The Lost Doggerland

Beneath the English Channel and North Sea is a lost world that may reveal new information on the spread of homo sapiens in northern Europe.

The area in yellow and orange below was dry land during the last Ice Age when sea levels were much lower worldwide.
As you can see ,what is now England, Wales, and Scotland was connected to Ireland, the Hebrides, and the Orkneys and all had a land connection with France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark.  The extent boundaries varied with sea levels from 20,000 years ago until about 6500 BC when the ocean finally swept away the land connections.

Doggerland takes it name from the Dogger Banks, shallow shoals in the North Sea and renowned fishing grounds, named by the Dutch in the 17th century.  The Dogger Banks were also the location of a bizarre incident in October 1904 when the Russian Fleet, proceeding from St Petersburg to the Pacific, believed itself under attack by the Japanese Navy and opened fire on what turned out to be British fishing boats, killing three fishermen and almost triggering a war between Russia and England.  The Russian fleet eventually completed its epic voyage and was promptly sunk by the Japanese Navy off the coast of Korea at the Battle of Tsushima.  So there.

The ancient Doggerland was an expanse of low grasslands, meadows, rivers, and swamps and home to many Neolithic human settlements.  Recent university explorations, with the assistance of the oil companies active in the North Sea, are revealing more about early human activities, with the prospect of much more information coming to light in the future.