Britain’s Lost Atlantis Discovered

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By: Beverly Moore  AlienAdam Reporter 7-6-2012

BRITAIN’S LOST ATLANTIS DISCOVERED

Oil company divers have found the remains of a submerged world which might once have been the “real
heartland” of Europe. Divers from St Andrews University have named the underwater country Doggerland
(coined for Dogger Bank) and dubbed it “Britain’s Atlantis.” Researchers from St Andrews and the
Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dundee and Wales Trinity St David believe this huge undersea
world was hit by a devastating tsunami and swallowed by the sea in 6500BC.

The wave was part of a larger process that submerged the low-lying area over the course of thousands of
years. Part of this area would have been covered with ice. When the ice melted, more land was revealed
- but the sea level also rose. People seem to think rising sea levels are a new thing – but it’s a cycle
of Earth history that has happened many times. Rediscovering the land through pioneering scientific
research reveals a story of a dramatic past that featured massive climate change.

The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been in the 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.

THEORTETICAL LIFE ON DOGGERLAND

Researchers have speculated for years that the lost land existed based on bones dredged by fishermen
all over the North Sea, but it’s only since working with oil companies in the last few years that they have
been able to recreate what this lost land looked like.

A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists have mapped this area using the data from
the oil companies. Using a combination of geophysical modeling of data obtained from the oil and gas
companies and direct evidence from material recovered from the seafloor, researchers were able to
reconstruct the lost land, giving form to the landscape and making sense of the mammoths found out
there. They are also better able to understand the types of people who lived there at that time.

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 group or chain of low islands. By examining the
fossil record (such as pollen grains, micro-fauna and macro-fauna) 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 behavior, 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
artifacts and submerged features that are very difficult to explain by natural causes, such as mounds
surrounded by ditches and fossilized tree stumps on the seafloor.”

Researchers 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. Organized by Dr Richard Bates of the Department
of Earth Sciences at St Andrews, the “Drowned Landscapes exhibit” reveals the human story behind
Doggerland

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE EXHIBIT

The public exhibit brings to life the Mesolithic populations of Doggerland through artifacts discovered
deep within the sea bed. The interactive display examines the lost landscape of Doggerland and includes
artifacts from various times represented by the exhibit – from pieces of flint used by humans as tools to
the animals that also inhabited these lands.

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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