For decades, it was thought a land bridge that once connected Britain to Europe had disappeared through a combination of slow erosion and rising seas. Some believe this separation took place over one million years ago. However, that popular theory was tossed into the trash bin because of a 2006 study that was conducted on how England was populated. As part of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project (AHOB), researchers scanned the English Channel several kilometers off the coast of Sussex looking for examples of human settlement.