Archaeology Around 10,500-year-old paddle fragment discovered in Germany

Researchers have discovered a fragment of a paddle around 10,500 years old during excavations in the Duvenseer Moor in Schleswig-Holstein. Following the discovery of the Duvensee paddle in 1925, this is the second find of its kind, said excavation manager Harald Lübke.

It is not as well preserved as the famous find 99 years ago. "But it clearly shows the typical shape of the time, because you can actually place it one-to-one on the old paddle blade," Lübke told the German news agency DPA.

Although the handle is broken off, the shoulder section is clearly preserved. "These paddles are important evidence of early mobility on the water. Comparable finds can only be found at the Star Carr site in the north of England, whose paddles are somewhat older," said Lübke.

The site has long been a hotspot for archaeologists. They have been digging there again and again for around 100 years. There are more than 20 sites, including Stone Age dwellings. When these were still inhabited, the last ice age was already several thousand years ago. The Baltic Sea as we know it today did not yet exist, instead there were many lakes.

No boat found yet

Lübke does not assume that the hunters and gatherers lost the fragment while paddling on the lake, as was presumably the case with the 1925 find. "It is much more normal for such pieces to be used for so long that they accidentally break at some point. That's obviously what happened here and this fragment ended up in the shore zone by chance."

The researcher hopes to one day find the remains of a hunter-gatherer boat. "The question of whether people back then used simple dugout canoes or even ribbed boats covered with birch bark or animal skins has long been an open question in archaeology. The Duvenseer Moor could provide us with important answers here." The discovery of such a boat would be the main prize for him.