At the award ceremony of the Northern German Science Prize 2024 in Hanover on December 4, 2024, the joint project ‘Discovery and research of large Stone Age structures at the bottom of the western Baltic Sea’ (SEASCAPES) coordinated by the IOW was honoured with a recognition prize of 10,000 euros.

The project SEASCAPES explores large underwater structures of Stone Age origin on the sea floor of the western Baltic Sea, which formerly was a terrestrial landscape. These unique archaeological sites can open up new perspectives on the prehistoric human societies. The hunter-gatherers who lived in northern Europe around 14,000 years ago after the last ice age have so far been regarded as highly mobile and not very territorial. However, the existence of man-made megastructures from this period would require a fundamental paradigm shift in this regard. Coordinated by the IOW, the University of Rostock, the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) and the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA) are also involved in SEASCAPES as project partners. In addition, the State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (LAKDMV) and the Archaeological State Office of Schleswig-Holstein are on board as the authorities responsible for cultural heritage protection.

By awarding the recognition prize, the jury particularly honoured the project’s specific reference to northern Germany, the successful further development of both – cooperation structures as well as the efforts to advance young scientists –, and, last but not least, the prospect of a major gain in scientific knowledge.

The Northern German Science Prize honours innovative, cross-state cooperation projects of social relevance and is endowed with a total of 250,000 euros. It is awarded every two years by the science ministries in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. In 2024, the prize was dedicated to collaborations in the humanities and social sciences. For the first time, three research projects were honoured with a main prize of 80,000 euros each, which went to projects at the universities of Hanover, Hildesheim and Rostock. For the first time, a recognition prize of 10,000 euros was also awarded.
Further information: www.norddeutscher-wissenschaftspreis.de