Doggerland: The Sunken Land that Connected Britain and Europe 10,000 Years Ago

Doggerland: The Sunken Land that Connected Britain and Europe 10,000 Years Ago

Doggerland was a section of land connecting Britain to continental Europe thousands of years ago, stretching from what is now the east coast of Britain to what are now the Netherlands, the western coast of Germany and the Danish peninsula of Jutland. In other words, 10,000 years ago, Britain wasn’t an island.

Now submerged beneath the North Sea, Doggerland was home to humans during the Mesolithic period, with hunter-gatherers enjoying the produce of this land, where they fished, hunted, and collected berries and nuts. In fact, human footprints have been found on the seabed of the North Sea, and Doggerland was considered to have had some of richest hunting and fishing grounds in Europe at one point.

Archaeological interest was sparked in 1931 when a fishing trawler in the North Sea dragged up a barbed antler point dating back thousands of years. Other boats have since dragged up remains of mammoths and even lions, as well as tools and weapons.

Following the last glacial maximum that ended around 20,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. As the ice melted, rivers, lagoons and heavily wooded areas took shape in Doggerland, attracting human populations and animals alike.

Rising sea levels however gradually made this area less and less inhabitable until Doggerland was flooded sometime between around 6500–6200 BC, and it sunk into the North Sea. It was finally wiped off the map due a Tsunami, known as the three Storegga Slide, which were submarine landslides in the Norwegian Sea, with the resulting Tsunami rippling out across the seas.

Today, very little of Doggerland remains. There is however a large sandbank in a shallower area of the North Sea, called Dogger Bank, known by fisherman for having an abundance of fish. Dogger Bank, and Doggerland, get their names from doggers, medieval Dutch fishing boats that were especially used for catching cod.

Despite the reality of stories of lost islands swallowed by the sea being debated, such as Plato’s Atlantis for instance, Doggerland is a very real example of an ancient landmass that is now buried at the bottom of the sea.

Sources:

#Doggerland #history #britain

[celtichistorydecoded]

Please let me know your thoughts below...

[sonofhunnewell]

Great summary. Good work. Remember to link every subject back to Celts in some way.

Suggestion for a video in the future: Lookup Tartan cloth, China, Tocharians. Cheers

[huwzebediahthomas]

Main thing the fishermen drag up in their nets is mamouth tusks. Huge ones usually.

[peterdixon]

Perhaps the psychological trauma of the retreat from Doggerland as the sea rose was transmitted down through the ages and caused the truculent conservatism seen in East Anglia today? I wonder how it is on the coasts on the other side of the channel. Please note that I maturely resisted the use of the phrase "dogged conservatism".

[occidentadvocate.]

Another great well read Video. Dogger must been quite a huge land mass. I wonder how an when the sea started rising. Even when seperated from Britain it must been a large land mass. The inhabitants would have been aware their land was shrinking? I wonder if it was submerged in that one large wave you meantion, or if it was over decades or centuries? Makes you wonder how many people were trapped and drowned. If it was a gradual submerging, many will have fled in ships? This could well be the origin of the lost land of Atlantis myths?

[waynemcauliffe]

Would of been wild back then. Where dogging started

[qetoun]

Imagine if we could build the bank back out of the sea and create new Island!