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Tourists visiting Skara Brae, a Neolithic settlement located in the Continental Orkneys. In this prehistoric village, one of the best preserved prehistoric group of houses in Western Europe, one can see the way of life of 5000 years ago, before the construction of Stonehenge. (Credit: iStock)
The Atlantis of Britain was discovered in the North Sea after scientists discovered what they thought were two stone age agglomerations.
Two artefacts over 10,000 years old, in stone, were found on the banks of an ancient submerged river – and it's the first time that an archaeological expedition finds such precious prehistoric treasures as far from land and so deep.
It is known that fishermen have accidentally trawled prehistoric artifacts in the North Sea, but the seabed from which they came has never been the subject of an archaeological assessment.
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A team of archaeologists from the United Kingdom and Belgium traveled 25 km north of a Norfolk village called Blakeney and discovered both stone artifacts, which they consider highly significant evidence settlements close to each other under the sea.
These areas were deliberately targeted as scientists used their knowledge of what are the rock age sites on earth.
(Credit: DLC Historical Environment Division)
Not only did they discover archaeological objects by taking sediment samples, but they also understood why Stone Age men were so attracted to these areas engulfed by the sea around 6000 BC.
Potential colonies could have existed long before their drowning and could be dated between 8200 and 7700 BC.
The sediment samples provided pollen and other environmental evidence suggesting that now submerged areas would have been once vast landscapes of plants and animals.
This would have been perfect for stone age Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and the location of their settlement, right by the river, would have been great for freshwater fishing.
There is also evidence of an area nearby that could have provided flint to the prehistoric population for its stone tools.
One of the artefacts found was actually a big hammer stone that, according to archaeologists, would have been used to make new tools.
The researchers now believe that the two sites on which they fell were used as stone tooling manufacturing bases.
The second artefact found on the other side of the old riverbed was a two-millimeter thick flint flake that, according to archaeologists, was cut when a stone tool was made.
The next stage of archaeological excavations will involve an unmanned mini-submarine, which will take a closer look at the sea floor and perhaps even use its robotic arms to collect all the artifacts found.
After this step, divers can descend to 32 meters from the seabed for proper excavation.
Colonies, like many sites of the Stone Age, are thought to have drowned when the North Sea formed due to ice melt after the ice age.
Hopefully these ongoing digs will teach us a lot more about life at the time.
This story originally appeared in The Sun.
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