Møllegabet II: A submerged Mesolithic settlement in southern Denmark

Langeland Museum's underwater investigations of the submerged Late Mesolithic Ertebølle settlement Møllegabet I, off the small southern Danish town of Ærøskøbing in 1976, heralded a new era in investigations of the archaeology of the Northern European Stone Age. The submerged Stone Age settlements and graves, which have subsequently been investigated in the Baltic Sea area and in Danish coastal waters, have proved to have excellent conditions for the preservation of structural remains and items of organic material. The latter have contributed much new knowledge concerning the very high level of woodworking expertise and associated decorative traditions, as well as providing important information on the economy and burial sites of the Mesolithic culture.The submerged settlements have also given valuable information about the substantial shifts which occurred between land and sea throughout the Stone Age in Southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany. In a couple of cases it has been possible to find and uncover settlements from a virtually unknown chapter of the Stone Age in Northern Europe, lying at the transition between the Maglemose and Kongemose cultures. The Møllegabet II-settlement was investigated between 1987 and 1993, and with this publication it is the first major submerged Danish Stone Age settlement to be published in detail in monographic form including several scientific contributions. The study area is situated at a depth of almost 5m below sea level and contains, in addition to an extremely well-preserved dwelling site from the Early Ertebølle Culture (c. 5000 BC), a somewhat later burial in a dug-out canoe of a young male.