls and  seabed will include the use of sidescan sonar, sediment sonar, and multibeam sonar. Additionally, underwater archaeologists from the University of Rostock and archaeologists from  LAKD M-V will explore the stone wall and its surroundings in search of archaeological remains that may contribute to a deeper understanding of the significance of this structure.