EAA 2021 Virtual Excursion: Hidden treasures in the Wadden Sea

The Wadden Sea along the German North Sea coast forms an aquatic landscape with a rich archaeological heritage. Natural and human influenced dynamics and repeated catastrophic storm events have constantly reshaped the marshes and tidal flats throughout history, forcing the coastal communities to find strategies of adaptation to these changes. The tidal flats and young marshes conceal traces of medieval and early modern settlements and their cultural landscapes. The film introduces you to the archaeological fieldwork carried out in the Wadden Sea and particularly on the small North Frisian island of Hallig Hooge. Here an interdisciplinary team investigates the early to late medieval settlement patterns as well as the causes and dynamics of the rise and decline of the early settlements on the tidal flats. Geophysical prospections and aerial drone-photography are coupled with geoarchaeological investigations and archaeological surveys. In their research, the scientists are faced with a special challenge: due to the tides, the sea reveals the seafloor only for a few hours a day.