Wave action on the south east coastThe effects of climate change, including rising sea level and coastal erosion, as well as other factors such as coastal development and shoreline management initiatives, constantly threaten archaeological sites along our coast. The destructive power of the sea is at its most visible during heavy storms when archaeological sites can be rapidly revealed or buried in thick sediment. However, steady change, such as the gradual erosion of the cliffs of Dover, can also bury, reveal or destroy archaeology. From 500,000 year old hand-axes to military aircraft lost during the Second World War, the archaeology of the coast of England is likely to represent every period and theme in archaeology.

A new study commissioned by English Heritage will examine archaeology along the south east coast of England, from Totton in Hampshire to Kingsgate in Kent. This Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, conducted by Wessex Archaeology, will produce a detailed review of archaeology on the coast, in order to determine the sites most at risk from the impacts of climate change. Coastal sites are particularly important, as some site types are unique while others exhibit levels of preservation not generally found in terrestrial equivalents. Data will be collated from the National Monuments Record, the relevant county and local Historic Environment Records and Sites and Monuments Records, along with various other local and national sources. As part of this assessment, tens of thousands of aerial photographs will be analysed, and visible archaeological sites will be digitised to contribute to the National Mapping Programme. Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys have already been undertaken in many other areas around the coast of the UK as part of a wider English Heritage initiative. While the South East is one of the last areas to be studied, English Heritage expects all of the archaeological surveys around the coast to be completed by 2013.

Fieldwork in Chichester HarbourAn understanding of known sites will be combined with a review of coastal change from the end of the last ice age 12,000 years ago to the present in order to identify coastal areas with archaeological potential. Armed with this knowledge, archaeologists will review models of future coastal change to identify the archaeology at risk. The results of this study will provide a sound basis for developing management priorities, such as areas requiring further survey, and will be incorporated into Shoreline and Estuary Management Plans.

A project Liaison Group has been established to bring together representatives from stakeholder organisations, including English Heritage, the Environment Agency and the National Trust, as well as archaeologists from the Hampshire, East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent County Councils and the Southampton, Portsmouth and Chichester City Councils.

Read more about the Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey of South East England.

The Festival of British Archaeology (formerly National Archaeology Week) is your unique chance to discover and explore the archaeological heritage of the United Kingdom. During this two-week archaeological extravaganza, which will run from Saturday 18th July to Sunday 2nd August, you can take part in excavation open days, hands-on activities, family fun days, guided tours, exhibitions, lectures, ancient art and craft workshops and much, much more.

The aim of this annual event is to encourage everyone, including young people and their families to visit sites of archaeological/historical interest or museums, heritage and resource centres, to see archaeology in action and to take part in activities on-site.

Our involvement

We are helping to organise an event for the Festival of British Archaeology:

Fabulous Food and Gruesome Grub
Saturday 18th July 10.00-16.00
Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Free activities and demonstrations. Explore the world of eating and drinking from the Bronze Age to the Victorians. Bring your artefacts to be identified. Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum with Wessex Archaeology and Salisbury Cathedral.

Telephone: 01722 332151 Email: museum@salisburymuseum.org.uk

Wessex Archaeology is seeking to appoint one or more recently qualified people, who are at the beginning of their career, as a Marine Geophysicist.

We are the market leader in providing archaeological marine geophysical services to both public and private sectors. Demand for our expertise is high, and we are currently conducting a range of exciting projects.

Find out more in our vacancies section.

Wessex Archaeology is delighted to announce the opening of a new office in Maidstone, North Kent. We have a long track record of working in the South East of England and our aim is to build on that success.

Covering the counties of Essex, Kent and East Sussex, the initial focus of the Maidstone office will be on evaluation and excavation work. However, the complete range of services will be available covering historic buildings and landscapes, excavation and publication, coastal and marine: the full spectrum of archaeological and heritage consulting and contracting.

The new office signifies a strengthening of the strategy of regional centres providing professional and community services with local delivery and critically, access to the extensive resource base that size can bring.

Find out more about our Maidstone office on our Professional Services blog.

