York archaeologists descend to the ‘final frontier’
Posted on 1 March 2007
New research will give vital clues to offshore human habitation submerged after the retreat of the ice sheets 6,000 years ago. Engulfed by rising sea levels after the last great Ice Age, underwater prehistoric sites have been described as the last frontier of archaeology.
The Leverhulme Trust has awarded the University’s Department of Archaeology £152,000 for a three year study of submerged landscape archaeology in the North Sea and off the South coast. Led by Professor Geoff Bailey and Dr Penny Spikins, the new research will give vital clues to how our human ancestors coped with profound environmental change. It will focus on human settlement of what were coastal areas in the Mesolithic period between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, after the end of the last great Ice Age.
The York study will use deep-diving technology to establish the best ways to map the submerged prehistoric landscape, investigate and excavate underwater sites and protect them for the future. The project involves two archaeological divers, Garry Momber, of the Hants and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, and Lawrence Moran, co-director of the Northern Trust for Marine Archaeology and Science, who are qualified to dive to depths of 90 metres.
We can learn from this prehistoric perspective something about how human populations have encountered and coped with a huge period of climatic change on a scale far greater than we have experienced or are likely to experience as a result of global warming.
Professor Bailey
Professor Bailey, who is also engaged in similar underwater projects in the western Mediterranean and the southern Red Sea, said: "For most of human existence, sea levels have been much lower than at present so an awful lot of archaeology relating to human settlement is now underwater. Sea level 20,000 years ago was 130 metres lower than it is today and it therefore exposed large areas of the continental shelf as attractive territory for human settlement.
"Typically sea level was more like 50-60 metres lower than it is now but the big problem for archaeologists has been what exactly is down there. We are missing a significant part of the archaeological record going back tens of thousands of years."
Dr Spikins said: "Some of the evidence that we find from underwater sites may mean that we have to change our preconceptions about the way we view our past. Pre-history has been written very much from a land-based point of view and the sea has been seen as a barrier but new research is changing these ideas."
Professor Bailey added: "During the Mesolithic, the climate and the environment of Europe changed dramatically. We can learn from this prehistoric perspective something about how human populations have encountered and coped with a huge period of climatic change on a scale far greater than we have experienced or are likely to experience as a result of global warming."
Notes to editors:
- For more information on the Leverhulme Trust go to www.leverhulme.ac.uk
- More information on the University of York’s Department of Archaeology at www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/