The present work is concerned with a simple transformation rule in finding out the composite elastic coefficients of a thinly layered laminated medium whose bulk properties are strongly anisotropic with a microelastic bending rigidity. These elastic coefficients which were not known completely for a layered laminated structure, are obtained suitably in terms of initial stress components and Lame's constants λ i , μ i of initially isotropic solids. The explicit solutions of the dynamical equations for a prestressed thinly layered laminated medium under horizontal compression in a gravity field are derived. The results are discussed specifying the effects of hydrostatic, deviatoric and couple stresses upon the characteristic propagation velocities of shear and compression wave modes.