Doggerland, northern Europe's own lost city of Atlantis, discovered off Scotland

A research diver inspects a collection of large stones on the seafloor of the North Sea, off Scotland's coast, which scientists say is evidence of human inhabitants on a once-dry expanse called Doggerland that stretched between Britain and Denmark. / University of St. Andrews

(CBS News) LONDON - British scientists scouring the bottom of the North Sea have begun piecing together a picture of life in Doggerland, what they believe was the "heart of Europe," connecting modern day Britain to continental Europe, until about 7,000 years ago.

Among fossilized evidence of mammoths and large game animals, divers have found harpoons, flint tools and suspected burial sites they say belonged to residents of the submerged settlement more than 12,000 years ago.

A team organized by Dr. Richard Bates, a geophysicist at the University of St. Andrews, says the evidence points to a once-dry land passage between Scotland and Denmark which that was likely larger than many modern European cities, with tens of thousands of ancient humans calling it home.

"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," explains Bates.

"There is actually very little evidence left because much of it has eroded underwater; it's like trying to find just part of a needle within a haystack," he adds. "What we have found though is a remarkable amount of evidence and we are now able to pinpoint the best places to find preserved signs of life."

7 Photos

Doggerland discovered in the depths

Bates says Doggerland was inhabited by a large number of hunters and gatherers, who roamed the ancient expanse of land stretching all around the British Isles and connecting what is now England to France and the Lowlands, and what is now Scotland to Denmark in the north.

The passage is believed to have been above land from about 18,000 BC until 5,500 BC, when rising sea levels and a devastating tsunami submerged the remaining islands.

Perhaps the most astounding aspect of the Doggerland discoveries is the insight it may provide into human life more than 12,000 years ago, particularly in difficult climates.

Bates says the findings suggest early man was able to survive, and thrive, "up through the north, more than we ever thought that they should."

Using a combination of geophysical modeling data from oil and gas companies, and direct evidence from materials recovered from the seafloor, the research team has been able to build a model of what the lost land likely looked like to its inhabitants.

"We 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," explains Bates.

The research team isn't finished yet. They're currently investigating further evidence of human presence and behavior in Doggerland, including possible human burial sites, intriguing standing stones and a mass mammoth grave.

The research project is a collaboration between St. Andrews and the Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dundee and Wales Trinity St. David. The artifacts go on display this week at The Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition in London.

This story was filed by CBS News' Leigh Kiniry in London.

[BryanBag]

This does not surprise me. They were not hunter gatherers and there are books about this.
"Thet Oera Linda Bok"
Robert Scrutton : The Other Atlantis 1977
Robert Scrutton : Secrets of Lost Atland 1979
The books were written off as a hoax.

[2uimmsjac]

ah-hemmm. I too am among those who expected A LOT MORE... "ATLANTIS" implies an advanced civilization.

Perhaps the author is a junior journalists. Where are the photos of the spears, flint...?

I'm glad though, that there are still people (gas and oil companies) financially able to do those explorations.

I look forward to seeing more.

[88soldier]

Check out these articles on similar subject matter, there is more to this story than they are saying.

http://aryanity.com/chapter2-legendary-lost-lands/
http://aryanity.com/chapter2-legendary-lost-lands/
http://aryanity.com/chapter2-legendary-lost-lands/

[MagnaCartaUK]

The 'news' that land between Britain and continental Europe being occupied isn't new. My tutor at junior school informed us of the probability when I was 8 in 1972. This is merely confirmation. Our media covered the story a few days ago, but I'm still confused about the tsunami aspect; specifically whether the one mentioned is the Scotland Tsunami caused by the fjord landslide in Norway, or a completely seperate one. Still, perhaps I'll see these artifacts in the near future.

[nojoy01]

"...and a mass mammoth grave."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
OK, slightly confusing there. Does he mean a mass grave of mammoth's (as in wooly mammoth's) or a mammoth mass grave? (which sounds clumsy, as in "a massively huge parking lot") I'm going to bet on a mass grave of the animals known as mammoth's.

[2Aurora]

You might be interested in listening to this clip.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/videos/?uri=channels/455311/1680843

[K_a_r_p_y]

This was no ordinary "flood", as floods and tsunamis tend not to be permanent. Therefore, should we assume the indigents owned SUVs generating planet warming gases? Is it possible these folks may have been the first enlightened adherents to the religion of Global Warming? Perhaps ff they known about taxes, they might have saved their society by taxing themselves into poverty. The money would be presented to their King and Queen, and enable them to play golf, go on endless vacations, and have lavish, opulent parties in their free Castle. We are told that taxes will save us from a similar plight, so surely it would have saved them as well.

[Iwatch2]

Karpy, you shouldn't reply to a fascinating science-based article which you are incapable of understanding. You are only showing the rest of us your ignorance and simultaneous unearned sarcasm. I would guess that you are a fundamentalist Christian who can't grasp the idea of people existing anywhere prior to 5500 BC. You also seem to be a tea party type person that can't believe in a scientific idea like man-induced global warming/sea level rising because that might interfere with your ideas of the proper relationship between government and business. In the 19th century your politics were referred to as "Know Nothingism".

[chipjgf]

Lighten Up ... I loved the article and I loved Karpy's humorous response

Underlying it is the little discussed fact that we are still recovering from the last Ice Age which lasted 80,000 years. We know we haven't fully recovered because glaciers are still flowing and there is still massive ice at both poles.

"The Earth is in an ice age now. It started about 2 million years ago and is known as the Quaternary Period. Despite the many warm periods since then, we identify the entire time as one ice age because of the continuous existence of at least one large ice sheet—the one over Antarctica. (The glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet are also of long standing, but they are more recent). We are currently enjoying a warm interval: our climate represents an interglacial period that began about 10 000 years ago. The preceding glacial period lasted about 80 000 years" Canadian Museum of Nature

http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/iceage.htm

[K_a_r_p_y]

This was no ordinary "flood", as floods and tsunamis tend not to be permanent. Therefore, should we assume the indigents owned SUVs generating planet warming gases? Is it possible these folks may have been the first enlightened adherents to our modern religion of Global Warming? If they known about taxes, they could have saved their society by taxing themselves into poverty. They could have presented their money to their King and Queen to enable them to play golf and go on endless vacations in 6 star style. It has kept us from being submerged after all. Right?

[Former_Marine_Sgt]

Only a complete fool would launch into a rant that has nothing to do with the article just so that he can express his personal beliefs on a subject unrelated to the news story.

[Iwatch2]

Karpy, ignorant people should know better than to use sarcasm when replying to a fascinating article based on science that they don't understand. I would guess that you are a fundamentalist Christian that can't comprehend people living prior to 6000 years ago (5,500?). You also seem to be confusing Pleistocene/holocene glacial melting sea level change referred to in the article with more recent man-induced sea level change that tea partiers like yourself can't accept because of your political/economic/religious beliefs. That is why people that thought like you in the 19th century were referred to as "Knownothings".