Marine 3D Seismic Investigation of a Late Ertebølle Culture Settlement

We document the development of a very high resolution marine 3D seismic system that allows for fast, large scale and routine prospection in very shallow water (> 0.5 m). A case study based on results from the youngest survey conducted off the western shore of Poel Island (Wismar Bay, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Germany) is presented. Since 1998 investigations on Stone Age settlements took place in this area discovering more than 20 new sites with different degrees of preservation. The investigation focussed on "Timmendorf-Nordmole I", a coastal settlement of the late Ertebølle culture. Technical difficulties, such as array reverberations which occur when using a rigid hydrophon array will be discussed.