The North Sea used to be mostly land! (Source, Public Domain)

The Ancient Bridge that Connected Britain to Europe

The separation between the British Isles and the rest of Europe has been a major factor in Western History. Armies trying to invade Britain had to contend with a 20+ mile-wide marine channel that made movement significantly more difficult. This barrier was famously a huge obstacle for Napolean, who began staging several assaults but had to stop due to the logistical difficulties of moving the armies across the water.

However, it wasn’t always this way. As the last Ice Age was wrapping up, roughly 12,000 years ago, both the English Channel and the North Sea were instead vast swaths of land known as Doggerland. A lot of water was trapped in massive continental glaciers, lowering sea levels around the world. This land was mostly swamps and forested lagoons and we now know that humans had a huge presence in this area.

I think this forgotten land is fascinating, and hopefully, you do too! Let’s see how we know Doggerland used to exist, how humans used it, and most interestingly what major event potentially destroyed it.

A woolly mammoth skull found in the North Sea by fishermen (Source)

The North Sea is an extremely active fishing area in the modern economy. This region is home to a wide variety of different…