Andy's Blog: Brown Bank, Netherlands

Search for submerged camp in Doggerland (10,000 years old)

(originally posted 7/20/2020 on Facebook)

Today’s site that I learned about that was around 10,000 years ago is Brown Bank. Back then, Britain was connected to Europe and the land in between Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was called Doggerland. Brown Bank today is an elevated ridge on the bottom of sea floor beneath the North Sea between the UK and Netherlands, but back then, it was part of Doggerland. Doggerland would sink beneath the sea over several thousand years as the oceans rose due to glaciers melting after the last ice age ended. Fishing boats and survey boats near Brown Bank would occasionally accidentally pull up human artifacts such as stone or bone tools or human bones, and occasionally these items would be found along the Dutch coast. This made scientists think there might have once been a human settlement down there 10,000 years ago. So, they sent a ship to survey the ground to learn its topography, figuring humans would most likely settle near the prehistoric coast, and later dig up some of the sea floor where they thought humans would most likely be in hopes of finding direct evidence of this settlement. They found remains of a petrified forest down there, an old river valley, and some flint and wood that humans would have used to start a fire. They’re sending another expedition later this year, so hopefully they’ll find more interesting stuff.

Sources:

News stories-

2 year expedition about to start (Apr 2018)

https://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/_archives/2018/04/07/searching-for-ancient-settlements-at-the-bottom-of-the-north-sea.html

Topography expedition begins (Apr 2018)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiWo9P0mt3qAhWIW80KHcMPDwsQxfQBCEEwBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-europe-43711762&usg=AOvVaw3jp_yY0JyqberyvP8yp6w5

Before RV Belgica May 2018 Voyage (May 2018)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/08/mapping-begins-of-lands-lost-to-north-sea-during-the-stone-age

Forest Discovered (May 2018)

https://www.travelwires.com/scientists-find-possible-traces-of-a-lost-stone-age-settlement-beneath-the-north-sea-955

Brown Banks Expedition Starts (May 2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/08/mapping-begins-of-lands-lost-to-north-sea-during-the-stone-age