Life in Doggerland - palynological investigations of the environment of prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies in the North Sea Basin

Analyses of two vibrocores from the sea floor of the submerged Doggerland within the centre of the North Sea provide a record of late Pleistocene and early Holocene vegetation history. Based on two high-resolution pollen diagrams of basal peat, the vegetation development and past environmental conditions were studied. The diagrams show that the vegetation history of Doggerland corresponds to that of the north European Plain during the late glacial and early Holocene. The concentration of micro-charcoal was determined, but no traces of human activity were found.