Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Framing the Late-Pleistocene chronology of environmental and cultural change in Doggerland

Project description

Assessing contamination in Doggerland bones through compound-specific radiocarbon dating

During the last Ice Age, the British Isles were connected to mainland Europe by a landmass called Doggerland. It was a fertile place where humans thrived, but as sea levels rose in the early Holocene, it was eventually flooded. Today, the remains of Doggerland are attracting increasing interest. Some spectacular finds have yielded curious radiocarbon dates, and it was suggested that samples may be contaminated. With support from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FLOOD project will apply advanced radiocarbon dating techniques, including compound-specific analysis of hydroxyproline, to (re)date key samples and resolve debates about their validity. Results will have a significant impact on studies on past environments and extinctions, archaeology, climate change, sea-level fluctuations and radiocarbon dating.

Objective

During the last Ice Age, sea-levels were much lower than today. A land bridge, known as Doggerland, connected the British Isles to the European mainland. Doggerland was part of the Eurasian Mammoth Steppe, a continuous biome of grasslands and plains. It was a productive and fertile environment with rich resources, and formed a core habitat for humans. With the warming temperatures of the early Holocene, the ice sheets melted and rising sea-levels submerged Doggerland. Remains of this extinct world are often found on the beaches of the North Sea, and in the nets of fishermen. These finds generate great interest, both in society and in academia, and are being studied across various disciplines. Robust chronological frameworks are crucial for understanding cultural and environmental changes, especially when the stratigraphic context of finds is uncertain. Radiocarbon analysis of several high-profile ancient bones from the North Sea has yielded unexpected results, with anomalously young dates for extinct megafauna, and marine mammals dating to periods when the North Sea was dry. It has been suggested that these dates are affected by contamination, but this was never formally investigated. FLOOD will directly address this issue using cutting-edge advances in radiocarbon dating, including biomolecular assessment of samples to identify contamination, and compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of the amino acid 'hydroxyproline'. FLOOD will (re)date a selection of high-profile samples with the aim to put a long-lasting debate about the validity of these dates to rest. Results will have widespread implications for the study of sea-level fluctuations, climate change, archaeology, (marine) paleoecology and importantly, for the field of radiocarbon dating.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 217 076,16
Address
Broerstraat 5
9712CP Groningen
Netherlands

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0