Ruud Streefkerk

This is a part of the coast on the Baltic Sea in Poland. The Baltic Sea is a sea-arm of the North Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Baltic States and the northern European plain in Germany. It is one of the largest brackish inland seas, formed by glacial erosion during the last ice age. In Medieval times the sea was known under different names. The word Baltic was probably derived from the Latin word for band or belt: balteus, and related to the Danish word 'Baelt' for strait.   On this stretch of beach on the Baltic Sea in Poland we see a layer of peat. On this spot stumps of an ancient forest of oak trees, 3000 years old, were exposed by the sea. By recent storms a few hundred meters of dune near the village of Rowy were washed away and revealed the tree stumps. They were probably destroyed by a large forest-fire. Because the stumps were covered in the course of centuries by salt water and sand, they remained almost intact as well as parts of the peat-soil in which they grew.