Abstract This paper focuses on the submerged landscapes of the southern North Sea, an area often referred to as Doggerland, which was inundated as a result of relative sea-level rise at the start of the Holocene. The timing, pattern and process of environmental changes and the implications for prehistoric (Mesolithic) human communities living in this area have long been a subject of debate and discussion. Recent developments in marine geophysics have permitted the mapping of the pre-submergence landscape, leading to the identification of landforms including river channels and other contexts suitable for the preservation of palaeoecological records. The paper describes multi-proxy (pollen, foraminifera, plant macrofossil and insect) palaeoenvironmental analyses of a vibrocore sequence recovered from a palaeochannel feature c. 80 km off the coast of eastern England. The palaeochannel preserves sediments of Late Pleistocene and Holocene age (MIS2/1); the record suggests that channel incision, probably during the early Holocene, was followed by a phase of peat formation ( c. 9–10 cal ka BP) indicating paludification and the subsequent reactivation of the channel ( c. 9–6 cal ka BP), initially under freshwater and increasingly brackish/saline conditions, and a final transition to full marine conditions (6–5 cal ka BP). The pollen, macrofossil and beetle records indicate the presence of pre-submergence deciduous woodland, but detailed interpretation of the data is hindered by taphonomic complications. The paper concludes with a discussion of the problems and potentials of using palaeoenvironmental data to reconstruct complex patterns of environmental change across Doggerland in four dimensions, and considers specific questions concerning the implications of such processes for Mesolithic human communities.

Abstract The landmass now covered by the North Sea, here referred to as Doggerland, has had an important but neglected influence on the course of prehistory in northwestern Europe. The physical character of Doggerland in the Late Glacial and earlier Holocene is assessed, together with its re-colonization by humans after the Last Glacial Maximum. The development of a maritime-based society along the northern coast of Doggerland is postulated, and it is argued that the coastal inhabitants, with their specialized adaptation to this zone, will have moved with the coast as relative sea-levels changed. The interactions of coastal and inland populations are considered, including the probable influence of the coastal groups in delaying the spread of farming into the region. In northwestern Europe, from Ireland to southern Scandinavia, there is an absence of archaeological evidence dated to the Last Glacial (Devensian/Weichselian) Maximum. Conditions approximating those of an arctic desert pertained in front of the British and Scandinavian ice sheets, and it is generally accepted that the lack of evidence for human occupation is due, quite simply, to the absence of humans. For 10000 years, from about 23 000 BP to about 13 500 BP (radiocarbon years), the region was uninhabited (Housley et al. 1997 ). As conditions ameliorated, people began to explore the land beyond their glacial refugia; the changing character of the archaeological evidence indicates that, within a few centuries of pioneering visits, permanent human occupation was established. For southern Britain and southern Jutland, the presence of settled groups of people can be dated to about 12 400 BP , i.e. to the earlier part of the Windermere or Bøiling interstadial. At this time, land was continuous between the two regions, and it too will have been inhabited. The land between, subsequently submerged by the North Sea, is here referred to as Doggerland, named after the Dogger Bank which has long been recognized as a former area of dryland and fresh waters (Reid 1913 ). Although there has as yet been no specifically archaeological survey of the region, something of its character can be gleaned from the results of geological exploration and by extrapolating from the data available for adjacent regions. The evidence for the physical condition of Doggerland in successive periods is discussed in Coles 1998 , including that for coastline position and for the major river courses. Sea-level change in northwestern Europe has recently been modelled in a series of papers by Lambeck and colleagues (e.g. Lambeck 1993 , Lambeck et al. 1998 ) which should in due course enable greater precision and confidence in coastline reconstruction. The more that is known of the former landmass, the more its relevance to Late Glacial and Postglacial prehistory becomes clear (Coles 1998 , 1999 ). In the present context, the focus will be predominantly on Doggerland's coastal zone, following a brief consideration first of inland conditions at the time of the Windermere/Bølling-Allerod interstadial and then of the initial character of human occupation of the land.

Abstract The inundated Doggerland in the North Sea Basin has been a coveted research target for many years owing to its key location with respect to geological evolution since the last glaciation and its archaeological potential related to prehistoric hunter–gatherer populations. Still, many uncertainties related to glacial and sea-level forcing on erosion and deposition remain, and the first discovery of submerged settlements is yet to be reported. In this study, we present a range of seismic morphologies and facies characteristic for the late glacial and Holocene succession near a major drainage system at the eastern Dogger Bank. Five of these facies are dominant in the area while two facies can be associated with a terrestrial–fluvial landscape buried 0–22 m below the seafloor. We detect various erosion levels of the terrestrial–fluvial landscape that are greatest towards the south where sediment has been removed, probably owing to combined terrestrial–fluvial and marine erosion. We find that five subareas show geo-archaeological potential in terms of (1) the preservation degree of terrestrial strata based on erosion estimates, (2) the accessibility of terrestrial strata based on burial depths and (3) the palaeolandscape configuration based on the spatial setting in relation to the drainage system and the palaeocoastlines. We further document a geological evolution of the study area, which is comparable with the evolution at the western Dogger Bank. However, we find more evidence for an extended flooding period because of the vicinity to the major drainage system and the Elbe Paleo Valley. We propose that our approach can be used as a workflow for marine investigations that focus on submerged hunter–gatherer heritage.

Abstract The Norwegian coast facing the Atlantic Ocean was ice free as early as the Allerød oscillation in the late Pleistocene. The landscape was probably habitable for humans. It has, therefore, been assumed by several scholars that this coastline was visited or inhabited from the Late Glacial period onwards. In part, this argumentation is based on the presumed proximity of the Norwegian mainland and Doggerland, which existed between present-day Denmark and Great Britain because of a much lower global sea level. The aim of this paper is to examine the 14 C dates available from the oldest Norwegian settlement sites, and to compare them to the Quaternary processes of deglaciation and sea-level change. The hypothesis is advanced that humans did not settle in present-day Norway before a sheltering passage of islands and peninsulas had developed between the Swedish west coast (Bohuslän) and the Oslo area. This happened in the second half of the Preboreal period, at approximately 9.3 cal ka BC, or in the final centuries of the tenth millenniun BC. Supplementary material: 14 C dates used in Figures 2, 4 and 9 are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18779 .

Abstract Tsunami present a significant geohazard to coastal and water-body marginal communities worldwide. Tsunami, a Japanese word, describes a series of waves that, once generated, travel across open water with exceptionally long wavelengths and with very high velocities before shortening and slowing on arrival at a coastal zone. Upon reaching land, these waves can have a devastating effect on the people and infrastructure in those environments. With over 12 000 km of coastline, the British Isles is vulnerable to the tsunami hazard. A significant number of potential tsunami source areas are present around the entire landmass, from plate tectonic boundaries off the Iberian Peninsula to the major submarine landslides in the northern North Sea to more localized coastal cliff instability which again has the potential to generate a tsunami. Tsunami can be generated through a variety of mechanisms including the sudden displacement of the sea floor in a seismic event as well as submarine and onshore landslides displacing a mass of water. This review presents those impacts together with a summary of tsunami triggers and UK case histories from the known historic catalogue. Currently, apart from some very sensitive installations, there is very little in the UK in the way of tsunami management and mitigation strategies. A situation that should be urgently addressed both on a local and national level.