Archaeologists to find lost underwater civilization with magnetic fields

Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF • Yesterday 11:18 PM

Archaeologists at the University of Bradley are using data from the Earth's magnetic field to discover ancient European settlements buried under the North Sea.



Illustrative image of underwater civilization.
© (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

According to a report from the university, these scientists are specifically investigating Doggerland, a stretch of land that once connected mainland Europe with the eastern coast of Great Britain. National Geographic's website explains that, approximately 12,000 years ago, what is now ocean was a series of sloping hills, marshland, wooded valleys and swamps.

The university already has a team dedicated to studying Doggerland; their project is entitled "Europe's Lost Frontiers." Both the Lost Frontiers data and National Geographic agree that humans once settled Doggerland based on evaluations of tools and other artifacts embedded in the sea floor.

Difficulty in data gathering
National Geographic's website points out that a lot of the seismic data used by researchers comes from oil companies drilling in the North Sea.

Now, it is not oil companies but wind farms that archaeologists are competing with, according to the university report, and Ph.D. student Ben Urmston is on the case. He will be looking for anomalies in magnetic fields, which could indicate the presence of ancient remains. This will allow him and his colleagues to unearth new data without taking a dive into the North Sea.



Woolly mammoth skull discovered by fishermen in the North Sea, at Celtic and Prehistoric Museum, Ireland. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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