Europe's lost world
Subtitle: the rediscovery of Doggerland
By: Vincent Gaffney, Simon Fitch, and David Smith.
Contributors: Fitch, Simon.; Smith, D. N.
Series: Research report -- no. 160
Publisher: Council for British Archaeology
Published: 2009
Place of publication: [York, England]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
ISBN-13: 9781902771779
Subjects: Coastal archaeology -- Europe, Northern; Mesolithic period -- North Sea; Archaeological surveying -- North Sea; Prehistoric peoples -- Europe, Northern; Mesolithic period -- Europe, Northern; North Sea -- Antiquities; Europe, Northern -- Antiquities
Description: This excellent book, which deserves a wide readership, reports on the work of the North Sea Palaeolandscapes Project, which has been researching the fascinating lost landscape of Doggerland which until after the end of the last Ice Age connected Britain to the continent in the North Sea area. It aims to make the findings available to a general readership, and show just how impressive they have been, with nearly 23,000km2 mapped. The techniques used to reconstruct the landscape are explained, and conclusions and speculation about the climate and vegetation of the area in the Mesolithic offered. It also tells the story of the rediscovery of Doggerland, and the Mesolithic landscape more generally, from the pioneering work of Clement Reid in the nineteenth century, to the research of Grahame Clark and Bryony Coles in the twentieth. It's also worth pointing out just how well produced and illustrated the book is, and one can only hope that it can spark public interest in a comparatively little known phase of our prehistory.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-198).