Contacts

Richard Greatorex, Senior Project Manager, Maidstone (Email: r.greatorex@wessexarch.co.uk)
John Dillon, Business Development Director (Email: j.dillon@wessexarch.co.uk)

Wessex Archaeology Maidstone

The Malthouse
The Oast
Weavering Street
Maidstone
Kent
ME14 5JN
Tel: 01622 739381
Email: Richard Greatorex: r.greatorex@wessexarch.co.uk

In March 2009, at the request of Historic Scotland, Wessex Archaeology’s dive team investigated the wreck of the Iona I, a paddle steamer lost in 1862 in the Inner Clyde Estuary near Greenock, Scotland.

As part of our ongoing series of podcasts, this edition of Archaeocast was recorded at sea by our coastal and marine archaeologists during exploration of the Iona. You will hear about the story of the steamer, how it was involved with the American Civil War, and hear from divers exploring the Iona's remains on the seabed.

Listen to Archaeocast 12 online, or subscribe to Archaeocast with iTunes (this link opens iTunes if you have it installed) to download the latest editions automatically.

Read more about our Coastal and Marine archaeology work.

May 1st 2009 marks our 30th anniversary.

Wessex Archaeology was founded as the Wessex Archaeological Committee on 1st May 1979 - the last of the regional units to be created by the Department of Environment (the DoE, now English Heritage). This brought together individual archaeologists in Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Wiltshire, plus some strays in need of a home. In 1983 the name changed to the Trust for Wessex Archaeology, and it became the not-for-profit charitable company which it remains today.

Wessex Archaeology's archivists will be chronicling our beginnings and evolution in our new history section, where you can currently read about our first five years.

Phil Harding at the opening of our new Time Team at Salisbury Cathedral exhibition on the day of Wessex Archaeology's 30th birthday in 2009.

Time Team at Salisbury CathedralSalisbury Cathedral was recently the subject of an exciting Time Team investigation. Over three days the site of the original 13th century cathedral bell tower and the long-demolished 15th century Beauchamp Chapel were excavated.

The team uncovered new information about the construction of the cathedral, and learned more about those buried within the chapel.

The exhibition, which was created by Wessex Archaeology, will be opened by Phil Harding and runs from 1 May to 31 October 2009 in Salisbury Cathedral’s atmospheric medieval cloisters. It features artefacts, text and audio-visual material from the programme, which was first aired in February. Visitors will learn about what happens behind the scenes of Time Team, how they work with experts from Wessex Archaeology, and learn about Bishop Beauchamp, one of Salisbury’s most colourful bishops.

Phil, whose day job is with Wessex Archaeology, said: “To do a dig here was a once in a lifetime experience. What we found underlines what incredible engineers and geologists those original builders were.”

Find out more about the exhibition on the Salisbury Cathedral website.

Wessex Archaeology is currently seeking Project Assistants to support multi-period, fieldwork projects from our Salisbury Office. Project Assistants should have wide-ranging practical excavation skills, experience of working in professional, commercial, archaeological practice and ideally be members of the Institute for Archaeologists and be CSCS carded.

Find out more in our vacancies section. Applications are now closed.

Wessex Archaeology is currently seeking Project Assistants to support major, multi-period, fieldwork projects in Nottinghamshire and north Kent.

See our vacancies section for further information. Applications close 31st March 2009. Applications are now closed.

In the summer of 2007, Jessica Grimm of Wessex Archaeology approached the Animal Bone Metrical Archive Project (ABMAP) to discuss the possibility of depositing Wessex Archaeology metric animal bone data onto the ABMAP database. This led to the formation of the Wessex Archaeology Metric Archive Project (WAMAP), with data from WAMAP datasets, structured to be compatible, added to the ABMAP database. The data transferred contains a selection of all measurements commonly taken during Wessex Archaeology zooarchaeological analysis; complete WAMAP datasets can be downloaded from the following pages, as well as a list of measurement definitions.

The datasets are derived from Wessex Archaeology developer-funder projects (primarily in the United Kingdom), and as such, will provide information from a wide range of archaeological sites in terms of location, period and type. The database is hosted by the Archaeology Data Service (ADS).

Animal and bird bones are examined by archaeozoologists to help us understand the environment of a site.