Did a Tsunami Swallow Part of Europe?

What happened to the piece of prime prehistoric real estate known as Doggerland? While a massive megatsunami might have drowned it for good, the underlying reason that it now lies under the sea may have actually been the same thing that made it so great in the first place.

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Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios

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References:

[Scintillate]

“In a few thousand years, who knows which now-familiar locations will be considered long lost worlds, too.”
*suspiciously pans over Florida*

[pandoraeeris]

"Great British Breakoff" 😂😂😂

[paolopozzobon]

I am italian, and, funny fact, even in Italy we had a “Dogger land” in a smaller scale! It was the “Adriatic great plain”, a land sheet which was formed by the last glaciation along the northern coasts of the Adriatic sea, and which totally desappeared after the beginning of the Olocene period!!!
Thank you for the video!!!

[tiaxanderson]

I'm always pleased how our ruse is working, but I'll tell you the real reason.
The Dutch wanted to take over Doggerland, but when they heard of it they cleverly sunk their lands beneath the waves. So we've spend the last few centuries perfecting our land reclamation technology and it won't be long now. We're coming for you Doggerland!

[Emelia]

"Who knows what areas of land today will be considered long lost worlds in the future" *zooms in on Florida.*

[ErictheHalf_bee]

Not only was the land lost beneath the sea, but when Beleriand was drowned, the whole shape of the world was changed, and the lands of the West were removed from Arda, and the earth took on its global form. And Morgoth was cast into the void beyond.

[stephenbesley]

I've often found things along the Norfolk/Lincolnshire coast. Fishermen often pull up mastodon and a range of different odds and ends. It's no big mystery but very interesting. Much of our coastal areas have seen a lot of changes even in recorded history where towns and villages have disappeared due to the encroaching sea.

[euansmith]

"The Great British Brake Off" got a solid giggle out of me. 😄😄😄

[MaxArceus]

Really excited for this video! I've been fascinated by Doggerland ever since I first learned of it! I wish there were more artist impressions etc of what it might have looked like from foot-level

[fjallaxd]

When I saw the thumbnail, I knew this would be about Doggerland. I would love to go back in time and see it. You can see similar things where I'm from, in Guernsey. There used to be an ancient forest, on the west, south west coast, that disappeared only in the last couple thousand years. They still sometimes find Trees there, on Vazon beach under the sand, that are thousands of years old. Good video.

[EricEstesEleutherian]

15, 000-7, 000 years ago were CRAZY times. The scars left across the planet & the massive changes in biology across the globe make our persistence admirable.
We were the the super clever ones that could adapt to the most kinds of adverse situations. To think how many of our cousins lineages didnt make it... now we shape the very planet o.o

[stubbysidwell]

Are there submarine drones that can go to the floor of bodies of water and excavate? I'd love to see a video on what cool gear modern archeologists use.

[Mello-]

I'm dutch, and it's nice to see you guys do a video about an area close to home 😊

[fredmidtgaard]

The North Sea has always been important fishing grounds for Danish fishing vessels. As a kid, I often found amber and bones on the Danish shores. Because the wind mostly comes from the west, the Danish coast of Jutland is rich in these finds.

[risel]

I'd love to see you guys do an episode on Iguanodon's weird hands. Aside from the well-known thumb spike, I feel like people never really talk about its opposable pinky finger. I've also been trying to figure out why hadrosaurs moved away from that multipurpose hand structure in favor of more hooflike forelimbs.

[danielreed]

Doggerland still exists, it is just migrated mainly to carparks now in places like Essex.

[guyh.]

Youre forgetting a big one, the giant Red Stag. In an article in National Geographic about 10 years ago that focused on Doggerland. One of the things talked about was when trawlers brought up a huge skull and horns of a giant Red Stag. Great topic though, a fascinating subject that I've been intrigued by. Great video once again.

[SKy_the_Thunder]

By the time the Tsunami hit, Doggerland would have been a very flat and swampy wetland area like the rest of the Dutch/German coastal regions were until we reinforced and drained them. There aren't many species of tree that can survive in these cold salty marshes, leaving the loose soil largely unprotected against the sudden flood.

[Mikkelltheimmortal]

In Norway there still exists pieces of a dock made during the Viking era that now the highest tides of the year don't reach the dock. There are hundreds of examples of the Ocean's depth eb and flow and we moved to and fro along with it. We always have and always will, for that is the nature of Humans.

[christophermolitor]

Living in Florida that last bit made me feel vulnerable.