Scientists Discover the Oldest Man-Made Megastructure Beneath the Baltic Sea

A group of scientists have stumbled upon a perplexing rock formation beneath the surface of the Baltic Sea. They are now convinced that this is an ancient megastructure, a testament to a long-lost culture that thrived in the region thousands of years ago.

Back in 2021, marine biologist Jacob Geersen was tasked with conducting a week-long field course at the University of Kiel. He, alongside many students, would spend a week aboard a ship in the Bay of Mecklenburg, just off Germany’s North coast in the Baltic Sea.

Speaking with NPR News, Geersen explained, “The next day, we downloaded the data, and it was then when we were sitting together, we saw that there was something on the seafloor. It was something special.”

The Bay of Mecklenburg has fluctuated between high and low sea levels since the last glacial period carved it out in Europe. Despite its history of flooding, people settled in the region intermittently.

Initial inspections appeared to suggest the unusual rock formation was some kind of wall. While some claimed it was a feat of nature, others weren’t so sure, suggesting it was perfectly aligned as if constructed by human hands.

Divers carried out further investigations at the site before a study was conducted and shared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An archaeological diving team confirmed that they photographed sections of the wall, revealing that the Blinkerwall, constructed with 288 very large boulders connected by 1,673 smaller stones, was made by human hands.

During the Late Upper Palaeolithic, people marked significant hallmarks in technological innovation amidst rising sea levels.

The German researchers later used sediment dating techniques, suggesting that Blinkerwall was created between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago during the middle of the Mesolithic period.

Geersen is highly convinced the rock formation was constructed by human hands. During an interview with CNN, he said, “Our investigations indicate that a natural origin of the underwater stonewall as well as its construction in modern times, for instance, in connection with submarine cable laying or stone harvesting, are not very likely.”

While the Blinkerwall now sits under 70 feet of water, researchers believe it was constructed above ground, likely on the shoreline of a bog or lake 10,000 years ago.

According to researchers, the wall may have been built as a way sort of driving wall that could be used to hunt reindeer, a pivotal source of food for those living in this part of Northern years thousands of years ago.

The Blinkerwall could demonstrate that Palaeolithic hunters were managing their landscape to help in their daily hunting activities. The wall severed to separate enclosed farmland from the landscape, and to direct prey movements to a location where they are more vulnerable to attack.

According to the study’s co-author, Dr. Marcel Bradtmöller, the wall was constructed to help the Stone Age inhabitants trap and kill migrating deer.

The Stone Age residents of Northern Germany used a variety of hunting instruments, including spears, bows, and arrows. However, at one point, they realized they could corner the animals by forcing them to follow the wall’s path.

The similarity of Blinkerwall to other structures and its construction near a body of water suggests that ancient humans created the wall for the same purpose, utilizing the nearby water as part of their hunting strategy.

While there is no archaeological evidence at Stellmoore that suggests people deliberately changed or created structures that would help their chances during the hunt, the topography of the landscape shows evidence that the hunters knew the lay of the land well enough to use it to their advantage.

The Blinkerwall construction also provides evidence that Paleolithic people recognized and understood their prey’s instincts well enough to predict their movements.

The discovery of this ancient structure holds important information about hunting architecture in Europe nearly 11,700 years ago. The Blinkerwall demonstrates that people at the end of the last glacial period engineered highly skilled and specialized hunting strategies.

The research conducted at the Blinkerwall has given scientists a much deeper understanding of the hunters living in this region close to the Baltic Sea, according to Bradtmöller.

The Blinkerwall is likely one of the oldest known examples of hunting architecture in the world, potentially predating a desert hunting “kite” known as Jibal al-Gadiwiyt in Jordan by a thousand years.

Researchers hope to find further archaeological evidence of significance in the Bay of Mecklenburg and the Doggerland stretch of land, potentially uncovering another wall or similar structures buried under the sedimentation of the ancient lake.

If Blinkerwall served as an ancient hunting lane, it was likely constructed over 10,000 years ago and subsequently submerged beneath rising sea levels about 8,500 years ago.

Researchers are hoping to study the landscape further, hoping to find weapons, tools, or other animal remains that could reveal information about the nature and duration of their use.