For several thousand years, the east coast of Great Britain was connected to large swathes of northwest Europe, including northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the Danish peninsula of Jutland. This ‘lost world’ is known as Doggerland and it only sank beneath the waves as late as 7,000 years ago.
Ever since Doggerland was ‘discovered’ in the early 20th century, scientists have long debated when trees first became established in the region and how suitable these forests were for prehistoric communities.
Using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) extracted from 41 marine cores drilled in Southern Doggerland, a new study led by the University of Warwick has revealed temperate trees such as oak, elm and hazel were present across the region more than 16,000 years ago. The study also detected DNA from a walnut relative, Pterocarya, that was thought to have vanished from northwest Europe 400,000 years ago.
“By analysing sedaDNA from Southern Doggerland at a scale not seen before, we have reconstructed the environment of this lost land from the end of the last Ice Age until the North Sea arrived,” said lead author Robin Allaby. “We unexpectedly found trees thousands of years earlier than anyone expected.”
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The presence of woodland habitats in Doggerland 16,000 years ago suggests trees were able to recolonise the region quite quickly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ended roughly 20,000 years ago. As glaciers retreated further north and exposed Doggerland following the LGM, trees from 'microrefugia’ - localised habitats that are buffered from broader, unfavourable climatic conditions - were likely able to spread into new, fertile areas.
These woodland habitats would have offered rich ecological resources for humans, as well as other animals such as boar, deer, beavers, and bears. Based on their findings, the researchers involved in this latest study believe the forests of Doggerland were so habitable and rich in resources that they could have supported several early Mesolithic communities.
“From a human perspective, this is the best evidence that Doggerland’s wooded environment could have supported early Mesolithic communities prior to flooding and may help explain why relatively little early Mesolithic evidence survives on mainland Britain today,” Allaby said.
The University of Bradford’s Vincent Gaffney, a co-author of this latest study, added to this, “For many years, Doggerland was often described as a land bridge – only significant as a route for prehistoric settlement of the British Isles. Today, we understand that Doggerland was not only a heartland of early human settlement, but also that the presence of the land mass may have provided a refuge for plants and animals and acted as a fulcrum for how prehistoric communities settled and resettled northern Europe over millennia.”
Another big takeaway from this latest study, published earlier this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was evidence to suggest parts of Doggerland survived several major flooding events, including the Storegga tsunami 8,150 years ago.
The study also found evidence that the North Sea fully formed later than previously thought and that parts of Doggerland remained above water until as late as 7,000 years ago.
Top image credit: Daniel Balakov/Getty Images
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