New research suggests that climate change, not a tsunami, doomed the now-submerged territory of Doggerland.

As recently as 20,000 years ago—not long in geological terms—Britain was not, in fact, an island. Instead, the terrain that became the British Isles was linked to mainland Europe by Doggerland, a tract of now-submerged territory where early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived, settled and traveled.

Doggerland gradually shrank as rising sea levels flooded the area. Then, around 6150 B.C., disaster struck: The Storegga Slide, a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway, triggered a tsunami in the North Sea, flooding the British coastline and likely killing thousands of humans based in coastal settlements, reports Esther Addley for the Guardian.

Historians have long assumed that this tsunami was the deciding factor that finally separated Britain from mainland Europe. But new archaeological research published in the December issue of Antiquity argues that Doggerland may have actually survived as an archipelago of islands for several more centuries.

Co-author Vincent Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford, has spent the past 15 years surveying Doggerland’s underwater remains as part of the Europe’s Lost Frontiers project. Using seismic mapping, computer simulations and other techniques, Gaffney and his colleagues have successfully mapped the territory’s marshes, rivers and other geographical features.

According to their revised history, the study’s authors estimate that by about 9,000 years ago, rising sea levels linked to climate change had already reduced Doggerland to a collection of islands. Though the later tsunami wreaked havoc on the existing hunter-gatherer and fishing societies that lived along the British coast, pieces of the landmass—including “Dogger Island” and “Dogger Archipelago,” a tract roughly the size of Wales—likely survived the cataclysmic event, reports Ruth Schuster for Haaretz.

Still, notes New Scientist, while some parts of the land were protected from the brunt of the waves, others were buffeted by waves strong enough to rip trees from their sides.

“If you were standing on the shoreline on that day, 8,200 years ago, there is no doubt it would have been a bad day for you,” Gaffney tells the Guardian. “It was a catastrophe. Many people, possibly thousands of people, must have died.”

The scientists note that this revised history of Doggerland could shift scholars’ understanding of how humans arrived in Britain. As Brooklyn Neustaeter reports for CTV News, the Dogger archipelagos could have served as a staging ground for the first Neolithic farmers, who moved into Britain and began to build permanent settlements on the island. This transition to farming took place some 6,000 years ago, per London’s Natural History Museum.

By about 7,000 years ago, the study suggests, Doggerland would have been long gone, completely submerged by rising sea levels.

“Ultimately, it was climate change that killed Doggerland,” Gaffney tells Haaretz.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-islands-survived-tsunami-almost-separated-britain-europe-study-finds-180976430/

Interesting, ta.

Bubblecar said:

Interesting, ta.

Yes, land bridges are an exciting historical thing, completely changes migration when they still existed

>> Historians have long assumed that this tsunami was the deciding factor that finally separated Britain from mainland Europe. But new archaeological research published in the December issue of Antiquity argues that Doggerland may have actually survived as an archipelago of islands for several more centuries. <<

I thought this had already been unassumed a long time ago. Sure the tsunami would have killed lots of people who were living there, it may have even swept the whole island and got all of them, but the sea level would have gone back to the normal level within a day. It is hard to see how a tsunami could have been permanent.

Thanks. Interesting indeed.

PermeateFree said:

New research suggests that climate change, not a tsunami, doomed the now-submerged territory of Doggerland.

As recently as 20,000 years ago—not long in geological terms—Britain was not, in fact, an island. Instead, the terrain that became the British Isles was linked to mainland Europe by Doggerland, a tract of now-submerged territory where early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived, settled and traveled.

Doggerland gradually shrank as rising sea levels flooded the area. Then, around 6150 B.C., disaster struck: The Storegga Slide, a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway, triggered a tsunami in the North Sea, flooding the British coastline and likely killing thousands of humans based in coastal settlements, reports Esther Addley for the Guardian.

Historians have long assumed that this tsunami was the deciding factor that finally separated Britain from mainland Europe. But new archaeological research published in the December issue of Antiquity argues that Doggerland may have actually survived as an archipelago of islands for several more centuries.

Co-author Vincent Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford, has spent the past 15 years surveying Doggerland’s underwater remains as part of the Europe’s Lost Frontiers project. Using seismic mapping, computer simulations and other techniques, Gaffney and his colleagues have successfully mapped the territory’s marshes, rivers and other geographical features.

