Mapping Begins of Lands Lost To North Sea During the Stone Age

Lost at the bottom of the North Sea almost eight millennia ago following the end of the ice age, a vast land area between England and southern Scandinavia -- the home to thousands of stone age settlers -- is about to be rediscovered by scientists. From a report: Marine experts, scientists and archaeologists have spent the past 15 years meticulously mapping thousands of kilometres under water in the hope of unearthing lost tribes of prehistoric Britain. On Wednesday a crew of British and Belgian scientists set off on their voyage across the North Sea to reconstruct the ancient Mesolithic landscape hidden beneath the waves for 7,500 years. The area was submerged when thousands of cubic miles of sub-Arctic ice started to melt and the sea levels began to rise worldwide at that time.

The ancient country, known as Doggerland, which could once have had great plains with rich soils, formed an important land bridge between Britain and northern Europe. It was long believed to have been hit by catastrophic flooding. Using seabed mapping data the team is planning to produce a detailed 3D chart which will indicate the rivers, lakes, hills and coastlines of the country. Specialist survey ships will take core sediment samples from selected areas to extract millions of fragments of DNA from the area's plants and animals.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.