An ancient tsunami called the cause of the disappearance of prehistoric people in the north of England

Natural disaster destroys communities and their resources

A study led by the University of York found that the tsunami destroyed prehistoric communities living in Northumberland, causing widespread depopulation across the region. The natural disaster occurred as a result of an underwater landslide.

A huge tsunami with waves as high as 20 meters hit the UK coast and parts of Europe during the Mesolithic period about 8,000 years ago, according to a new study published in the journal Quarternary Science.

The tsunami was likely caused by a large underwater landslide known as the Storegga landslide, which displaced almost 3,000 cubic kilometers of the coastline of Western Norway. Results of the disaster were found in Northern England, Western Scotland, Shetland, Denmark and as far as East Greenland.

“A giant tsunami of this size would have devastated Stone Age coastal communities as it occurred in the fall while they were gathering resources for the winter. The scale of the oncoming waves was completely different compared to what waves they had previously encountered. It was a truly horrific experience for them,” said environmental scientist John Hill from the University of York.

Archaeological evidence points to a decline in settlement density in northwest Europe during this period, which the study suggests was the result of a tsunami rather than the previously common story of a rapid drop in temperature across the continent.

Ecologist John Hill added: “Some fishing communities in the past in tsunami-prone regions such as the North Pacific have shown some resilience to tsunamis and have been aware of moving to higher ground. But the tsunami in the north of Britain was rather an unusual event, since the Stone Age people here had neither living memory nor ancestral knowledge of how to protect themselves from a disaster of such proportions.”

The scientists in the study also created computer simulations of the tsunami to determine whether high waves could have contributed to the population decline. Based on the modeling, the researchers suspect there may have been significant mortality due to the tsunami, as well as indirect effects caused by damage to key resources that ancient people needed to survive.

The ecologist shared the results and noted that “along with the direct mortality from the waves, this tsunami had a long-term impact on the resources of the Stone Age people.” He said this led to a decline in food supplies, so there is a strong possibility that this contributed to the dramatic depopulation of northern Britain. Also during this time, the region experienced a rapid rise in sea levels and a sharp drop in global temperatures.