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No. 128

Doggerland

Underwater Underwater
From source: North Sea coastline reconstructions for: a) Doggerland c. 10 000 cal BP; b) Dogger Archipelago c. 9000 cal BP; c) Dogger Archipelago c. 8200 cal BP; d) Dogger Littoral c. 7000 cal BP (image by M. Muru).
James Walker, Vincent Gaffney,Simon Fitch,Merle Muru, Andrew Fraser, Martin Bates and Richard Bates, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Where
North Sea
Built by
Mesolithic hunters
Era
until about 6500 BCE
Known for
The lost land that once joined Britain to Europe.
How it went under
Rising seas, finished off by the Storegga tsunami.
From source: British Palaeogeography MIS25 - 11. a and b. major pre-MIS 12 fluvial systems which were removed or diverted by the Anglian glaciation, with the Solent River beyond the ice sheet limit; c. the MIS 13 Westbou
Marcus Hatch, Pierre Voinchet, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Simon Lewis, CC BY 4.0
From source: Palaeoenvironmental maps depicting highstand and lowstand scenarios at the time of Yarmouth Roads Fm. deposition. A. Interglacial conditions and flooding of valleys V2 and V3 and draped deposition of fine-gr
Stephen J. Eaton, David M. Hodgson, Natasha L. M. Barlow, Estelle E. J. Mortimer, Claire L. Mellett, CC BY 4.0
Land bridge between the mainland and Britain - Doggerland and Dogger Bank. Comparison of the geographical situation in 2000 to the late years of the Vistula-Würm Glaciation. Translation from German into English of File:D
Francis Lima, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Background

Doggerland was a large area of land in Northern Europe, now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. This region was repeatedly exposed at various times during the Pleistocene epoch due to the lowering of sea levels during glacial periods. However, the term "Doggerland" is generally used for this region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. During the early Holocene following the glacial retreat at the end of the Last Glacial Period, the exposed land area of Doggerland stretched across the region between what is now the east coast of Great Britain, northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, north-western Germany, and the Danish peninsula of Jutland. Between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, Doggerland was inundated by rising sea levels, disintegrating initially into a series of low-lying islands before submerging completely. The impact of the tsunami generated by the Storegga underwater landslide c. 8,200 years ago on Doggerland is controversial. The flooded land is known as the Dogger Littoral.

Doggerland was named after the present-time Dogger Bank (which in turn was named after 17th-century Dutch fishing boats called doggers), which is the remains of a highland region that became submerged later than the rest of Doggerland.

The archaeological potential of the area was first identified in the early 20th century. Interest intensified in 1931 when a fishing trawler operating east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point that was subsequently dated to a time when the area was tundra. Vessels have since dragged up remains of mammoths, lions and other animals, and a few prehistoric tools and weapons. Most archaeological evidence of human habitation dates to the Mesolithic period during the early Holocene.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.