It was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons, but Doggerland was engulfed by rising sea levels about 7,500 years ago.
Now archaeologists are using 4D technology to research how Britain’s ‘Atlantis’ was colonised and inhabited for 6,000 years, before being lost to the North Sea.
The experts in Bradford and Nottingham working on the multi-million pound project are hoping to discover evidence of flint tool manufacture, animal DNA and plant pollen.
Who lived on Britain’s Atlantis? Scientists are set to uncover the secrets of Doggerland, the huge North Sea island lost to the waves 7,500 years ago
Archaeologists using 4D technology to research how land was colonised
Vast land between Britain and Scandinavia was inhabited for 6,000 years
Experts are hoping for evidence of flint tool manufacture and animal DNA
Area was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC
By Mark Duell for MailOnline
1 September 2015
Daily Mail
It was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons, but Doggerland was engulfed by rising sea levels about 7,500 years ago.
Now archaeologists are using 4D technology to research how Britain’s ‘Atlantis’ was colonised and inhabited for 6,000 years, before being lost to the North Sea.
The experts in Bradford and Nottingham working on the multi-million pound project are hoping to discover evidence of flint tool manufacture, animal DNA and plant pollen.
Britain's 'Atlantis': This highlighted green area shows the area of investigation for the scientists, who are looking into what was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons
In detail: Landscape features below the North Sea have been mapped from seismic data in pilot projects by the team. The light and dark blue areas represent a river and a stream from the early Holocene period, while the green area shows lowland marshes or a lake, also from the early Holocene period. Underneath all this is a gold area which represents a tunnel valley from the late Pleistocene period
Going deeper: Researchers use a box corer, which is a marine geological sampling tool for soft sediments in water, to find out more about the landscape that now lies under the North Sea
Professor Vince Gaffney from the University of Bradford said: ‘The only populated lands on earth that have not yet been explored in any depth are those which have been lost underneath the sea.'
The archaeologist added that the ‘exciting’ project ‘gives us a whole new way of approaching the massive areas of land that were populated by humans but which now lie beneath the sea’.
Mr Gaffney continued: ‘This project will develop technologies and methodologies that archaeologists around the world can use to explore similar landscapes including those around the Americas.’
Doggerland - which was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC - was discovered only recently by divers working with science teams from the University of St Andrews.
The divers from oil companies found remains of the 'drowned world' three years ago with a population of tens of thousands of people, which was possibly once the heartland of Europe.
Into the deep: This graphic shows landscape features under the North Sea mapped from seismic data in pilot projects by the experts, as 4D technology is used to research how the area was colonised
Mapped out: A reconstruction of the Doggerland landscape, which is being investigated by archaeologists from the universities of Bradford, Nottingham Warwick, Wales Trinity Saint David, St Andrews and Birmingham
Prehistoric: Nomadic hunters and gatherers in the late Mesolithic age at a dwelling place (file). Doggerland is described as 'an extensive European submerged landscape and a former heartland of the Mesolithic period'
A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists then mapped the area using the data - and revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' that stretched from Scotland to Denmark.
Now, the experts led by Mr Gaffney are investigating two drowned North Sea valleys that were discovered during previous surveying to discover what the area looked like.
The project - funded by a £1.8million grant from the European Research Council – will see the team use remote sensing data generated by the energy companies to reconstruct the landscape.
This will help produce a map to show rivers, lakes, hills and coastlines – while specialist survey ships will also retrieve core sediment samples from selected areas of the landscape.
The area originally covered 100,000 square miles, but it started to become swamped by the sea when sub-Arctic ice began to melt after the Ice Age ended.
'Exciting': Professor Vince Gaffney, of the University of Bradford, said the project 'gives us a whole new way of approaching the massive areas of land that were populated by humans but which now lie beneath the sea'
Teamwork: Dr Martin Bates (left) from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Dr David Smith (right) from the University of Birmingham are also involved in the multi-million pound research project
After 15ft storm surges and rising sea levels, the area became an island measuring just 140 miles by 100 miles by 6,500BC – and was eventually lost 1,000 years later.
Experts from the universities of Warwick, Wales Trinity Saint David, St Andrews and Birmingham are also taking part in the project.
And independent researcher Dr Simon Fitch said: ‘This project offers the potential to explore an extensive European submerged landscape and a former heartland of the Mesolithic period.
‘The revolutionary data gathered will provide new insights into the life and territories of people during this time and revolutionise our archaeological understanding of this period.’
Meanwhile Dr Richard Bates from the University of St Andrews hailed what he described as a ‘completely new approach to both offshore and land archaeological investigations’.
