&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "10,500-year-old wood under German lake could alter history of first human homes")
An underwater discovery in Germany could change scientists' understanding of early human society and push back the timeline of permanent settlements and "cultural landscapes" in Central Europe. Archaeologists have found prehistoric wooden remains dating back as far as 10,500 years in Lake Arendsee. Researchers from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt say that it could belong to permanent structures.
Harald Meller, a state archaeologist, said in a translated statement, "Besides the usual finds from this period, such as stone tools or animal bones, our divers were able to recover spectacular pieces of wood, which have very rarely survived from this era," that is, the time when hunter-gatherers lived.
What was found in the lake?
The wooden remains were extremely well-preserved because they were covered by a thin layer of sediment at around 65.6 feet. This discovery includes a post over 5 feet tall with felling marks and slit boards up to 4.3 feet long.
"The finds shed a completely new light on the Mesolithic period, for which traces of buildings in Central Germany have so far only been known in the form of soil discolourations."
They believe that it is possible that the wood was modified by hunter-gatherers. If it came from permanent structures, then this could mean they were built at least 3,000 years before previously believed.
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The Mesolithic Period marked a transition between Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers. This period was roughly 12,025 to 6,025 years ago. This is the time when people started gathering in small communities and early agricultural practices started taking off.
What does the discovery change?
The felling marks and slit boards discovered in Lake Arendsee indicate that the wood could be parts of built structures, such as huts or another entirely new class of wooden buildings. Traditionally, the creation of permanent settlements and "cultural landscapes" in Central Europe is credited to the first Neolithic farmers who arrived around 5,500 BCE, or 7,525 years ago.
“If permanent buildings or intensively cultivated living spaces already existed 10,500 years ago—that is, 3,000 years before the arrival of the first farmers with their longhouses in Central Europe- then this "changes the understanding of hunter-gatherers, but also the origins of modern cultural landscapes," Marcel Weiss, project manager from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, said.
