It is a discovery that might prove too upsetting for remainers: Doggerland, which connected Britain to the rest of Europe, was an economic powerhouse and a wonderfully bucolic land.

Scientists have extracted ancient DNA from beneath the sea bed to identify the plants and animals that once inhabited the region. It suggests that Doggerland was perhaps the most fertile land in north Europe.

“We are finding 8,000-year-old DNA from trees like oak, birch and lime, and flowering plants in the buttercup, daisy and lily families,” said Professor Robin Allaby, an evolutionary geneticist who will reveal more at this week’s British Science Festival at Warwick University.

“The picture that emerges is of a warm and pleasant land with meadows, woods, water, with lots of game and