Now archaeologists are using 4D technology to research how Britain’s ‘Atlantis’ was colonised and inhabited for 6,000 years, before being lost to the North Sea.
The experts in Bradford and Nottingham working on the multi-million pound project are hoping to discover evidence of flint tool manufacture, animal DNA and plant pollen.
Who lived on Britain’s Atlantis? Scientists are set to uncover the secrets of Doggerland, the huge North Sea island lost to the waves 7,500 years ago
Archaeologists using 4D technology to research how land was colonised
Vast land between Britain and Scandinavia was inhabited for 6,000 years
Experts are hoping for evidence of flint tool manufacture and animal DNA
Area was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC
By Mark Duell for MailOnline
1 September 2015
Daily Mail
It was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons, but Doggerland was engulfed by rising sea levels about 7,500 years ago.
Now archaeologists are using 4D technology to research how Britain’s ‘Atlantis’ was colonised and inhabited for 6,000 years, before being lost to the North Sea.
The experts in Bradford and Nottingham working on the multi-million pound project are hoping to discover evidence of flint tool manufacture, animal DNA and plant pollen.
Britain's 'Atlantis': This highlighted green area shows the area of investigation for the scientists, who are looking into what was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons
In detail: Landscape features below the North Sea have been mapped from seismic data in pilot projects by the team. The light and dark blue areas represent a river and a stream from the early Holocene period, while the green area shows lowland marshes or a lake, also from the early Holocene period. Underneath all this is a gold area which represents a tunnel valley from the late Pleistocene period
Going deeper: Researchers use a box corer, which is a marine geological sampling tool for soft sediments in water, to find out more about the landscape that now lies under the North Sea
Professor Vince Gaffney from the University of Bradford said: ‘The only populated lands on earth that have not yet been explored in any depth are those which have been lost underneath the sea.'
The archaeologist added that the ‘exciting’ project ‘gives us a whole new way of approaching the massive areas of land that were populated by humans but which now lie beneath the sea’.
Mr Gaffney continued: ‘This project will develop technologies and methodologies that archaeologists around the world can use to explore similar landscapes including those around the Americas.’
Doggerland - which was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC - was discovered only recently by divers working with science teams from the University of St Andrews.
The divers from oil companies found remains of the 'drowned world' three years ago with a population of tens of thousands of people, which was possibly once the heartland of Europe.
Into the deep: This graphic shows landscape features under the North Sea mapped from seismic data in pilot projects by the experts, as 4D technology is used to research how the area was colonised
Mapped out: A reconstruction of the Doggerland landscape, which is being investigated by archaeologists from the universities of Bradford, Nottingham Warwick, Wales Trinity Saint David, St Andrews and Birmingham
Prehistoric: Nomadic hunters and gatherers in the late Mesolithic age at a dwelling place (file). Doggerland is described as 'an extensive European submerged landscape and a former heartland of the Mesolithic period'
A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists then mapped the area using the data - and revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' that stretched from Scotland to Denmark.
Now, the experts led by Mr Gaffney are investigating two drowned North Sea valleys that were discovered during previous surveying to discover what the area looked like.
The project - funded by a £1.8million grant from the European Research Council – will see the team use remote sensing data generated by the energy companies to reconstruct the landscape.
This will help produce a map to show rivers, lakes, hills and coastlines – while specialist survey ships will also retrieve core sediment samples from selected areas of the landscape.
The area originally covered 100,000 square miles, but it started to become swamped by the sea when sub-Arctic ice began to melt after the Ice Age ended.
'Exciting': Professor Vince Gaffney, of the University of Bradford, said the project 'gives us a whole new way of approaching the massive areas of land that were populated by humans but which now lie beneath the sea'
Teamwork: Dr Martin Bates (left) from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Dr David Smith (right) from the University of Birmingham are also involved in the multi-million pound research project
After 15ft storm surges and rising sea levels, the area became an island measuring just 140 miles by 100 miles by 6,500BC – and was eventually lost 1,000 years later.
Experts from the universities of Warwick, Wales Trinity Saint David, St Andrews and Birmingham are also taking part in the project.
And independent researcher Dr Simon Fitch said: ‘This project offers the potential to explore an extensive European submerged landscape and a former heartland of the Mesolithic period.
‘The revolutionary data gathered will provide new insights into the life and territories of people during this time and revolutionise our archaeological understanding of this period.’
Meanwhile Dr Richard Bates from the University of St Andrews hailed what he described as a ‘completely new approach to both offshore and land archaeological investigations’.
