We present early to mid-Holocene palaeocoastline reconstructions for the Tolkuse-Rannametsa area on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Riga. Radiocarbon-dated sediment stratigraphies and diatom analyses, supported by ground-penetrating radar data and GIS-based modelling, were used in the palaeogeographical reconstructions to strip back younger sediments and landforms from the LiDAR-derived digital elevation model. The reconstructions show an open coast environment during the Ancylus Lake stage and the formation of a peatland after the lake drainage at about 9000-8600 cal. a BP. The waters of the Litorina Sea flooded the study area between 8200 and 7700 cal. a BP, forming a 25-km-long and up to 5.5-m-deep lagoon with two connections to the sea. This brackish water lagoon existed in the area for about 4000 years and terminated around 3800-3500 cal. a BP as a result of isostatic uplift and growth of the barrier spit. The reconstructions illustrate the relationships between the lagoonal system and three Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement sites found in the study area. A comparative analysis which besides palaeogeographical and ecological data included a data set with more than 100 Stone Age sites from the eastern Baltic region, was used to propose the most suitable locations for coastal settlements in the Tolkuse-Rannametsa area. However, some of these areas are presently covered by a peat layer that is several metres thick, which may explain the relative scarcity of the archaeological finds on the shores of the palaeo-lagoon. The proposed multiproxy approach has the capability to delimit the areas that would have been favourable for prehistoric habitation, but might not be observable in the present-day topography. In return, this increases the likelihood of locating any well-preserved preserved settlement sites and artefacts that are buried under the protective sediment layer.Hando-Laur Habicht (hando-laur.habicht@ut.ee)and Raivo Aunap, studies and was incorporated into the current study for detailed palaeogeographical reconstruction of a palaeo-lagoon system in the coastal zone of the Gulf of Riga, the Baltic Sea.
The shore displacement and palaeogeography of the Pärnu Bay area, eastern Baltic Sea, during the Stone Age, were reconstructed using sedimentological and archaeological proxies and GIS-based landscape modelling. We discovered and studied buried palaeochannel sediments on the coastal lowland and in the shallow offshore of the Pärnu Bay and interpreted these data together with previously published shore displacement evidence. The reconstructed relative shore-level (RSL) curve is based on 78 radiocarbon dates from sediment sequences and archaeological sites in the Pärnu Bay area and reported here using the HOLSEA sea-level database format. The new RSL curve displays regressive water levels at −5.5 and −4 m a.s.l. before the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions, respectively. According to the curve, the total water-level rise during the Ancylus Lake transgression (10.7–10.2 cal. ka BP) was around 18 m, with the average rate of rise about 35 mm per annum, while during the Litorina Sea transgression (8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP), the water level rose around 14 m, with average rate of 12 mm per annum. During the short period around 7.8–7.6 cal. ka BP, the RSL rose in Pärnu, but probably also in Samsø (Denmark), Blekinge (Sweden) and Narva-Luga (NE Estonia–NW Russia), faster than the concurrent eustatic sea level calculated from the far-field sites. The palaeogeographic reconstructions show the settlement patterns of the coastal landscape since the Mesolithic and provide new perspective for looking Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement sites on the banks of the submerged ca. 9000 years old river channel in the bottom of the present-day Pärnu Bay.
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