Rising Seas Swallowed Countless Archaeological Sites. Scientists Want Them Back

From Doggerland to Beringia, the sea took some of prehistory’s most important archaeological sites. All over the world, scientists are beginning to find them again.

By Gemma Tarlach
Aug 27, 2019 5:00 PMDec 13, 2019 9:13 PM
Aquaterra - Deep Time Maps/Mackey/Discover
For most of our species’ existence, sea levels have been lower than they are today, often by hundreds of feet, exposing a continent’s worth of dry land (shown in red). Archaeological sites key to understanding the human story are likely now underwater — but perhaps not lost. (Credit: Deep Time Maps/Alison Mackey/Discover)

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

Whatever you learned in school about how our species spread across the planet is wrong.

For decades, textbooks taught that humans left our ancestral African homeland and spread across the world via the landmasses we know today, reaching Australia less than 50,000 years ago and the Americas a mere 13,500 years ago. But there’s a continent-sized gap in our knowledge about our collective past that scientists are only now starting to fill in.

From the North Sea to the island-dotted tropics between Asia and Australia, from the frigid waters of the Bering Strait to the sunny Arabian Peninsula, now-submerged coastal landscapes were exposed and accessible to our ancestors at multiple times in prehistory, including key periods of human expansion across the globe. The square mileage of these areas now under the seas is equal to that of modern North America.

“My own view is that there are certainly sites out there,” says University of York archaeologist Geoff Bailey. “Some of the areas [that would have been] most attractive to humans are now underwater.”

Long out of scientists’ reach, these submerged landscapes, which some researchers collectively call Aquaterra, are finally emerging from beneath the waves — at least figuratively. Thanks to cutting-edge technologies and increasing evidence that the old models of early human dispersal no longer make sense, several projects are underway to reconstruct these ancient worlds and search for evidence that will likely rewrite the human story.

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.