Sinking Coasts

Around 10,000 years ago, people lived in the exact place where the waves of the Baltic Sea now break. Stone Age hunters and gatherers could still travel on foot to Scandinavia. How did the Baltic Sea come into being? A research team made up of geoscientists, biologists, climatologists and archaeologists went in search of facts.

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Sinking Coasts: Episode 03, 29/04/2008

The Stone Age Under the Microscope

What tools did Stone Age people use to catch fish? Prehistorian Stefanie Klooß hopes to find answers at Wiligrad Castle. She is examining a Stone Age fish spear, a find from an underwater archaeological excavation in the Baltic Sea. But how is the type of wood identified? And what conclusions can the scientist draw from this? She searches for clues under the microscope....

At a glance

University: Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel
Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald
Frankfurt University
Leibniz University Hannover
Technische Universitaet Dresden
University of Hamburg
University of Rostock

Field of Research: Archaeology, Biology, Climatology, Geosciences, Zoology

Location: Ostsee

Episodes: 12

Season/Year: 1. Season/ 2008

Status: Finished

Topics: Wiligrad Castle, catching fish, tools, stone age, fish spears

15.04.2008

At the Bottom of the Baltic Sea

Littorina littorea: the common periwinkle provides some important answers in the quest for information on the creation of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic's secrets are not even close to being completely explored.

22.04.2008

Sea!

Schleswig State Archaeological Museum: by studying Stone Age bones zoologist Ulrich Schmölcke can draw conclusions on the evolution of the Baltic Sea coast. The objects he is investigating are animal bones from the Baltic Sea island of Rügen.

29.04.2008

The Stone Age Under the Microscope

What tools did Stone Age people use to catch fish? Prehistorian Stefanie Klooß hopes to find answers at Wiligrad Castle. She is examining a Stone Age fish spear.

06.05.2008

Diving into the Past

First we head for the open sea, and then for the deep sea to an area where the scientists suspect the remains of a sunken forest. The side scan sonar fish helps them in their search....

13.05.2008

C14 Clues

How can the finds from the sea bottom be dated as accurately as possible? Radiocarbon dating, or the C14 method for short, provides valuable information.

20.05.2008

How Old is the Forest

The underwater archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Stone Age forest in the Baltic Sea. Thorsten Westphal now dates the forest using tree slices.

27.05.2008

Baltic Sea History Book

In order to draw reliable conclusions on the future development of the Baltic Sea, the researchers must look at the past. But how can we retrace the climatic history?

03.06.2008

Underwater Excavations

On course for the Great Jasmund Bodden. Here, in 2003, researchers discovered traces of a Mesolithic coastal settlement below the waves at the Breetzer Ort site. A journey in time, back 7,000 years.

10.06.2008

A Big, Stone Age Catch

A number of dives are planned for today. Time is tight; everything needs to be finished by dusk. The finds are first exposed using a vacuum hose and excavating trowel.

17.06.2008

Stone Age Treasures

A storm is brewing: a good time to inspect and sort the finds. It is meticulous work. What will the scientists find in the wet, sieved material?

24.06.2008

6,000 Years Deep

Drilling in the mysterious depths of the Baltic Sea: in the Darß-Zingst Region, researcher Michael Naumann reconstructs coastal evolution with the aid of sediment cores.

01.07.2008

Puzzle Work

Nice clear curves are the result of four years of interdisciplinary work. The graphics show how many metres the water level on the Baltic Sea coast has risen in the past 8,000 years.

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