Landscape Development and Occupation History Along the Southern North Sea Coast

Abstract

Due to sea level fluctuations and the consequences for human activity, there is a strong dependency between landscape development and the history of occupation in the coastal area. In the early Holocene, large parts of the southern North Sea were dry and Britain was connected with the European mainland. Forests covered this region as far north as the Dogger Bank and beyond, and there is evidence for a Mesolithic presence in this area. The rise in sea-level was very fast at that time so that by the Neolithic period, i.e. ca. 5000 BC, the North Sea transgression resulted in a coastline that corresponded approximately to that of today. Subsequently, the rate of sea-level rise slowed down and several static or regression phases are known. These regression phases provided opportunities for settlement in the Clay District “Marsch”. The oldest settlements known so far in the German Clay District are dated to late Bronze and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. These early settlements were destroyed by another transgression phase which lasted until around the Birth of Christ when another, even stronger, regression occurred. At this time, large scale settlement of the Clay District took place. Already, early in the first millennium, the next rise in sea-level forced the people either to abandon their settlements or to adapt to the new situation. Adaptation took the form of dwelling mounds, i.e. “Wurten”, which were continuously raised with increasing storm-flood levels. These “Wurten” of the Roman Iron Age were abandoned during the Migration period. After a 200 years break in habitation, a new occupation phase started in the 7^th century, when Frisians from the west immigrated into the German Clay District. Again they started their settlements on the level ground and were later forced to build dwelling mounds. Starting in the 11^th century, the construction of dikes began and, around AD 1300, a continuous dike protected the hinterland. However, diking led to a further increase of the stormflood level and breaches occurred resulting in the formation of several large bays such as the Jade bay in the Late Middle Ages. From about AD 1500, the technique of diking was improved and reclamation of new land prevailed.