18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Germany: 700-year-old Causeway Found Under Central Berlin Street

Archaeologists from the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (LDA) made a sensational find during their excavation at Molkenmarkt: about 2.50 m below Stralauer Straße, they came across a medieval plank embankment.

This is the earliest fortification of Stralauer Straße from the medieval founding period of Berlin in the 13th century reports Archaeology News Network. Initial wood samples revealed a felling date of around 1238 (tree ring analysis).

The embankment was constructed with oak, pine, and birch wood. The substantial wooden fortification of the road here near the Spree allowed safe passage from the Mühlendamm to the Stralauer Tor through the extremely damp terrain near the river. The stub embankment has been exceptionally well maintained due to a thick covering of peat that has kept the timbers airtight for over 700 years.

The structure has a width of 6 meters (19.6 feet) and runs for at least 50 meters (164 feet) with the planks laid down in three layers. The top layer consists of debarked trunks (with the bark of the tree removed to prevent rotting) that lie side by side across the embankment, resting on three longitudinal parallel beams.

Defects in the top layer were covered up with small boulders, and sand was also employed to smoothen the edges, according to a press release by the State Monuments Office Berlin. The top layers of the road were also dated to the Middle Ages.

“The complex wooden fortification of the road here near the Spree enabled a safe passage from Mühlendamm in the direction of Stralauer Tor over the very wet ground near the river,” says the same report from the State Monuments Office.

The archaeological investigations aim to precisely investigate the construction and extent of the road and to narrow down its age. All phases of the construction are being documented with modern technology. Due to the laying of the new electricity and gas lines, most of the medieval substances will be destroyed.

Related Articles

A wash-basin decorated with 2500-year-old Mythological creatures and Chariot races was discovered in Izmir, Turkey

28 September 2022

28 September 2022

Unique ceramic figures were discovered in the excavations carried out this year in the ancient city of Klazomenai in the...

Archaeologists Discovered a Luxury Roman Village in Southeastern Sicily

17 October 2024

17 October 2024

In the province of Catania, archaeologists have excavated the remains of a Roman house with a mosaic floor dating from...

3,500-Year-Old Hittite Linen Fabric Exhibited for the First Time

10 March 2025

10 March 2025

A remarkable artifact, a piece of Hittite linen fabric dating back 3,500 years, has been publicly exhibited for the first...

Klazomenai, ceramic center of ancient period was found the first seal belonging to the city

20 November 2022

20 November 2022

A seal belonging to the city was found for the first time during excavations in the ancient city of Klazomenai...

A Fig Dating Back Over 2,000 Years has been Discovered in North Dublin – A First of Its Kind for Ireland

28 November 2024

28 November 2024

The discovery of a fig dating back 2,000 years during an archaeological excavation of Drumanagh in north Dublin, has been...

Evidence of Medieval Plague Victims Buried With “Significant Care” Found

23 June 2021

23 June 2021

The Black Death, which killed between 40 and 60% of Europe’s population in the mid-14th century, was a devastating epidemic...

Storms uncover precious marble cargo from a 1,800-year-old Mediterranean shipwreck in Israel

15 May 2023

15 May 2023

Numerous rare marble artifacts have been found at the site of a 1,800-year-old shipwreck in shallow waters just 200 meters...

1,600-year-old fragment Of Enigmatic Roman Artifact Discovered In Belgium

17 February 2023

17 February 2023

A metal detectorist in Belgium discovered a piece of a mysterious bronze artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron, which is...

Over 4 feet long sword found in a medieval grave in Sweden

29 December 2023

29 December 2023

An unusual and exciting discovery was made during archaeological research at Lilla Torg in the port city of Halmstad on...

The World’s Oldest Mummies “Chile’s Ancient Mummies Older than Egypt’s”

20 February 2024

20 February 2024

At the beginning of the 20th century, mummies dating back 2000 years before the Egyptians were found in the Atacama...

1,400-year-old coins found in a piggy bank in ancient city of Hadrianopolis

3 January 2024

3 January 2024

Archaeologists unearthed a collection of 10 coins believed to date back nearly 1,400 years, retrieved from what appears to be...

The 11-meter giant statue of the island of Naxos “Dionysus of Apollonas”

22 March 2023

22 March 2023

One of the two ancient marble quarries, thought to have begun the sculpture, the greatest art of antiquity, is located...

1st Century BCE Medusa Mask Mold Discovered in Ancient Finziade, Sicily

24 January 2025

24 January 2025

At the Finziade archaeological site in the Sicilian town of Licata, archaeologists have discovered a mask mold that could represent...

Ancient cooking vessel found in northern Minnesota dates back more than 1,600 years

28 February 2022

28 February 2022

Dating of Ceramic sherds found in 2003 at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota revealed the vessel...

A 2900-year-old collection of fossilized shark teeth found in the City of David, one of Jerusalem’s oldest Parts

5 July 2021

5 July 2021

Scientists discovered an inexplicable collection of fossilized shark teeth at a 2900-year-old archaeological site in Jerusalem’s City of David, one...