Any talk about submerged landscapes has the tendency to
bring Atlantis to mind. However, the importance of our submerged landscapes and
archaeology was brought to the fore at the Eurocean Conference in Rome earlier
this month with the launch of a joint geosciences – humanities strategy called
“Land Beneath the Waves”.
How many of us have looked out over the North Sea, or the
Irish Sea or the Mediterranean and considered what our landscape would look
like if we altered the sea level? A fascinating fact is that 20,000 years ago the
European landmass was 40% larger......so who lived there; where did they live;
how did they move about between places; did they follow the hunting across the
wetland and marshes of what is now the North Sea basin; did they build piers or
jetties to tie boats up alongside?
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| Position paper 21 of the European Marine Board |
These are just a few of the many questions that
archaeologists have been fascinated by for years. However, addressing these
questions will also help us to further understand our changing climate and
fluctuating sea levels, and the impact that these changes have on our coastlines
and marine habitats that currently support such a rich diversity of sea life.
Alan Stevenson from BGS was a member of the Working Group
responsible for the report and describes the context of the “Land beneath the
Waves”.
“The creation of a new research field (Continental Shelf
Prehistoric Research) indicates a significant raising of the profile of an area
of scientific research that was under-represented. This is an area that many of
our past and present Marine projects already recognise, including working with
archaeologists on the East Coast and Humber Regional Environmental Characterisations
for The Crown Estate, and a recently funded project with Wessex Archaeology looking
at migration routes from mainland Europe to the north-eastern coast of the UK.
This new strategy sees BGS positioned to provide geological information to this
dynamic, multi-national research area, helping to provide the knowledge
necessary to manage the ever increasing demands on our marine environment
whilst protecting our cultural heritage and marine habitats.“
And who knows.......maybe Atlantis is out there!
Carol Cotterill
Carol Cotterill
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