Swedish divers unearth a 'Stone Age Atlantis': 11,000-year-old ancient settlement discovered under the Baltic Sea

• Divers found a harpoon, tools, horns and the bones of ancient cattle 
  
• The bones belonged to the animal auroch last seen in the early 1600s
• Archaeologists believe these relics date back to the Stone Age
• It is said to be the oldest settlement in the area - dubbed Sweden’s 'Atlantis'
  

By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON

PUBLISHED: 16:06 GMT, 27 January 2014 | UPDATED: 17:16 GMT, 27 January 2014

Divers in Sweden have discovered a rare collection of Stone Age artefacts buried deep beneath the Baltic Sea.

Archaeologists believe the relics were left by Swedish nomads 11,000 years ago and the discovery may be evidence of one of the oldest settlements ever found in the Nordic region.

Some of the relics are so well preserved, reports have dubbed the find 'Sweden’s Atlantis' and suggested the settlement may have been swallowed whole by the sea in the same way as the mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The artefacts were discovered by Professor Bjorn Nilsson from Soderton University, and a team fromLunds University, during an archaeological dive at Hano, off the coast of Skane County in Sweden.

Buried 16 metres below the surface, Nilsson uncovered wood, flint tools, animal horns and ropes.

Among the most notable items found include a harpoon carving made from an animal bone, and the bones of an ancient animal called aurochs.

Aurochs are ancestors of modern-day cattle and lived through Europe before becoming extinct in the early 1600s. The last reported auroch died in Poland in 1627. 

This find is significant because it suggests a date for when these items would have been used.

Many of the artefacts have been preserved because the diving location is rich in a sediment called gyttja.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2546720/Swedish-dive...