Doggerland once linked Britain and Europe across a Stone Age plain of rivers, wetlands and open country, with mammoths and reindeer. Rising seas gradually drowned and fragmented it. Around 6200 BCE, the Storegga Slide off Norway displaced about 840 km³ of seabed and triggered a megatsunami; British run-up estimates are roughly 10–14 metres, and Scottish inundation extended about 50 km. Mesolithic people and tools continued after the event, so the tsunami did not simply erase Doggerland. A 2023 study identified evidence for an older North Sea landslide about 12,000 years before Storegga. 🐘🌊
Doggerland: Britain’s lost link to Europe, reshaped by rising seas and Storegga tsunami
United KingdomSurvey
Site mentioned
Key facts
- Doggerland was a Stone Age landmass connecting Britain with continental Europe, with rivers, wetlands, open plains, mammoths and reindeer.
- Rising seas gradually drowned and fragmented Doggerland over millennia; it was not simply destroyed by one tsunami.
- The Storegga Slide occurred off southern Norway around 6200 BCE.
- Estimates put the slide volume at about 840 cubic kilometres—roughly 300 cubic miles—not 720 or 840 cubic miles.
- Storegga triggered a megatsunami. British coastal run-up estimates are generally around 10–12 metres, with some estimates up to about 14 metres (46 feet); inundation in Scotland extended roughly 50 kilometres, not 50 miles.
- Much of the remaining Doggerland was less than about 5 metres (16 feet) above sea level, but higher ground and surviving islands provided refuges.
- Radiocarbon and archaeological evidence does not show a complete disappearance of people and Mesolithic tools after the tsunami; occupation and tool use continued.
- A 2023 study identified evidence for an older North Sea landslide roughly 12,000 years before Storegga.
- Connections between Doggerland’s loss and sunken-kingdom folklore in Wales and Brittany are speculative, not established fact.
Sources
Tiny island survived tsunami that helped separate Britain and Europenewscientist.com
A little over 8000 years ago, a devastating tsunami swept across the North Sea, striking a small island that existed there at the time.
82-Foot Tsunami Erases Ancient Doggerland Civilization (Video)surfer.com
Doggerland once connected Britain to Europe; a tsunami allegedly destroyed it. · A video claims a 25-meter wave “erased” the Doggerland ...
Storegga Slide - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The collapse involved an estimated 290 km (180 mi) length of coastal shelf, with a total volume of 3,500 km3 (840 cu mi) of debris, which caused a paleotsunami ...
Was Doggerland catastrophically flooded by the Mesolithic Storegga ...ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
The tsunami was generated by the Storegga submarine landslide off the Norwegian coast which failed around 8150 years ago. At this time there were also rapid ...
Scientists uncover 'lost world' beneath North Sea – once home to ...discoverwildlife.com
A new study has found evidence to suggest the now-submerged landmass of Doggerland in Europe was covered in a temperate mosaic of oak, elm, ...
Doggerland | Geology | Research Starters | EBSCOhostebsco.com
Doggerland was a significant prehistoric landmass that once connected Great Britain to the European continent, existing around twelve thousand years ago.
Doggerlanden.wikipedia.org
Doggerland was a large area of land in Northern Europe, now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. This region was repeatedly exposed at various times
Doggerland - The Europe That Waseducation.nationalgeographic.org
A map showing Doggerland, a region of northwest Europe that was home to Mesolithic people before rising sea levels inundated the area and ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.