12000-year-old Stone Age wall discovered at bottom of Baltic Sea

In an unusual discovery, a stone age wall has been unearthed in the Baltic Sea, which might stand as Europe's oldest man-made megastructure, thereby offering a fascinating glimpse into the practices of early hunter-gatherer communities.

If reports are to go by, the wall is estimated to be more than 8,500 years old, the kilometer-long wall, dubbed the Blinkerwall, is believed to have served as a tool for directing reindeer by ancient hunter-gatherers.
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Reports further add that the accidental discovery occurred in September 2021 when students on a training exercise with the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde in Germany stumbled upon the peculiar structure. Less than a meter in height, the wall comprises numerous large rocks intricately connected by over 1,500 smaller stones, forming a pattern so regular that researchers consider a natural origin improbable.



Using multibeam sonar technology, the students mapped the seafloor off the coast of Germany, near the town of Rerik. Geophysicist Jacob Geersen noted, "Afterward, in the lab, we realized that there was this structure that looked natural. It was only when we contacted the archaeologists that we understood it could be something significant."

Situated 21 m underwater, the Blinkerwall likely predates the last Ice Age, approximately 8,500 years ago, as sea levels rose significantly during this period. Hunting walls, a traditional method for capturing herds of animals like antelope, were likely employed to trap reindeer using this particular structure.
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Marlize Lombard, a Stone Age Archaeology professor at the University of Johannesburg, highlighted the significance of such hunting walls, explaining that they were designed to guide animals parallel to obstacles rather than encouraging them to leap over barriers. The Blinkerwall specifically targeted reindeer, which inhabited the region around 11,000 years ago.

This discovery holds importance in enhancing our understanding of early hunter-gatherer communities and their survival strategies. Additionally, it opens avenues for scientists to explore other submerged Stone Age walls, submerged beneath the waters, providing valuable insights into ancient human practices and interactions with their environment.