According to their revised history, the study’s authors estimate that by about 9,000 years ago, rising sea levels linked to climate change had already reduced Doggerland to a collection of islands. Though the later tsunami wreaked havoc on the existing hunter-gatherer and fishing societies that lived along the British coast, pieces of the landmass—including “Dogger Island” and “Dogger Archipelago,” a tract roughly the size of Wales—likely survived the cataclysmic event, reports Ruth Schuster for Haaretz.

Still, notes New Scientist, while some parts of the land were protected from the brunt of the waves, others were buffeted by waves strong enough to rip trees from their sides.

“If you were standing on the shoreline on that day, 8,200 years ago, there is no doubt it would have been a bad day for you,” Gaffney tells the Guardian. “It was a catastrophe. Many people, possibly thousands of people, must have died.”

The scientists note that this revised history of Doggerland could shift scholars’ understanding of how humans arrived in Britain. As Brooklyn Neustaeter reports for CTV News, the Dogger archipelagos could have served as a staging ground for the first Neolithic farmers, who moved into Britain and began to build permanent settlements on the island. This transition to farming took place some 6,000 years ago, per London’s Natural History Museum.

By about 7,000 years ago, the study suggests, Doggerland would have been long gone, completely submerged by rising sea levels.

“Ultimately, it was climate change that killed Doggerland,” Gaffney tells Haaretz.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-islands-survived-tsunami-almost-separated-britain-europe-study-finds-180976430/

Having long been a reader on this topic, I can say that the idea that climate change was the main cause of Doggerland’s demise is quite mainstream already.

dv said:

PermeateFree said:

New research suggests that climate change, not a tsunami, doomed the now-submerged territory of Doggerland.

As recently as 20,000 years ago—not long in geological terms—Britain was not, in fact, an island. Instead, the terrain that became the British Isles was linked to mainland Europe by Doggerland, a tract of now-submerged territory where early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived, settled and traveled.

Doggerland gradually shrank as rising sea levels flooded the area. Then, around 6150 B.C., disaster struck: The Storegga Slide, a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway, triggered a tsunami in the North Sea, flooding the British coastline and likely killing thousands of humans based in coastal settlements, reports Esther Addley for the Guardian.

Historians have long assumed that this tsunami was the deciding factor that finally separated Britain from mainland Europe. But new archaeological research published in the December issue of Antiquity argues that Doggerland may have actually survived as an archipelago of islands for several more centuries.

Co-author Vincent Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford, has spent the past 15 years surveying Doggerland’s underwater remains as part of the Europe’s Lost Frontiers project. Using seismic mapping, computer simulations and other techniques, Gaffney and his colleagues have successfully mapped the territory’s marshes, rivers and other geographical features.

According to their revised history, the study’s authors estimate that by about 9,000 years ago, rising sea levels linked to climate change had already reduced Doggerland to a collection of islands. Though the later tsunami wreaked havoc on the existing hunter-gatherer and fishing societies that lived along the British coast, pieces of the landmass—including “Dogger Island” and “Dogger Archipelago,” a tract roughly the size of Wales—likely survived the cataclysmic event, reports Ruth Schuster for Haaretz.

Still, notes New Scientist, while some parts of the land were protected from the brunt of the waves, others were buffeted by waves strong enough to rip trees from their sides.

“If you were standing on the shoreline on that day, 8,200 years ago, there is no doubt it would have been a bad day for you,” Gaffney tells the Guardian. “It was a catastrophe. Many people, possibly thousands of people, must have died.”

The scientists note that this revised history of Doggerland could shift scholars’ understanding of how humans arrived in Britain. As Brooklyn Neustaeter reports for CTV News, the Dogger archipelagos could have served as a staging ground for the first Neolithic farmers, who moved into Britain and began to build permanent settlements on the island. This transition to farming took place some 6,000 years ago, per London’s Natural History Museum.

By about 7,000 years ago, the study suggests, Doggerland would have been long gone, completely submerged by rising sea levels.

“Ultimately, it was climate change that killed Doggerland,” Gaffney tells Haaretz.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-islands-survived-tsunami-almost-separated-britain-europe-study-finds-180976430/

Having long been a reader on this topic, I can say that the idea that climate change was the main cause of Doggerland’s demise is quite mainstream already.

Leaks during the 15 year research. These researchers just cannot keep a secret.

Make Doggerland Great Again

wookiemeister said:

Make Doggerland Great Again

Reclaim Doggerland Sovereignty!