The movements occurred underwater, at the edge of the Norwegian continental shelf. There were three landslides, probably caused by earthquakes, about 100 kilometers from the Møre coast, which caused a massive movement of water known as the Storegga tsunami (which in Norwegian means “the great edge”).
All of this happened more than 8,100 years ago and not only was it the most likely cause of the disappearance of Doggerland – the land bridge that linked Great Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands – but it would also have wiped out the population of the territories that currently make up the north of the United Kingdom.
As explained by researchers from the University of York in an article published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, the monstrous waves reached heights of more than 20 meters that hit the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, and crests of between three and six meters. In England. All this coincided with a large population decline, especially in coastal areas.
The authors of the study, Patrick D. Sharrocks and Jon Hill, created two simulations that posed scenarios of changes in sea level and a third that incorporated high tide. With this last option, the results obtained indicate that the Northumberland area (northwest of England) would have been completely flooded.
Storegga drowned a large area near the settlement of Howick and would have caused the loss of key resources such as hazelnuts just before the winter months. “These combined effects would probably have been replicated throughout the coastal towns of northern Britain, leading to population declines,” he says.
Until now, this sudden drop in population had never been related to the tsunami. Estimates indicate that, in the Stone Age, the number of inhabitants of this region would have been quite small, barely reaching 1,000 people.
The vast majority of these prehistoric Britons would have lived in small coastal villages, placing them directly in the path of any gigantic tidal wave. The archaeological record shows that, about 8,200 years ago, the number of inhabited sites across northwestern Europe suddenly plummeted.
This has been linked to a sustained drop in temperatures across the continent, although some researchers have argued that coastal communities may not have been affected by this weather event. Interestingly, the Storegga tsunami also aligns with this mass die-off, as it occurred sometime between 8,120 and 8,175 years ago.
Archaeologists had already discovered sediment cores at Howick dating back to that time, suggesting the site may have been flooded during the disaster. However, the cores are largely filled with coarse debris, which differs from the fine sand sediments typically deposited by tsunamis.
“If the tsunami had occurred at high tide, it would have had a greater flooding distance due to the increase in the height of the water,” they explain. If so, the consequences would have been catastrophic. “In Howick, mortality estimates reached up to 100% of the population,” they point out.
In addition to killing anyone in its path, the giant wave would also have wiped out food resources, contributing to a massive population decline across northwestern Europe, the authors conclude.
