Evidence of a prehistoric settlement on the North Sea has been discovered by archaeologists from Bradford University.

"It has long been suspected that the southern North Sea plain may have been home to thousands of people" says one of the expedition leaders Vincent Gaffney. Now however, the team has acquired evidence to strongly suggest Mesolithic human presence in this region.

The area of land, known as Doggerland connected the British Isles to Scandinavia until the end of the last ice age. As sea levels rose some 8-10,000 years ago however, the land, and record of its people, were buried under the water.

Until now, this lost region was viewed as a "terra incognita" of archaeology says Gaffney.

"Technology", he continues "allows us to provide detailed maps of the landscape and predict where we can reach these buried land surfaces. Now we are beginning... to find evidence of the people who once lived there” he said.

Among objects retrieved were several samples of peat, some of which included terrestrial snail shells, samples of wood, tree roots, and other plants, suggesting that a prehistoric woodland is also preserved in this area.