Losing Britain’s archaeological ‘Atlantis’

Offshore wind farms may be good news for the environment but they’re worrying developments for the archaeologists trying to map Mesolithic remains, reports Sean Smith

What archaeological discoveries will be lost to offshore wind farms? (Getty)

Just over 10,000 years ago Britain emerged from the last ice age as a hilly hinterland still attached to Europe by the vast, low-lying landmass that is now known as Doggerland. As the climate warmed and the ice sheets retreated, Doggerland would have gradually been transformed from a bleak tundra to a rich and varied landscape.

Because sea levels would have been so much lower than today, it would have been possible to walk from Yorkshire all the way to Denmark through valleys, lakes, woodlands and Marshes.

With its wealth of fish, eels, birds, otters , seals, deer, wild boar and berries, archaeologists believe that Doggerland was so prime a location that its Mesolithic hunter-gatherers started to transition away from a nomadic culture towards a more settled way of life.