Sensational find in Lake Arendsee: 10,500-year-old wood discovered

A sensational discovery of approximately 10,500-year-old, well-preserved wood was made during underwater archaeological investigations in Lake Arendsee (Altmarkkreis). “The pieces show traces of processing and, according to initial findings, could have belonged to former wooden structures,” said the project manager of the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt, Marcel Weiß. “We are currently checking whether these are the remains of huts, other buildings or previously unknown structures.”

Villages in Central Germany earlier than previously assumed

The Arendsee finds date back to around 3,000 years before the first farmers arrived in Central Germany. “If it turns out that the wood actually represents an indication of a much earlier and more intensive shaping of the landscape by hunters and gatherers, this would have consequences for the understanding of hunter-gatherer societies and for the development of human-shaped cultural landscapes,” said Weiß. The site is approximately 20 meters deep. According to the LDA, the spectacular finds include, among other things, an approximately 1.60 meter high pole with traces of felling. In addition, split boards up to 1.30 meters long were recovered.

Evidence of designed living spaces

The findings could close a research gap. “In addition to the finds usually preserved from this period, such as stone tools or animal bones, our divers were able to recover spectacular pieces of wood that have only very rarely been preserved from this era,” said state archaeologist Harald Meller. “The finds open up a new perspective on the Mesolithic period.”

The Mesolithic, as archaeologists call the Middle Stone Age, began in Central Europe after the end of the last Ice Age. At that time, people did not yet live as farmers in permanent settlements. They lived, among other things, by hunting, fishing and gathering plant food and moved in different habitats depending on the season and available resources.

Arendsee preserves traces from different eras

According to the LDA, the fact that sensitive organic materials were able to survive in Lake Arendsee over such long periods of time is due to a special geological situation. While many inland bodies of water become increasingly silted up over the millennia, the bottom of Lake Arendsee is slowly sinking due to geological processes. The cause is an underground salt dome. As a result, earlier bank areas and the archaeological traces they contained were covered with sediment. The conditions under water largely prevented the wood from decomposing and ensured its exceptional preservation.

Underwater robot maps the former shore

After the discovery in spring 2026, further samples and individual finds were recovered. This is intended, among other things, to determine the age and spatial extent of the site more precisely. Together with Fraunhofer IOSB-AST in Ilmenau, the archaeologists used a so-called Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV). The remotely controlled underwater robot made high-resolution sonar scans.

The images are intended to document the relief of the former lake shore. The precise spatial allocation of the individual sites enables the researchers to narrow down possible additional areas of discovery and to prepare future archaeological dives in a more targeted manner.

The entire underwater landscape is to be reconstructed

“The support of underwater work with the most modern technologies developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Ilmenau is of inestimable value for archeology,” said Sven Thomas, head of diving operations at the LDA at Arendsee. The combination of classic diving archeology and modern remote sensing is intended to not only secure individual finds. The researchers want to reconstruct, if possible, the entire landscape in which people lived around Lake Arendsee around 10,500 years ago.

During previous investigations, Neolithic fish fences were discovered in Lake Arendsee. Archaeologists also found a high medieval flat-bottomed cargo ship, a so-called Prahm, and a late medieval dugout canoe.