When the municipality of Sölvesborg expands the Ljungaviken area with more housing, stone-age finds must first be saved from the construction site. The ground is rough on objects that are thousands of years old.

- The area holds a rich cultural history and we do the largest archaeological survey in Blekinge in ten years. At several meters depth below the ground there is a larger settlement from the Hunter Stone Age. The people here lived in a hunter and gatherer community and lived by hunting and fishing, says Mikael Henriksson, archaeologist at Blekinge Museum.

Neighbors with the ancestors

The newly settled will become neighbors with the remains of their ancestors. In the area there have been people living for at least 8,000 years.

- We expect to find remains from homes, buildings and fireplaces. We also expect to find tools from wood, bones and horns as well as other objects such as bows and canoes, says Mikael Henriksson.

Bargains on bargains

The reason the land is roughing up on a treasure of stone-age finds is that the forces of nature surprised the people who lived here 8,000 years ago. The sea rose, the water swallowed the area and put people's homes under the seabed. There, the remains have been preserved for millennia.

- That the Stone Age people's settlements have been underwater and well-preserved makes this type of research very interesting. We at Blekinge Museum lead the excavations, but we collaborate with archaeological experts from Skåne, Småland and Halland. This work will contribute with important puzzle pieces in the story of Listerland and Blekinge's oldest origins, says Mikael Henriksson.

Both the excavation site and the finds are planned to be shown to the public during the work.