4 ms·

Huge undersea wall dating from 5000 BC found in France

27 points by neversaydie 10mo ago

felixhammerl 10mo ago
Reminds me of Doggerland: https://youtube.com/shorts/Afwxk4peYys https://youtube.com/shorts/Afwxk4peYys
- poulpy123 10mo ago
  The place was part of doggerland
  - manarth 10mo ago
    Good comment, thanks. Doggerland is often thought of as the North Sea section surrounding Doggerbank as it is today, but as you've highlighted, it actually extended much further and as far south as Britanny.
Suppafly 10mo ago
I don't understand these articles, they found 400' of wall and only have one picture in the article that shows like 3' of it.
- manarth 10mo ago
  The BBC can unfortunately often be light on details for articles such as this. Heritage Daily has an article with more details, undersea mapping, photos, and cites the source (the International Journal of Nautical Archeaology). https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/12/network-of-submerged-stone-structures-rewrites-early-european-prehistory/156573 https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/12/network-of-submerged-s...
  - teruakohatu 10mo ago
    That is a much better article. It is not a wall, but rather a “network of submerged stone structures”.
FloorEgg 10mo ago
~5500 years old is the youngest plausible age based on historical sea levels. We assume anything older than that has to be hunter gatherers. Personally I'm skeptical and think this is more evidence that points at much more advanced and older civilizations than what archeology seems willing to entertain right now.
- manarth 10mo ago
  We've known that humans have been harnessing natural fire (e.g. sticks/vegetation set alight by lightening) for over a million years. However, until last week, we thought that the earliest point of humans _deliberately creating_ fire – e.g. through flint and tinder – was 50,000 years ago. A new find has dated the first instance of deliberate fire to be 400,000 years ago (probably by early Neanderthals). So I agree - the archaeological evidence and our interpretation of history is spotty at best. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/man-made-fire-350000-years-earlier-than-previously-known-after-discovery-in-suffolk https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/man-made-fir...

27 points by neversaydie 10mo ago

felixhammerl 10mo ago

Reminds me of Doggerland: https://youtube.com/shorts/Afwxk4peYys https://youtube.com/shorts/Afwxk4peYys

poulpy123 10mo ago
The place was part of doggerland
- manarth 10mo ago
  Good comment, thanks. Doggerland is often thought of as the North Sea section surrounding Doggerbank as it is today, but as you've highlighted, it actually extended much further and as far south as Britanny.

Suppafly 10mo ago

I don't understand these articles, they found 400' of wall and only have one picture in the article that shows like 3' of it.

manarth 10mo ago
The BBC can unfortunately often be light on details for articles such as this. Heritage Daily has an article with more details, undersea mapping, photos, and cites the source (the International Journal of Nautical Archeaology). https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/12/network-of-submerged-stone-structures-rewrites-early-european-prehistory/156573 https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/12/network-of-submerged-s...
- teruakohatu 10mo ago
  That is a much better article. It is not a wall, but rather a “network of submerged stone structures”.

FloorEgg 10mo ago

~5500 years old is the youngest plausible age based on historical sea levels. We assume anything older than that has to be hunter gatherers. Personally I'm skeptical and think this is more evidence that points at much more advanced and older civilizations than what archeology seems willing to entertain right now.

manarth 10mo ago
We've known that humans have been harnessing natural fire (e.g. sticks/vegetation set alight by lightening) for over a million years. However, until last week, we thought that the earliest point of humans _deliberately creating_ fire – e.g. through flint and tinder – was 50,000 years ago. A new find has dated the first instance of deliberate fire to be 400,000 years ago (probably by early Neanderthals). So I agree - the archaeological evidence and our interpretation of history is spotty at best. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/man-made-fire-350000-years-earlier-than-previously-known-after-discovery-in-suffolk https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/man-made-fir...