Researchers use sound waves to find a town lost for 650 years

The researchers hope the high-resolution sonar system can help locate the medieval town of Ravenser Odd , which sank under the North Sea in the mid-14th century.

Ravenser Odd was once a prosperous port town built on the sands at the mouth of the Humber River before it was abandoned, then destroyed and submerged in a great storm in 1362. During a family vacation in Withernsea, Daniel Parsons, a professor of sedimentology at the University of Hull, knows about Ravenser Odd, one of many places on the Holderness coast that have been lost for decades to coastal erosion.

Ravenser Odd is said to be located near Point Spurn at the mouth of the Humber River. (Photo: Alamy)

Parsons begins to learn more about Ravenser Odd's history and makes a plan to find the town. Parsons is a geoscientist who specializes in using high-resolution sonar systems to better understand how sediments move. He began thinking about using this device to detect traces of Ravenser Odd.

The research project that will survey the area off Cape Spurn about 10 hectares in 2021 has not found Ravenser Odd's location, but Parsons believes they are very close. A second survey will take place within the next 2-3 weeks. After discovering the town, researchers hope to be able to attract funding for archaeological exploration.

Ravenser Odd was founded around 1235 and the town's name derives from hrafn's eyr , which means crow's tongue in Old Norse. The town was once of national importance with piers, warehouses, a court and a prison, a breakwater and a harbour. Coastal erosion led to the town's decline. In 1362, northern Europe experienced a powerful storm named Grote Mandrenke or the flood of Saint Marcellus . As a result, the town was completely submerged under the cold waters of the North Sea.

Parsons thinks Ravenser Odd's story can help people visualize the dangers of the climate crisis and coastal erosion. In particular, Holderness is one of the world's fastest-eroding coastal regions, with some areas shrinking by 10 m per year.