Stone Age Settlements Found Underwater in Britain

SlowwHand · September 12, 2003, 09:49

Now we know where the Provost hails from.

Thu Sep 11, 5:38 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists have stumbled across the first underwater evidence of Stone Age settlements in Britain.

A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England say they found flint artifacts including tools and arrowheads off the coast near Tynemouth during a training session to prepare them for dive searches elsewhere.

They say the items pinpoint two sites dating as far back as 10,000 years ago which would once have been on dry land but were gradually submerged as sea levels rose after the end of the last Ice Age. Dr. Penny Spikins, the archaeologist leading the team, said she had originally applied for funding to search for this type of site in Scotland and had been amazed to find the items lying undisturbed on the sea bed near such a built-up area.

"It was a totally stunning find really because although we'd prepared ourselves to be looking for these type of sites... we hadn't really started the project when we already came across these types of artifacts," she told Reuters.

"These sites are set to provide us with a unique opportunity to begin to understand early Mesolithic coastal occupation," Spikins said.

According to the team, one site dates back to the late Mesolithic period 8,500 to 5,000 years ago while the other, found further out to sea, is thought to be early Mesolithic -- 8,500 to 10,000 years ago.

Mesolithic people were hunter-gatherers and lived in the Middle Stone Age which began around 10,000 years ago.

Datajack Franit · September 12, 2003, 09:51

If those mummies wear ugly clothes, then they're germans

Edan · September 12, 2003, 09:52

And we learn from this that the anicent britons used to breath under water.

SlowwHand · September 12, 2003, 09:58

It may be why they handle that clammy, foggy weather so well.

Harry Seldon · September 12, 2003, 10:01

David Gemmel speaks the truth! The world has turned on its side in the past and will again! Jon Shannow will ride again!

Urban Ranger · September 12, 2003, 23:17

It'd be much easier to move to the area where London is over the channel from the continent than going to Scotland by sea.

Lancer · September 12, 2003, 23:42

Who knew, all those thousands of years ago, that their offspring would one day achieve such greatness as to be allies of the United States.

Verres · September 13, 2003, 10:05

Quote:

They say the items pinpoint two sites dating as far back as 10,000 years ago which would once have been on dry land but were gradually submerged as sea levels rose after the end of the last Ice Age.

you mean they didnt live underwater??? All my illusions of the magical mermaid kingdom have been destroyed!

Paul Hanson · September 13, 2003, 12:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
Who knew, all those thousands of years ago, that their offspring would one day achieve such greatness as to be allies of the United States.

What an honour.

monolith94 · September 13, 2003, 13:16

I believe one spells it 'honor'.

C0ckney · September 13, 2003, 13:25

bloody yanks

el freako · September 13, 2003, 13:35

Aww, come on C0ckney give them a break.

I mean they have so little of their own history they probably feel the need to rubbish ours - it's a sign of cultural insecurity.

Ted Striker · September 13, 2003, 14:37

Maybe you can gather some statistics on that one.

Gatekeeper · September 13, 2003, 15:08

Fascinating. It makes you wonder how many other Stone Age settlements throughout the world were submerged, and if any of them were advanced enough — i.e., maritime cultures — at the time of their demise to achieve a form of immortality as Atlantis.

Gatekeeper

monolith94 · September 13, 2003, 15:12

"it's a sign of cultural insecurity"

Says a person who's country's main contribution to culture is the locked-room mystery and funny teeth.

Sava · September 13, 2003, 15:13

Can we put David Blaine underwater so someone can find him in 10,000 years?

Stefu · September 13, 2003, 17:20

Come on, you know he's manage to stay alive with his amazing Blaine powers. I mean, aren't we supposed to leave a better world for future generations? Even future generations 10,000 years away deserve a life without ponce stuntsmanship.

molly bloom · September 14, 2003, 22:07

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
"it's a sign of cultural insecurity"

Says a person who's country's main contribution to culture is the locked-room mystery and funny teeth.

William Shakespeare wrote locked-room mysteries? I thought that was John Dickson Carr.

Geoffrey Chaucer had funny teeth? Don't you mean George Washington?

Or was that Jane Austen you were thinking of?

Or Henry Purcell? William Blake, perhaps? John Milton?

Capability Brown? Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Isaac Newton?

No, must be the Venerable Bede you were thinking of. Or Roger Bacon. Or Locke. No, I know, it was George Eliot. Or Charles Dickens. Or perhaps Abraham Darby.

No, no, it was Edwin Lutyens. David Hockney? Nicholas Hilliard? Thomas Tompion? William Byrd? The Gawaine Poet? John Keats? Mary Shelley? Eleanor Marx? Virginia Woolf ? Edward Elgar? John Dunstable? The architects of Salisbury, Durham and Lincoln Cathedrals? Alfred Waterhouse? Alan Turing?

But then such mockery is only to be expected from a country whose main contributions to culture are Jerry Springer and Velveeta.