Stone Age artifacts from a land that sank 9,000 years ago were retrieved from the seabed An average of 50 square miles of land were lost every year between 8000 BCE and 6500 BCE. Archaeologists recently uncovered a trove of Stone Age artifacts on the seafloor of the North Sea, shedding light on a lost prehistoric land that once bridged Great Britain and mainland Europe. Using special dredging machines, scientists brought to the surface 100 flint artifacts made by Stone Age people between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago, according to The Independent. The sites where these artifacts were found are located 12 to 15 miles off the Norfolk coast, submerged about 20 meters below the stormy surface of the North Sea and next to a series of long-vanished estuaries. Each newly discovered ancient site presents a field for archaeological research, as reported by The Independent. Among the artifacts recovered are numerous smaller flint cutting tools and several dozen flint flakes from tool-making. One of the objects recovered from the seabed, a stone used for cutting, was analyzed at the Submerged Landscapes Research Centre of the University of Bradford. The analysis showed that the inhabitants lived by hunting red deer and wild boars, as well as by gathering shellfish, according to La Jornada. The territory where these remains were found, submerged between 10,000 to 7,500 years ago, is still a great mystery.
The continuing archaeological investigation in the North Sea is a joint operation run by the University of Bradford and Belgium's Flemish Marine Institute. The exploration was undertaken in collaboration with the North Sea's wind farm projects and Historic England's Marine Planning Department, The Independent reports. "Our investigations at the bottom of the North Sea have the potential to transform our understanding of Stone Age culture in and around what is now Britain and the near continent," said Professor Vince Gaffney, leader of the North Sea archaeological investigation and a researcher at the University of Bradford's Submerged Landscapes Centre, according to The Independent. In 8000 BCE, around 80,000 square miles of what is now the southern part of the North Sea was dry land. By 6500 BCE, only around 5,000 square miles of that land remained. The sites of these artifacts are situated next to a series of long-lost river mouths that have long since disappeared, as The Independent details. Over a period of about 1,500 years, roughly between 8000 BCE and 6500 BCE, an area almost the size of Britain was swallowed up by the sea due to a rise in sea levels caused by an intense period of global warming. During that period, an average of 50 square miles of land were lost every year, and sometimes much more, contributing to the vulnerability of the Stone Age population to seasonal flooding, The Independent reports. "As we delve into the past, we are beginning to appreciate ever more clearly what future sea-level rise could do to humanity. Our collaboration with the North Sea wind farms community is part of Britain's efforts to reach net zero and to thereby combat global warming," said Gaffney, according to The Independent. Stone Age artifacts from a land that sank 9,000 years ago were retrieved - The Jerusalem Post
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