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 During the Pleistocene, the Laurentian Ice Sheet extended southward into northwestern Pennsylvania. This field trip identifies a number of periglacial features from the Appalachian Plateaus and Ridge and Valley provinces that formed near the Pleistocene ice sheet front. Evidence of Pleistocene periglacial climate in this area includes glacial lake deposits in the Monongahela River valley near Morgantown, West Virginia, and Sphagnum peatlands, rock cities, and patterned ground in plateau areas surrounding the Upper Youghiogheny River basin in Garrett County, Maryland, and the Laurel Highlands of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, USA. In the high-lying basins of the Allegheny Mountains, Pleistocene peatlands still harbor species characteristic of more northerly latitudes due to local frost pocket conditions. Pleistocene fauna preserved in a cave deposit in Allegany County, Maryland, record a diverse mammalian assemblage indicative of taiga forest habitat in the Ridge and Valley province.