Doggerland takes its name from the Dogger Banks, which is a high point in the North Sea that was once a hilly spot in the landmass that connected Britain with what is now the continent of Europe and Denmark (but not Norway). As the last glaciers retreated in Northern Europe at the end of the Ice Age, sea levels were still sufficiently low (because so much of the world's water was still held in ice) that much of the North Sea was dry land. The Thames followed its natural course, but as it flowed into what is now the North Sea, it turned south and then west, following what is roughly the center of the English Channel into the Atlantic. Aside from rivers, this landmass at about 18,000 before present (BP) also connected Ireland to Britain.

As more glaciers melted, rising sea levels began a long process of consuming Doggerland, By 10,000 BP, it was still possible to walk from Denmark and the Netherlands to Britain and Ireland, but there was not as much dry land as there had been. By about 7,500 BP, Doggerland was an island, soon to be swamped by the rising North Sea and the Storrega underwater landslide that caused as Tsunami from the coast of Norway, swamping much of Northern Britain and destroying much if not all of what remained of Doggerland.

While it existed, Doggerland was home to Mesolithic hunter gatherers known as WHG - Western Hunter Gathers, who also lived in the rest of northwestern Europe including Britain and Ireland.