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Bay of Aarhus, Denmark — Below the acheronian bluish waters of the Bay of Aarhus successful bluish Denmark, archaeologists hunt for coastal settlements swallowed by rising oversea levels much than 8,500 years ago.
This summer, divers descended astir 26 feet beneath the waves adjacent to Aarhus, Denmark's second-biggest city, and collected grounds of a Stone Age colony from the seabed.
It's portion of a $15.5 cardinal six-year planetary task to representation parts of the seabed successful the Baltic and North Seas, funded by the European Union, that includes researchers successful Aarhus arsenic good arsenic from the U.K.'s University of Bradford and the Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research successful Germany.
The extremity is to research sunken Northern European landscapes and uncover mislaid Mesolithic settlements arsenic offshore upwind farms and different oversea infrastructure expand.
A diver excavates an 8,500-year-old Stone Age coastal settlement, submerged by oversea level emergence successful the Bay of Aarhus, Denmark. Aug.8, 2025.
Søren Christian Bech/AP
Most grounds of specified settlements truthful acold has been recovered astatine locations inland from the Stone Age coast, said underwater archaeologist Peter Moe Astrup, who's starring underwater excavations successful Denmark.
"Here, we really person an aged coastline. We person a colony that was positioned straight astatine the coastline," helium said. "What we really effort to find retired present is however was beingness astatine a coastal settlement."
After the past crystal age, immense crystal sheets melted and planetary oversea levels rose, submerging Stone Age settlements and forcing the hunter-gatherer quality colonisation inland.
About 8,500 years ago, oversea levels roseate by astir 6.5 feet per century, Moe Astrup said.
Moe Astrup and colleagues astatine the Moesgaard Museum successful Højbjerg, conscionable extracurricular Aarhus, person excavated an country of astir 430 quadrate feet astatine the tiny colony they discovered conscionable disconnected today's coast.
Early dives uncovered carnal bones, stones tools, arrowheads, a seal tooth, and a tiny portion of worked wood, apt a elemental tool. The researchers are combing the tract metre by metre utilizing a benignant of underwater vacuum cleaner to cod worldly for aboriginal analysis.
Underwater archaeologist Peter Moe Astrup holds a portion of worked wood, apt a elemental tool, discovered astatine an 8,500-year-old Stone Age coastal colony submerged by oversea level emergence successful the Bay of Aarhus, Denmark. Aug.18, 2025.
James Brooks/AP
They anticipation further excavations volition find harpoons, fishhooks oregon traces of sportfishing structures.
"It's similar a clip capsule," Moe Astrup said. "When oversea level rose, everything was preserved successful an oxygen-free situation … clip conscionable stops."
"We find wholly well-preserved wood," helium added. "We find hazelnut. ... Everything is good preserved."
Excavations successful the comparatively calm and shallow Bay of Aarhus and dives disconnected the seashore of Germany volition beryllium followed by aboriginal enactment astatine 2 locations successful the much inhospitable North Sea.
The oversea level emergence thousands of years agone submerged, among different things, a immense country known arsenic Doggerland that connected Britain with continental Europe and present lies underneath the confederate North Sea.
To physique a representation of the accelerated emergence of the waters, Danish researchers are utilizing dendrochronology, the survey of histrion rings.
Submerged histrion stumps preserved successful mud and sediment tin beryllium dated precisely, revealing erstwhile rising tides drowned coastal forests.
"We tin accidental precise precisely erstwhile these trees died astatine the coastlines," Moesgaard Museum dendrochronologist Jonas Ogdal Jensen said arsenic helium peered astatine a conception of Stone Age histrion trunk done a microscope.
"That tells america thing astir however the oversea level changed done time."
As today's satellite faces rising oversea levels driven by clime change, the researchers anticipation to shed airy connected however Stone Age societies adapted to shifting coastlines much than 8 millennia ago.
"It's hard to reply precisely what it meant to people," Moe Astrup said. "But it intelligibly had a immense interaction successful the agelong tally due to the fact that it wholly changed the landscape."
Sea levels roseate by a planetary mean of astir 1.7 inches successful the decennary up to 2023.
Denmark has seen respective important archaeological discoveries successful caller years, including a metallic detectorist's stunning find aboriginal past twelvemonth of golden ring acceptable with a reddish semi-precious chromatic that researchers hoped would shed airy connected the country's past during the aboriginal mediate ages.
Officials astatine the National Museum of Denmark announced that find aft the centuries-old ring, believed to person been owned by a subordinate of the royal household immoderate 1,400 years ago, was transferred from a antithetic depository nearer to the find tract successful the south, adjacent the German border.
That find came conscionable weeks aft archaeologists found a tiny weapon inscribed with runic letters dated to the archetypal oregon 2nd period AD, oregon astir 2,000 years ago. It was the oldest hint of penning ever recovered successful Denmark, according to the Museum Odense.
Runes, oregon runic letters, are the oldest alphabet known to person been utilized successful Scandinavia, having been successful usage for astir 1,000 years until they were mostly replaced by the Latin alphabet erstwhile Christians started spreading their content strategy successful the 10th century.
Earlier this year, officials announced that a portion of fossilized vomit, dating backmost to erstwhile dinosaurs roamed the earth, was discovered successful Denmark.
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