Amber from submerged settlements

One of the amber bears was found on the west coast of Fanø and another at Lild Strand in northern Jutland. But how have these small masterpieces from the Mesolithic period ended up on a beach, only to be found later by accident?

In the Stone Age the coastline was different from today. Since then the coastline has been influenced by later changes to the sea level as well as the rising up of the land after the last Ice Age. This rising of the land is still going on today. North of a line on the map the land has risen up and south of the line the coast has become submerged because of the subsequent rise in sea level. Therefore a proportion of Stone Age settlements south of the “tilt line” now lie under water or at the edge of the beach. Thus objects can be washed out in the sea and later be found on the beach.