Why is it in the News?

A megastructure found in the Baltic Sea may represent one of the oldest known hunting structures used in the Stone Age — and could change what’s known about how hunter-gatherers lived around 11,000 years ago.

About the Blinkerwall:

• The Blinkerwall is the oldest known megastructure crafted by humans in Europe.
• It is around a kilometre-long structure that lies hidden in the Bay of Mecklenburg, submerged under 21 metres of water.
• It consists of approximately 1,400 smaller stones intricately positioned to connect almost 300 larger boulders, some of which were deemed too massive for human groups to have manoeuvred.
• The total weight of the wall's stones exceeds 142 tonnes, making it improbable that natural processes, such as tsunamis or glacial movements, formed it.
• It likely dates back over 10,000 years, sinking beneath rising sea levels around 8,500 years ago.
• This positions it among the oldest known examples of hunting architecture globally and potentially designates it as the oldest man-made megastructure in Europe.

About the Baltic Sea:

• The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed inland sea situated in Northern Europe.
• As an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean, it stretches northward from the latitude of southern Denmark nearly to the Arctic Circle, acting as a divider between the Scandinavian Peninsula and the rest of continental Europe.
• With a coastline spanning approximately 8,000 km, the Baltic Sea is bordered by several countries, including Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, and Russia.
• Covering an area of around 377,000 sq.km, the sea measures approximately 1,600 km in length and 193 km in width.
• It is linked to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal and to the North Sea's German Bight through the Kiel Canal, while it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Straits.
• The Baltic Sea encompasses three significant gulfs: the Gulf of Bothnia to the north, the Gulf of Finland to the east, and the Gulf of Riga slightly to the south.
• Renowned as the world's largest brackish inland water body, the Baltic Sea exhibits lower water salinity levels compared to the World Oceans due to freshwater influx from the surrounding land and its shallow depth.
• More than 250 rivers and streams discharge into the Baltic Sea, with the Neva River being the largest among them.
• The sea boasts over 20 islands and archipelagos, with Gotland, located off the coast of Sweden, ranking as the largest island in the Baltic Sea.