'Britain's Atlantis' discovered by divers at bottom of North sea

• Doggerland was slowly submerged between 18,000 BC

• A team of climatologists has now mapped the area

• The area was the real heartland of Europe

• The wave was part of a larger process that submerged the low-lying area

• Perhaps not - daydreaming helps children concentrate

July 3, 2012 - 'Britain's Atlantis' - a hidden underwater globe swallowed by the North Sea - has been discovered by divers operating with science teams from the University of St Andrews.

Doggerland, a large region of dry land that stretched from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water among 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC.

Divers from oil organizations have discovered remains of a 'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands - which may the moment have been the 'real heartland' of Europe.

The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an location that stretched from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channel as far as the Channel Islands.

The area was once the ‘real heartland’ of Europe and was hit by ‘a devastating tsunami', the researchers claim.

The wave was part of a larger process that submerged the low-lying region over the course of thousands of years.

Organised by Dr Richard Bates of the Department of Earth Sciences at St Andrews, the Drowned Landscapes exhibit reveals the human story behind Doggerland, a now submerged area of the North Sea that was as soon as bigger than numerous modern day European countries.

Just staring into space? Probably not - daydreaming assists kids concentrate, and tends to make them carry out far better in tests

Dr Bates, a geophysicist, said: ‘Doggerland was the true heartland of Europe until sea levels rose to give us the UK coastline of today.

‘We have speculated for years on the lost land's existence from bones dredged by fishermen all over the North Sea, but it's only since working with oil companies in the last few years that we have been able to re-create what this lost land looked like.

‘When the data was first being processed, I thought it unlikely to give us any useful information, however as more area was covered it revealed a vast and complex landscape.

‘We have now been able to model its flora and fauna, build up a picture of the ancient people that lived there and begin to understand some of the dramatic events that subsequently changed the land, including the sea rising and a devastating tsunami.’

Sources and more information:
• 'Britain's Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea - a huge undersea kingdom swamped by a tsunami 5,500 years ago

Divers from oil companies have found remains of a 'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands - which might once have been the 'real heartland' of Europe. Divers from St Andrews University, find remains of Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis' Dr Richard Bates of the earth sciences department at St Andrews...

• Doggerland: Tsunami Created Lost Underwater World Off British Coast

By Nicholas Edmondson : Subscribe to Nicholas's RSS feed July 3, 2012 7:38 AM EDT Doggerland, 'former heartland of Europe', marked in red around map of UK (University of St Andrews) An ancient, vanished world dubbed Doggerland, which used to surround the British Isles, will be revealed in a science exhibition.

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