Archaeologists from the Saxony-Anhalt Office for Heritage have uncovered wooden artifacts from Lake Arendsee in Germany, dating back approximately 10,500 years. The discovery, made in late September 2026 and reported by the magazine Scinexx, includes a pole and several planks found at a depth of around 20 meters. These Mesolithic artifacts may suggest more complex constructions by early humans than previously believed for that time period. The artifacts consist of a wooden pole roughly 1.6 meters long, marked with tool impressions from when the tree was cut down, and several split planks up to 1.3 meters in length. The entire collection was discovered beneath a thin layer of sediment at the lakebed. These items could be remnants of dwellings or other structures built by hunter-gatherer communities. However, further analysis is required to confirm their exact form and function. If such ancient constructions are verified, it would represent a major breakthrough in understanding prehistoric human activity. The preservation of the wood is due to a unique geological feature. Lake Arendsee is situated over a salt dome that slowly sinks, causing the ancient shoreline to be submerged and sealed under layers of sediment. This process has protected the wood from decay. Without oxygen in the mud, the wood avoided the rot that would have destroyed it in open air. Organic materials from this era are extremely rare, as few survive such a long time. These artifacts date back to the Mesolithic period, when Central Europe had not yet adopted agriculture—some 3,000 years before the arrival of the first farmers. Until now, evidence of Mesolithic habitation in this region has been inferred from changes in soil color, rather than from actual wooden remains. While similar findings have been made at sites like Star Carr in England, such perishable materials are still uncommon. To better understand the lakebed, the team used underwater archaeology, deploying a remotely operated robot equipped with high-resolution sonar. Future dives are expected to uncover more pieces, allowing for more precise dating and a clearer picture of any potential structures. The discovery raises important questions about whether these early communities built durable structures near water, three millennia before the advent of farming in Central Europe. If confirmed, it would significantly reshape the understanding of Mesolithic life and human adaptation to their environment.