Time and Tide: Modelling the effects of landscape change on Population support in the Southern North Sea

Abstract

The submerged landscape of the North Sea has long been known by archaeologists as an area of Mesolithic occupation, yet despite this the nature of the occupation of this landscape has remained poorly understood due to the submergence of the landscape. This paper presents the results of a “first pass" study to produce an initial model of the carrying capacity of the landscape and its associated demography. This model seeks to explore the impacts of sea level driven landscape change upon the Mesolithic population. The model reveals the diversity of resources present in this landscape and the potential these had to buffer human subsistence from the effects of marine inundation.