Holderness residents are being invited to meet a team of archaeologists to hear about ancient villages lost at sea.
Archaeologists will be at Welwick Village Hall on Monday to reveal early findings unearthed in a dig near Skeffling last autumn.
A geophysical study found evidence of storm surge deposits, ancient river channels and areas of peat from as far back as the Middle and New Stone Age, some 3,000 to 8,000 years ago.
The study suggests landscapes occupied and exploited by prehistoric people survive beneath the current farmland.
Across the higher parts of the site evidence was also found of Roman settlement activity, which evolved into the medieval period as communities settled closer to the shore as the land was drained.
Stephen Kemp, senior archaeologist at the Environment Agency, said: “Our initial assessment begins to tell the stories of communities by the Humber that learnt to adapt to environmental changes, like rising sea levels.
“When many of these ancient communities lived here the coast was much further away and the surrounding land was significantly less populated, enabling people and the ecology to thrive.
“The stories of the now lost villages provide interesting insight into environmental changes in today’s contexts and why, when providing managed realignment schemes like this, it is vital to ensure we are working with nature to make good long-term choices that will maintain our modern communities.”
The initial dig has been part of the design for the Outstays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme.
The scheme is a habitat creation project on the Humber Estuary to offset habitat losses from future coastal development and “coastal squeeze”.
Coastal squeeze occurs when fixed hard flood defence structures, built to protect people and properties along the coast, reduce the inter-tidal land between low and high tide as a result of rising sea levels.
It is a legal obligation for the Environment Agency to rebalance this coastal squeeze by creating a compensatory habitat.
As part of the proposed scheme, a 900-acre natural habitat site will be created for estuarine and terrestrial wildlife.
An improved landscaped flood defence will surround this area to help reduce the risk of flooding to the local community.
Once complete, managed realignment sites like this are typically colonised with invertebrates and wading birds.
Environment Agency project manager Tim Cobb said: “With higher tides and changes in weather, we cannot avoid changes to our environment as we know it.
“But the results from our archaeological survey show these changes have been happening for millennia and they stress the importance of addressing coastal squeeze in key locations on Britain’s coastline.
“While the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme is still in public consultation stage we are keen to present our initial findings to the community.
"Perhaps more importantly though, we’d like to learn more about the local community’s understanding of the site to ensure they help us shape and maintain the important parts of the area’s history.”
A planning application for the Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme is expected to be submitted at the end of 2017.
Subject to planning approval, the Environment Agency anticipates starting work for the western site in 2018.
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