The map shows Doggerland, a vast prehistoric landmass that once connected Great Britain to mainland Europe. At its greatest extent around 16,000 BC, much of what is now the North Sea was dry land rather than open water.
Far from being an empty plain, Doggerland contained rivers, lakes, marshes, forests, and grasslands that supported large populations of animals such as deer, aurochs, and mammoths. These rich environments were also home to Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, who lived, hunted, fished, and travelled across the region for thousands of years. Archaeologists have recovered stone tools, animal bones, and other artifacts from the seabed and fishing nets, confirming that people once inhabited this now-submerged landscape.
Doggerland existed because sea levels were much lower during the last Ice Age, when enormous amounts of water were locked up in continental ice sheets. As the climate warmed after the Ice Age, glaciers melted and sea levels rose gradually, flooding more and more of the landscape over several millennia.
Around 6200 BC, the Storegga Slide, a massive underwater landslide off the coast of Norway, generated a tsunami that swept across the North Sea. While the tsunami probably wasn't the sole cause of Doggerland's disappearance, many researchers believe it caused catastrophic flooding in areas that had already been weakened by rising seas, accelerating the abandonment of the remaining land.
Today, Doggerland lies beneath the North Sea. Its most prominent remnant is the Dogger Bank, a shallow underwater plateau. Modern seismic mapping, sediment cores, and underwater archaeology continue to reveal ancient river systems, landscapes, and evidence of the people who once crossed what is now open sea.
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