A man buried in Netherlands in the Mesolithic era
Doggerland refers to a now-submerged area of land that once connected mainland Europe to what is today Great Britain. During the Mesolithic era, approximately between 10,000 BCE and 5,000 BCE, this region was a vibrant cultural landscape, rich in biodiversity and frequented by human populations. The Doggerland Mesolithic culture represents a fascinating chapter in pre-Germanic history, marked by unique adaptations to a changing environment and developing social structures.
Geographic and Environmental Context
During the Mesolithic period, much of Doggerland's terrain consisted of rolling plains, extensive woodlands, marshes, and a network of rivers and lakes. As the last Ice Age waned, melting glaciers caused sea levels to rise, gradually transforming the landscape from an expansive terrestrial corridor into a series of islands, and eventually, underwater. This geographic evolution significantly influenced the lives of its human inhabitants, as communities adapted to both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
The region supported a diverse ecosystem, with forests dominated by birch, pine, alder, and oak trees. Large herds of herbivores such as aurochs, red deer, and elk roamed its expanses, providing rich hunting grounds for Mesolithic peoples. Marine and riverine environments teemed with fish like salmon and eels, as well as abundant birdlife, fostering a complex, resource-rich habitat.
Lifestyle and Subsistence
The people of Doggerland lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, dictated by seasonal resources and climatic conditions. They were hunter-gatherers, reliant on a broad spectrum subsistence strategy to optimize their use of the changing landscape. Flint tools, finely crafted and tailored for various tasks, were essential aspects of their daily lives, used for hunting, processing animal hides, woodworking, and other tasks.
Communities practiced seasonal migration to follow the movement of game, harvest wild plants, fruits, nuts, and tubers, and fish in burgeoning rivers and coastal areas. There is evidence to suggest a more sedentary lifestyle emerged during certain times of the year, particularly in areas with rich, stable resources.
Social and Cultural Aspects
Although the details of their social organization remain largely speculative, the Doggerland communities likely operated on small, kinship-based societal structures. These groups may have gathered seasonally for communal activities such as hunting, tool-making, and ceremonial events. Evidence of burial sites in other parts of the European Mesolithic suggests the presence of ritualistic practices, and Doggerland was likely no exception.
Art and symbolic expression, though not extensively documented in Doggerland due to the submersion, would have played a role in their cultural expression, as in other contemporary Mesolithic sites. Items such as decorative bodily ornaments, carvings, or decorated tools might have been common.
Technological and Material Culture
Doggerland inhabitants employed a robust toolkit characterized by microlithic technology—small, pointed flint blades affixed to wooden shafts to create composite tools or weapons such as spears and harpoons. These tools were well-adapted for hunting and processing animal resources, as well as woodwork essential for constructing shelters and canoes.
Organic materials like bone, antler, and wood were commonly used alongside flint, indicating sophisticated craftsmanship and resourcefulness. Evidence suggests the possible use of early watercraft for traversing waterways, reflecting a level of innovation in transportation technology.
Environmental and Cultural Transformation
The Mesolithic culture of Doggerland was not static; it was a period of adaptation and transformation in response to environmental shifts. The gradual inundation of their homeland would have required increasingly dynamic and innovative survival strategies. Rising sea levels ultimately submerged the landscape, forcing populations to migrate to higher ground—contributing to the diffusion of cultural traits across Northwestern Europe.
Their material and cultural legacy, scattered in archaeological evidence along North Sea coastal regions, serves as a testament to their adaptability and ingenuity. It highlights an era deeply influenced by climatic changes, marking a significant transition leading towards the Neolithic period, where agriculture began reshaping the social and economic structures of human societies.
In summary, the Doggerland Mesolithic culture exemplifies a resilient and versatile way of life that bridged the prehistoric world of hunter-gatherers with the emerging agricultural communities of later periods. The study of this submerged cultural landscape continues to offer insights into early human adaptation and cultural development in prehistoric Europe.
Ancient genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (DOG001) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles ancient populations from different geographic regions.
Modern genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (DOG001) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles modern populations from different geographic regions.
These results complement the ancient ancestry components shown in the previous section, offering a different perspective on the individual's genetic profile by comparing it with modern reference populations rather than prehistoric ancestral groups.
The G25 coordinates for the sample DOG001 are as follows. You can analyze its admixture using G25 Studio.
DOG001,0.13507996,0.12441368,0.0721934,0.06459632,0.04093,0.029313,0.0055836,0.01118132,0.00219916,-0.01729804,-0.00437284,0.00125236,0.00619512,0.00085056,0.0087048,0.00087956,-0.00528312,-0.0005614,0.00098896,0.00056456,0.00518244,0.00041312,-0.00149708,0.00933376,-4.33E-05
Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers
Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.