Hjarnø Sund – all year, all inclusive. A submerged Late Mesolithic coastal site with organic remains

ABSTRACT

Between 2009 and 2016, a series of investigations were undertaken at a submerged settlement of the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord, Denmark. The work was prompted by the discovery in 2008 that heavy erosion of a gyttja deposit containing archaeological remains had resulted in artefacts of bone, antler and, not least, wood becoming exposed on the seabed. The investigations revealed that occupation of the site, with a few exceptions, dates to the first half of the Ertebølle culture (5400–4700 BC). In addition to numerous well-preserved artefacts made of organic materials, several areas were found to contain intact shell layers from submerged kitchen middens. Deposits of this kind have not previously been demonstrated in Denmark.

KEYWORDS:

• Ertebølle
• submerged prehistory
• mesolithic
• organic material
• kitchen midden
• shell mounds
• prehistoric coastlines
• wooden artefacts

Acknowledgments

This article is dedicated to the memory of Jesper Frederiksen who contributed to the excavations both as a conservator and as a professional diver.

The authors wish to thank Dr David Earle Robinson and cand.mag. Anne Bloch for translation and language revision of this article.

We also wish to thank amateur archaeologists and sport divers Jesper Lindstrøm, Mona Nielsen, Alice Flejsborg, Alice and Svend Amlund, Jens Kærgaard, Michael Vendelbjerg, Jens Bjerregaard, Peter Bue Westh and Jens Skovgaard.

Notes

1. Thanks to O. Uldum, Langelands Museum and K. Sparvath, Strandingsmuseum St. George for participating in the excavation 2015.

2. The plant macro-remains were analysed by Marianne H. Andersen; the wood identifications were undertaken by Janni K. Larsen and Karen V. Salvig, and the zoological analyses were performed by Kenneth Ritchie, Susanne Østergaard and Jacob Kveiborg, all from the Department of Environmental Archaeology and Conservation, Moesgaard Museum.

3. Thanks to amateur archaeologists and sports divers Mona Nielsen, Alice Flejsborg, Jesper Lindstrøm, Svend Amlund, Alice Amlund, Jens Kjærgaard, Michael Vendelbjerg, Peter Bue West, Jens Skovgaard and Lars Bjerregaard, who have made outstanding contributions to the investigations at Hjarnø.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces.