Stone Age settlement and Holocene shore displacement in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area,eastern Gulf of Finland |
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| Authors: | Alar Rosentau Merle Muru Aivar Kriiska Dmitry A Subetto Jüri Vassiljev Tiit Hang Dmitry Gerasimov Kerkko Nordqvist Anna Ludikova Lembi Lõugas Hanna Raig Kersti Kihno Raivo Aunap Nikolay Letyka |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geology, University of Tartu, , 50411 Tartu, Estonia;2. Department of Geography, University of Tartu, , 51014 Tartu, Estonia;3. Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, , 51003 Tartu, Estonia;4. Department of Geography, Herzen State University, , 191186 St Petersburg, Russia;5. Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, , 19086 Tallinn, Estonia;6. Department of Archaeology, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, , 196140 St Petersburg, Russia;7. Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, , FIN‐00014 Helsinki, Finland;8. Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, , 196105 St Petersburg, Russia;9. Department of Archaeobiology and Ancient Technology, Tallinn Unversity, , 10130 Tallinn, Estonia |
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| Abstract: | Based on geological and archaeological proxies from NW Russia and NE Estonia and on GIS‐based modelling, shore displacement during the Stone Age in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area in the eastern Gulf of Finland was reconstructed. The reconstructed shore displacement curve displays three regressive phases in the Baltic Sea history, interrupted by the rapid Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions c. 10.9–10.2 cal. ka BP and c. 8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP, respectively. During the Ancylus transgression the lake level rose 9 m at an average rate of about 13 mm per year, while during the Litorina transgression the sea level rose 8 m at an average rate of about 7 mm per year. The results show that the highest shoreline of Ancylus Lake at an altitude of 8–17 m a.s.l. was formed c. 10.2 cal. ka BP and that of the Litorina Sea at an altitude of 6–14 m a.s.l., c. 7.3 cal. ka BP. The oldest traces of human activity dated to 8.5–7.9 cal. ka BP are associated with the palaeo‐Narva River in the period of low water level in the Baltic basin at the beginning of the Litorina Sea transgression. The coastal settlement associated with the Litorina Sea lagoon, presently represented by 33 Stone Age sites, developed in the area c. 7.1 cal. ka BP and existed there for more than 2000 years. Transformation from the coastal settlement back to the river settlement indicates a change from a fishing‐and‐hunting economy to farming and animal husbandry c. 4.4 cal. ka BP, coinciding with the time of the overgrowing of the lagoon in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area. |
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