Tributaries of the Elbe Palaeovalley: Features of a Hidden Palaeolandscape in the German Bight, North Sea

Prior to postglacial global sea-level rise in the present North Sea area, Mesolithic hunters and gatherers were able to settle in the coastal lowland landscape between England, Germany and Denmark, commonly known as Doggerland. Regarding the reconstruction of this now drowned palaeolandscape, the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ) sector is still 'terra incognita'. Recent discoveries of two ancient fluvial systems, both of which were tributaries of the Elbe Palaeovalley, give new insights into the formation of the Mesolithic Doggerland landscape in the German EEZ. One of these fluvial systems developed during the last glaciation and connected the Dogger Hills with the Elbe Palaeovalley. The second river structure discovered in the south seems to be slightly younger and can be identified as the drowned extension of the modern Ems River.