Artefacts from the Sea
The aim of Artefacts from the Sea is to collate information arising from previous discoveries of artefacts from the sea in a manner that improves understanding, conservation and appreciation of the marine historic environment.
Artefacts from the Sea is supported by the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, administered by English Heritage.
The project is addressing findspot and related records at sea and on the coast, up to high water/cliff top, but encompassing a wide enough area to include relevant records with imprecise grid references. Although prompted by previous studies of early Prehistoric material, the project encompasses all pre-Modern artefacts from the sea (other than wreck), to allow a fuller understanding of the context of marine finds.
The project arose from WA’s experience of preparing Environmental Assessments to accompany marine aggregate licence applications. This experience clearly indicates the value of considering records of artefact findspots from adjacent coastal and marine areas in assessing potential. However, it also underlines the limits of usable information directly associated with such records, especially when compared to the less-readily accessible sources (such as antiquarian reports) upon which the records are based.
The project started in October 2002 and will end in March 2004.
In Year 1, attention has been directed to documentary sources, to the National Monuments Record (NMR) and to local authority Sites and Monuments Records (SMRs). As well as developing a project recording system, two case study areas have been selected – namely the Solent-Sussex coastline and the Humber-Tees coastline – based on the availability of records, proximity to dredging areas, and known areas of archaeological potential. In Year 2, the intention is to further enhance findspot records, to include data arising from artefacts held in museum and private collections.
