Belgian and British researchers will be setting off on Tuesday for 11 days in search of traces of prehistoric man in the North Sea, which was nonexistent during the ice age. In place of a sea, there stretched a vast plain comparable to the tundra and was where prehistoric men, grouped in clans, were likely to have lived.
Following an initial expedition in April 2018, scientists are preparing to combine acoustic technology and soil analyses to retrace the topography and history of this prehistoric landscape and its inhabitants.
Belgian researcher Tine Missiaen, of the Flemish Institute of the Sea (VLIZ), oversees this second mission, which will be undertaken by a team of Belgian and British scientists. Together, on board the Ship Belgica, they will attempt to map the human activity of the past 500,000 years in the Brown Ribbon region.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, Great Britain and Scandinavia were linked to the continent, until the sea level rose at the end of the last Ice Age. The team of scientists has already identified thousands of kilometres of plains, hills, marshes and valleys watered by rivers, but no further traces of a human presence as yet.
The Brussels Times
New expedition seeks traces of prehistoric man in the North Sea
