Beneath the surface of the North Sea, a long-hidden prehistoric forest has been discovered, revealing many new possibilities for the environment and climate of ancient Europe. By using sediment collected from ancient sites to collect and analyze ancient DNA (sedaDNA), researchers have shown that a sunken landscape now known as Doggerland contained lush, living forests of oak, elm and hazel thousands of years earlier than scientists thought. This research shows that Doggerland was an important habitat for plants, animals, and even early humans during the last ice age, and that parts of this lost environment remained above water for longer than researchers expected, thus providing more information about how the ecology of this region evolved in the past, before it all eventually sank beneath high sea levels.

400,000 years later: A hidden prehistoric forest Figured out

In a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers have developed an alternative chronology of the forests of Northern Europe. Researchers analyzed 252 sediment samples collected from 41 marine cores and found DNA from temperate tree species that existed at least 16,000 years ago. In a particularly surprising discovery, the researchers also recovered DNA from Pterocarya (nut family) species that were believed to have gone extinct in the region 400,000 years ago – indicating that isolated ‘microrefugia’ allowed some species to survive longer than previously determined.

Why was Doggerland more than just a land bridge?

The Doggerland, once thought to be only an ephemeral landmass, is now likely to represent a permanent center of development in what was also a very fertile area. According to PNAS research findings, the existence of Tilia (lemon) trees 2,000 years earlier than the date these trees were first recorded in mainland Britain indicates that locally mild climatic conditions supported more complex ecosystems than previously thought.Researchers believe that these wooded areas could have provided both food and shelter to early Mesolithic human populations, and may explain the lack of early human archaeological material in Britain today due to constant submergence beneath the North Sea.

How new DNA evidence rewrites Europe’s glacial history

The existence of resilient ecosystems in Europe calls into question the accepted approach to forest regeneration across Europe after the last glacial event. New data from the University of Warwick shows that Doggerland survived significant environmental disturbances (such as the Storga tsunami (8,150 years ago)) and that some parts were still as habitable as 7,000 years ago. The application of the sedaDNA method to the exploration of marine sediment cores provides unprecedented detail about the past compared to traditional pollen studies and provides a reference for future excavation efforts to identify specific sites of human habitation on these submerged landscapes.