Bradford academic to lead search for evidence of ice age ancestors beneath the ocean waves

A new study is to search for evidence of the nation's ice age ancestors on submerged coastal plains beneath the ocean waves.

During the last ice age, human settlements are believed to have extended far offshore, only to become inundated as global warming saw sea waters rise.

Now a scientific quest, first of its kind in the world, is to be led by a Bradford academic searching to map coastlines as far back as 20,000 BCE to find evidence of human occupation.

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Geoarchaeologist Dr Simon Fitch, from the University of Bradford, has been named as a Future Leadership Fellow, with a five-year Life on the Edge project awarded £1m in funding from the UKRI, as well as ship time from the Flanders Marine Institute.

Dr Simon Fitch, from the University of Bradford. Credits: University of Bradford.Dr Simon Fitch, from the University of Bradford. Credits: University of Bradford.
Dr Simon Fitch, from the University of Bradford. Credits: University of Bradford.

Using underwater drones and advanced 3D seismic sensors, he will explore a time when sea levels were up to 120m lower than they are today.

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He said: "Our knowledge of the submerged coastal zones of the Late Palaeolithic is essentially non-existent and we have little to no knowledge on the settlement of these areas. This project will represent the first serious attempt to record these landscapes and understand the communities who lived on the edge of the continents.”

Dr Fitch's research will allow direct sampling of the landscape, revolutionising information to understand these landscapes and provide evidence of its inhabitants and their environment.

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The project will examine three different marine environments off the coasts of Scotland and Belgium and Croatia. It is hoped the geophysical data and samples from the study can be used to inform future decisions on climate change and associated sea level rise.

Dr Fitch added: “It is not hyperbole to say this is groundbreaking. This survey will provide significant advances in scientific understanding and the results will be of global importance, as it will vastly improve the methodologies available to investigate the vast inundated prehistoric landscapes that can be found around the world.

“What we find will tell us so much about our ancestors, about how they lived and the landscapes they lived in."

Funding

Dr Fitch has been named as a Future Leadership Fellow, and his five-year long ‘Life on the Edge’ project has attracted just over £1m funding from UKRI as well as £400,000 in-kind ship time from VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute), and a PhD studentship from the University of Bradford.

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He has already worked on several marine archaeology projects, however commenting on this new project, he described it as a “significant first”.

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