Watching Neil Oliver’s excellent History of Ancient Britain on BBC-4 television,
I was reminded of the story of a great tsunami that struck the country 8,000
years ago, which may have been the first major natural disaster
suffered by British men and women.
Archaeologists think that in about
6100 BC, huge landslides in Norway triggered great waves which struck the North-east and penetrated 25 miles inland, turning low-lying plains into what
is now the North Sea, and cutting us off from the continent.
Before the tsunami, a landbridge
from the region around the Wash connected us with the Low Countries. Rising sea
levels were already threatening it before the natural disaster finished off the
job.
The drowned area was known to
archaeologists as Doggerland, and was largely made up of lagoons, marshes and
mudflats. It is believed to have been one of the richest hunting grounds in
Europe. So many humans would presumably have been caught up in this ancient
tsunami. (See also my post of 1 May 2014.)
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