Beneath the surface of the North Sea, a long-hidden prehistoric forest has been found, revealing many new possibilities for the environment and climate of ancient Europe. Using sediment collected from ancient sites to collect and analyze ancient DNA (sedaDNA), researchers have shown that there were lush living forests of oak, elm and hazel trees in a sunken landscape now known as Doggerland, thousands of years before scientists previously thought this was possible.
This research suggests that Doggerland was an important refuge for plants, animals and even early humans during the last Ice Age, and that some parts of this lost environment remained above water for longer than researchers expected, thus providing more information about how the region’s environment evolved in the past before it all eventually became submerged beneath higher ocean levels.
After 400 thousand years: A Hidden prehistoric forest find out
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers have developed an alternative chronology for forests in northern Europe.
The researchers analyzed 252 sediment samples collected from 41 marine cores, and found DNA from temperate tree species that have been around for at least 16,000 years. In a particularly surprising discovery, the researchers also recovered DNA from species of Pterocarya (walnut family) thought to have been extirpated from the area 400,000 years ago – suggesting that isolated ‘microrefugia’ allowed some species to persist for much longer than previously identified.
Why was Doggerland more than just a land bridge?
Doggerland, once thought to be merely an ephemeral landmass, appears more likely to have instead represented a permanent center of development and was also an extremely fertile region. According to PNAS research findings, the presence of Tilia (lemon) trees 2,000 years before these trees were first recorded as being present on mainland Britain suggests that locally temperate climatic conditions support more complex ecosystems than previously reported.Researchers believe that these wooded areas could have provided early Mesolithic human populations with food and shelter, and could explain the lack of early human archaeological material in Britain today due to constant submergence under the North Sea.
How new DNA evidence is rewriting Europe’s glacial history
The existence of resilient ecosystems in Europe calls into question the accepted view of forest regrowth across Europe after the last glaciation event. New data from the University of Warwick shows that Doggerland survived major environmental disturbances (such as the Storegga tsunami (8,150 years ago)) and some parts were still habitable 7,000 years ago. Applying sedaDNA methodology to detect marine sediment cores provides unprecedented details of the past compared to traditional pollen studies and provides context for future excavation efforts to identify specific sites of human habitation in these submerged landscapes.
