Europe's Lost Frontiers: Volume 1: Context and Methodology(1 Europe's Lost Frontiers)

Europe's Lost Frontiers was the largest directed archaeological research project undertaken in Europe to investigate the inundated landscapes of the Early Holocene North Sea - the area frequently referred to as 'Doggerland'. Funded through a European Research Council Advanced Grant (project number 670518), the project ran from 2015 to 2021, and involved more than 30 academics, representing institutions spread geographically from Ireland to China. A vast area of the seabed was mapped, and multiple ship expeditions were launched to retrieve sediment cores from the valleys of the lost prehistoric landscapes of the North Sea. This data has now been analysed to provide evidence of how the land was transformed in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. This volume is the first in a series of monographs dedicated to the analysis and interpretation of data generated by the project. As a precursor to the publication of the detailed results, it provides the context of the study and method statements. Later volumes will present the mapping, palaeoenvironment, geomorphology and modelling programmes of Europe's Lost Frontiers. The results of the project confirm that these landscapes, long held to be inaccessible to archaeology, can be studied directly and provide an archaeological narrative. This data will become increasingly important at a time when contemporary climate change and geo-political crises are pushing development within the North Sea at an unprecedented rate, and when the opportunities to explore this unique, heritage landscape may be significantly limited in the future.

Table of Contents:
General Editors Preface – Vincent Gaffney ; 1. Europe’s Lost Frontiers: Context and Development – Vincent Gaffney and Simon Fitch ; Before Europe’s Lost Frontiers ; 2. Beyond the Site: An Evaluation of the Value of Extensive Commercial Datasets for Palaeolandscape Research – Simon Fitch and Eleanor Ramsey ; 3. A Description of Palaeolandscape Features in the Southern North Sea – Simon Fitch, Vincent Gaffney, Rachel Harding, Andrew Fraser and James Walker ; 4. From Extensive to Intensive: Moving into the Mesolithic Landscape of Doggerland – Simon Fitch ; Europe’s Lost Frontiers ; 5. The Archaeological Context of Doggerland during the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic – James Walker, Vincent Gaffney, Simon Fitch, Rachel Harding, Andrew Fraser, Merle Muru and Martin Tingle ; 6. The Southern River: Methods for the Investigation of Submerged Palaeochannel Systems – Simon Fitch, Richard Bates and Rachel Harding ; 7. Establishing a Lithostratigraphic and Palaeoenvironmental Framework for the Investigation of Vibracores from the Southern North Sea – Martin Bates, Ben Gearey, Tom Hill, Erin Kavanagh, David Smith and John E. Whittaker ; 8. Sedimentary Ancient DNA Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction in the North Sea Landscape – Robin Allaby, Rebecca Cribdon, Rosie Everett and Roselyn Ware ; 9. Palaeomagnetic Analysis of Cores from Europe’s Lost Frontiers – Samuel E. Harris, Catherine M. Batt and Elizabeth Topping ; 10. Applying Chemostratigraphic Techniques to Shallow Bore Holes: Lessons and Case Studies from Europe’s Lost Frontiers – Alexander Finlay, Richard Bates and Mohammed Ben Sharada ; 11. Introduction to Geochemical Studies within Europe’s Lost Frontiers – Mohammed Ben Sharada, Ben Stern and Richard Telford ; 12. Constructing Sediment Chronologies for Doggerland – Tim Kinnaird, Martin Bates, Rebecca Bateman and Aayush Srivastava ; 13. Building chronologies for Europe’s Lost Frontiers: Radiocarbon dating and Age-Depth Modelling – Derek Hamilton and Tim Kinnaird ; 14. Simulating a Drowned Landscape: A Four-dimensional Approach to Solving Problems of Behaviour and Scale – Phillip Murgatroyd, Eugene Ch’ng, Tabitha Kabora and Micheál Butler ; 15. Greetings from Doggerland? Future Challenges for the Targeted Prospection of the Southern North Sea Palaeolandscape – Simon Fitch, Vince Gaffney, James Walker, Rachel Harding and Martin Tingle ; Supplementary Data ; 16. Supplementary Data to ‘Constructing Sediment Chronologies for Doggerland’ ; Bibliography

About the Author :
Professor Vincent Gaffney is Chair in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bradford and has undertaken research across many archaeological periods and in many parts of the world. He is Principle Investigator on the European Research Council's Advanced Grant project - Europe's Lost Frontiers - and this volume, the first from that project, represents the culmination of nearly two decades of research on the archaeology of Doggerland, the submerged prehistoric landscape of the southern North Sea. Simon Fitch is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Bradford. He led the seismic mapping aspect of the ERC funded Europe's Lost Frontiers project and has a longstanding interest in the study of submerged landscapes. His continuing research focuses upon the study of submerged Mesolithic and Late Palaeolithic landscapes worldwide and the investigation of the impacts of environmental and landscape change upon human populations during prehistory. Professor Vincent Gaffney is Chair in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bradford and has undertaken research across many archaeological periods and in many parts of the world. He is Principle Investigator on the European Research Council's Advanced Grant project - Europe's Lost Frontiers - and this volume, the first from that project, represents the culmination of nearly two decades of research on the archaeology of Doggerland, the submerged prehistoric landscape of the southern North Sea. Simon Fitch is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Bradford. He led the seismic mapping aspect of the ERC funded Europe's Lost Frontiers project and has a longstanding interest in the study of submerged landscapes. His continuing research focuses upon the study of submerged Mesolithic and Late Palaeolithic landscapes worldwide and the investigation of the impacts of environmental and landscape change upon human populations during prehistory.