• Divers have found traces of ancient land swallowed by waves 8500 years ago
• Doggerland once stretched from Scotland to Denmark
• Rivers seen underwater by seismic scans
• Britain was not an island - and area under North Sea was roamed by mammoths and other giant animals
  
• Described as the 'real heartland' of Europe
• Had population of tens of thousands - but devastated by sea level rises

'Britain's Atlantis' - a hidden underwater world swallowed by the North Sea - has been discovered by divers working with science teams from the University of St Andrews.

Doggerland, a huge area of dry land that stretched from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC.

Divers from oil companies have found remains of a 'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands - which might once have been the 'real heartland' of Europe.

A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists has now mapped the area using new data from oil companies - and revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' once roamed by mammoths.

Divers from St Andrews University, find remains of Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'

Dr Richard Bates of the earth sciences department at St Andrews University, searching for Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'

A Greater Britain: How the North Sea grew and the land-mass shrunk

Drowned world: Scans show a mound discovered under the water near Orkney, which has been explored by divers

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2167731/Britains-Atl...