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indicated that the site belongs to an aceramic phase of the Ertebølle culture; a series
of
14
C dates places the site in the period between 5,100 and 4,800 cal. BC (Hartz
and Lübke
2006
).
The neighbouring site, Timmendorf-Nordmole I, is also of great scientific value:
settlement remains of the late Ertebølle culture were investigated at a depth of
2.5-3.5 m below the present sea level. They were radiocarbon dated to the period
between 4,400 and 4,100 cal. BC. On this site, a pit was excavated that was covered
with a number of long logs and poles that could originally have been a roof or cover-
ing for some structure. In the heterogeneous sediment that filled the pit, a truncated
blade was found with a well-preserved handle made of hazel wood and lime-baste
binding (Lübke
2003
,
2005
).
Another site was discovered at Timmendorf-Tonnenhaken, 2 m below the present
sea level (Lübke
2002
). It is situated on a former peninsula and has a cultural layer
with well-preserved artefacts made of stone, bone and antler. Potsherds were also
found here, which prove that this site was occupied by people of the early Neolithic
Funnel Beaker culture. This chronology is confirmed by
14
C dates between 3,200
and 2,700 cal. BC and by the fact that all the bone material is from domesticated
animals, e.g. cattle or pigs.
A further objective of the SINCOS project was the calculation of a new sea-level
curve based mainly on geological and palynological data but also using
14
C dates
from well-stratified archaeological sites (Lampe et al.
2005
). When all these data are
plotted on this curve, there is a high degree of concordance between the different
sources, which emphasizes the significance of archaeology-based data from sites
that were occupied for only a short time (Fig.
15.11
).
The situation mentioned above for the south-western Baltic rim is completely
different from that in the central and northern parts of the Baltic area. While the late
Mesolithic settlements in the Wismar Bight were flooded, the simultaneous strong
isostatic uplift in the north caused new land to emerge. This is especially well docu-
mented in several studies of sea-level development in central and northern Sweden
(Rosentau et al.
2007
). These prove that although the shore-displacement tendency
in the area is generally well known, only a detailed examination of the available
records and data, on both a local and a regional scale, allows a detailed picture to
be drawn of the respective developments of the eustatic rise in sea level and the
isostatic rebound.
To illustrate the opportunities and challenges presented by the comparative and
combined interdisciplinary investigation of coastal change, shore displacement and
settlement history as discussed in this chapter, the Södertörn peninsula to the south
of Stockholm can be regarded as a model region (Björck et al.
1999
). The area
was completely inundated by the waters of the Baltic Ice Lake and the Yoldia Sea
and then re-emerged as a result of the continuous process of isostatic uplift at the
time of the Ancylus Lake period. During the Mesolithic period, the area was an
archipelago that offered favourable conditions for communities of hunters and fish-
ermen (Olsson and Risberg
1995
). Thanks to heritage-based rescue excavations and
research programs, a large number of archaeological sites of the Mesolithic and
