It is good to
see that the inundation process left ample zones intact for conducting
research. A slow gradual inundation
would completely reduce all evidence as it advanced.
Otherwise we
learn not too much that was not already understood but well confirmed. This confirms it for us.
It was a pretty
foul place and agriculture was a nonstarter until it was already swamped
out. Thus we will see little more that
stone tools of the hunt if anything at all.
The mound is at least interesting.
'Britain's
Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea - a huge undersea world swallowed by the
sea in 6500BC
Divers have found traces of ancient land swallowed
by waves 8500 years ago
Doggerland once stretched from Scotland to Denmark
Rivers seen underwater by seismic scans
Britain was not an island - and area under North Sea
was roamed by mammoths and other giant animals
Described as the 'real heartland' of Europe
Had population of tens of thousands - but devastated
by sea level rises
PUBLISHED: 23:32 GMT, 2 July
2012 | UPDATED: 10:49 GMT, 3 July 2012
'Britain's Atlantis' - a hidden underwater world
swallowed by the North Sea - has been discovered by divers working with science
teams from the University of St Andrews.
Doggerland, a huge area of dry land that stretched
from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and
5,500 BC.
Divers from oil companies have found remains of a
'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands - which might once have
been the 'real heartland' of Europe.
A team of climatologists, archaeologists and
geophysicists has now mapped the area using new data from oil companies - and
revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' once roamed by mammoths.
Divers from St Andrews University, find remains of
Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'
Dr Richard Bates of the earth sciences department at
St Andrews University, searching for Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed
'Britain's Atlantis'
A Greater Britain: How the North Sea grew and the
land-mass shrunk
Drowned world: Scans show a mound discovered
under the water near Orkney, which has been explored by divers
St Andrews University's artists' impression of life
in Doggerland
The research suggests that the populations of these
drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an area that
stretched from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channel
as far as the Channel Islands.
The area was once the ‘real heartland’ of Europe and
was hit by ‘a devastating tsunami', the researchers claim.
The wave was part of a larger process that submerged
the low-lying area over the course of thousands of years.
'The name was coined for Dogger Bank, but it applies
to any of several periods when the North Sea was land,' says Richard Bates of
the University of St Andrews. 'Around 20,000 years ago, there was a 'maximum' -
although part of this area would have been covered with ice. When the ice
melted, more land was revealed - but the sea level also rose.
'Through a lot of new data from oil and gas
companies, we’re able to give form to the landscape - and make sense of the
mammoths found out there, and the reindeer. We’re able to understand the
types of people who were there. [ conditions were obviously ice age
harsh here – arclein ]
'People seem to think rising sea levels are a
new thing - but it’s a cycle of Earth history that has happened many many
times.'
Organised by Dr Richard Bates of the Department of
Earth Sciences at St Andrews, the Drowned Landscapes exhibit reveals the human
story behind Doggerland, a now submerged area of the North Sea that was once
larger than many modern European countries.
‘We have speculated for years on the lost land's
existence from bones dredged by fishermen all over the North Sea, but it's only
since working with oil companies in the last few years that we have been able
to re-create what this lost land looked like.
‘When the data was first being processed, I thought
it unlikely to give us any useful information, however as more area was covered
it revealed a vast and complex landscape.
‘We have now been able to model its flora and fauna,
build up a picture of the ancient people that lived there and begin to
understand some of the dramatic events that subsequently changed the land,
including the sea rising and a devastating tsunami.’
The research project is a collaboration between St
Andrews and the Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dundee and Wales Trinity
St David.
Rediscovering the land through pioneering scientific
research, the research reveals a story of a dramatic past that featured massive
climate change. The public exhibit brings back to life the Mesolithic
populations of Doggerland through artefacts discovered deep within the sea bed.
The research, a result of a painstaking 15 years of
fieldwork around the murky waters of the UK, is one of the highlights of the
London event.
The interactive display examines the lost landscape
of Doggerland and includes artefacts from various times represented by the
exhibit - from pieces of flint used by humans as tools to the animals that also
inhabited these lands.
Using a combination of geophysical modelling of data
obtained from oil and gas companies and direct evidence from material recovered
from the seafloor, the research team was able to build up a reconstruction of
the lost land.
The findings suggest a picture of a land with hills
and valleys, large swamps and lakes with major rivers dissecting a convoluted
coastline.
As the sea rose the hills would have become an isolated
archipelago of low islands. By examining the fossil record - such as pollen
grains, microfauna and macrofauna - the researchers can tell what kind of
vegetation grew in Doggerland and what animals roamed there.
Using this information, they were able to build up a
model of the 'carrying capacity' of the land and work out roughly how many
humans could have lived there.
The research team is currently investigating more
evidence of human behaviour, including possible human burial sites, intriguing
standing stones and a mass mammoth grave.
Dr Bates added: ‘We haven't found an 'x marks the
spot' or 'Joe created this', but we have found many artefacts and submerged
features that are very difficult to explain by natural causes, such as mounds
surrounded by ditches and fossilised tree stumps on the seafloor.
‘There is actually very little evidence left because
much of it has eroded underwater; it's like trying to find just part of a
needle within a haystack. What we have found though is a remarkable amount of
evidence and we are now able to pinpoint the best places to find preserved
signs of life.’
For further information on the exhibit, visit: http://sse.royalsociety.org/2012/exhibits/drowned-landscapes/
Drowned Landscapes is on display at The Royal
Society Summer Science Exhibition 2012 from July 3-8 at the Royal Society in
London.
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