AN underwater settlement dubbed the prehistoric Atlantis could be the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Northern Britain.

The discovery of the Stone Age site off the coast of Tynemouth made headlines around the world when it was announced last week.

Now Dr Penny Spikins, who found the settlement when she spotted flint tools on the sea bed while on a practice dive in the North Sea, said there are signs it could be earlier than any other known site.

The Newcastle University archaeologist said examinations of the tools carried out in the past few days suggested they were even earlier than first thought.

"We think they may belong to the first people to settle anywhere in northern England," she said.

The settlement, one of two found in the North Sea so far, was submerged when the melting ice raised the sea level at the end of the last Ice Age. Researchers believe there may be more sites on the sea bed, waiting to be discovered.

Inland sites, dating back about 10,000 years, have previously been thought to be the earliest signs of settlements in the North, but Dr Spikins said the underwater site may predate them.

If this is confirmed by further examination, it will transform accepted views of how the first settlers in the region lived. "It suggests that the first people would have been coastal dwellers," said Dr Spikins.

"It doesn't prove it, and someone could always come along and find an earlier site, but it does suggest that was the case."

This would be consistent with archaeological finds in Norway, where the earliest known settlements are those along the coast.

Stone Age man from

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