Prehistoric settlements and Holocene relative sea-level changes in northwest Sjælland, Denmark

Abstract

The topographic and geographic distribution of the Mesolithic and Neolithic habitations seen today in the Saltbæk Vig area, north-west Sjælland are directly related to relative sea-level changes of the Littorina Sea. The archaeological data indicate that the settlements changed their topographic positions from lower to higher ground. This pattern is explained by a rising relative sea-level during the Atlantic and early Subboreal period. Geological investigations of this phenomenon focused on changes in relative sea-level documented by the sedimentary record. At Smakkerup Huse, a late Mesolithic site, a sequence of stacked transgressive and regressive sediment deposits confirmed that the occupation coincided with a slowing rate of relative sea-level rise and beginning of relative sea-level fall during the late Atlantic period. The timing of the changes in relative sea-level was obtained by radiocarbon measurements of wood and bone fragments together with implements retrieved from contemporaneous sediment deposits. A rise in relative sea-level during the early Subboreal forced the inhabitants at Smakkerup Huse and in the Saltbæk Vig area to relocate to higher grounds.