US EditionDivers Discover Massive 7,000-Year-Old Undersea Wall Off Coast of France
The 120-meter granite wall, the largest underwater structure in France, may have served as fish traps or sea defenses requiring advanced Neolithic engineering.
- On Dec 11, divers reported a long-submerged wall off the Ile de Sein, Brittany, dating from between 5,800 and 5,300 BC and measuring roughly 120m, alongside a dozen smaller manmade structures.
- Dating analysis shows the structures date from between 5,800 and 5,300 BC and now lie 9m underwater, with researchers suggesting they functioned as fish traps or protective walls amid sea-level rise ~8,500 years ago at 6.5 feet per century.
- Retired geologist Yves Fouquet first spotted the features on 2017 seabed charts, and divers mapped granite blocks weighing several tonnes during surveys between 2022 and 2024.
- The study published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology this week and reported by BBC and Agence France‑Presse highlights new prospects for underwater archaeology, with co-author Yvan Pailler saying it helps understand coastal societies and study authors speculating it inspired Breton sunken city legends.
- Preservation in a low-oxygen seabed means the site is like a time capsule, and the discovery follows other underwater finds including a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater about six months earlier.
12 Articles
12 Articles
A 120-metre-long structure built approximately 7,000 years ago was identified under the sea in the Brittany region, west of France. The stone wall, which today remains submerged near the Île de Sein, represents one of the oldest coastal constructions in Western Europe. The research, published on December 9 in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, points out that the structure is composed of granite alignments distributed at about ni…
Archaeologists Discover 7,000-Year-Old Undersea Wall in France
A massive undersea wall in France dating back to 5,000 BC. Credit: Yves Fouquet / CC BY 4.0 Marine archaeologists uncovered a massive 7,000-year-old undersea wall off the coast of Brittany in France. Stretching 120 meters (394 feet) long and weighing an estimated 3,300 tonnes, the stone formation is believed to be the largest underwater construction ever found in the country. Researchers say the wall dates back to around 5,000 BC and may have be…
A monumental submerged site, nine metres below sea level, has been discovered on the island of Sein, east of the point of Raz (Finistry). It is a 120-metre long stone wall. It is surmounted by 62 monoliths and large slabs, aligned on two parallel lines, reports Le Monde, Wednesday 10 December. This granite construction weighing hundreds of tons was built by man 7,000 years earlier, according to the first estimates. At one time, the sea level was…
The discovery of an ancient granite wall off the coast of Brittany surprises scientists. It lies nine meters below sea level. What it served for is still unclear.
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