The Underwater Discovery That Could Rewrite European Prehistory

Scientific tests suggest that a major aspect of the Neolithic agricultural revolution may have reached Britain 2000 years earlier than previously thought. David Keys, Independent Waking Times Scientific tests suggest that a major aspect of the Neolithic agricultural revolution may have reached Britain 2000 years earlier than previously thought. Remarkable new archaeological discoveries are likely to completely rewrite a key part of British prehistory. The research – carried out by scientists at the universities of Bradford, Birmingham and Warwick – reveal that wheat, probably already ground into flour, was being used at a Mesolithic Stone Age site in around 6000 BC. The discovery – just published in the academic journal, Science – is likely to be viewed with some degree of consternation by many archaeologists because it completely changes accepted views of what happened in Britain (and indeed most of western Europe) in pre-Neolithic times. The species of domesticated wheat – an early form, known as einkorn – was identified by scientists from the University of Warwick, using DNA analysis. Although no einkorn seeds as such were found, a small discrete area of intense einkorn DNA was detected when geneticists tested samples of sediment, recovered by archaeologists from an underwater Mesolithic site in the Solent, just off the coast of the Isle of Wight. The area was dry land 6000 years ago – but within 30 or 40 years had been permanently inundated by the sea, as a result of melting Arctic and other glaciers following the end of the Ice Age. This underwater discovery could be set to rewrite Britain’s prehistoric past (The Maritime Archaeology Trust/Roland Brookes) The einkorn DNA – from a substantial quantity of the cereal, most likely in flour form – was recovered by archaeologists from the Maritime Archaeology Trust from a layer of sediment which had lain buried several metres below the seabed. Associated material (mainly fragments of wood) was dated by radio carbon ‘Bayesian’ dating techniques to between 6010 BC and 5960 BC. Garry Momber, Director of the Maritime Archaeology Trust says that it is “one of the richest collections of pre-Neolithic worked timbers ever found in Britain or elsewhere in Europe” (The Maritime Archaeology Trust/Roland Brookes) The underwater location of the site is potentially very significant – because there are no other such indications of Neolithic influence in northwest Europe until around 5300 BC at the earliest.



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