Resurfacing Doggerland. Environment, humans and material culture in a drowning postglacial landscape

This project focusses on a rich body of archaeological and palaeontological finds dating between 20,000 and 5,000 cal BC, originating from the North Sea. Next to stone tools, finds include over a thousand bone/antler barbed points, antler mattocks and axe-shafts, as well as other tools made of antler and bone (as well as production waste). About 100 fragments of human bone have been dated to this period, as well as countless animal remains. Several pilot studies have demonstrated the surprisingly good preservation of these materials, permitting e.g. aDNA, stable isotope, ZooMS, and use-wear/residue analysis. Despite the lack of high-resolution information on the original stratigraphical context of the finds (brought up in fishing nets or collected on artificial beaches), data that can be extracted and put in a chronological framework (AMS dating) is highly valuable for the reconstruction of socio-cultural, population and environmental dynamics in the context of the drowning of a hunter-gatherer landscape, presently known as ‘Doggerland’.