Protocol Archaeological Discoveries
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Hanson_0291: Rigging Block
This item was discovered by M. Morley amongst material dredged from licence area 240, which lies in the East Coast region. It is not the first rigging block to be recovered from this region as similar finds were dredged from area 240 in 2009. This block consists of a degraded wooden casing housing a metal sheave wheel. This would have held rope and was likely to have formed part of the rigging of a vessel. Photographs of this object were sent to Nigel Nayling, a timber specialist at the University of Wales Lampeter, who confirmed the identification of the object made on the vessel. The pulley is likely to have come from a boat and may be part of a wreck, though may also have been discarded or lost over board. The presence of metal in the construction of the pulley block indicates that it is nineteenth century or younger in date as prior to this, blocks were made entirely of wood.
Hanson_0266: Igneous Rock
This item was discovered by Malcolm O’Neill on board the Arco Humber. It was dredged from licence area 106C which is in the Humber region, 19km east of Mabelthorpe. The find was sent to Michael Simms, a fossil expert at the National Museum of Northern Ireland, who took it to a meeting of the Belfast Geologists’ Society. Staff from the University College Dublin took a thin shaving of the rock in order to examine it under a microscope. This revealed crystals of plagioclase feldspar and weathered olivine. This rock is an igneous rock – probably basalt or dolerite - and it is not native to the Humber region - the nearest sources of this type of igneous material are Northumberland and Scandinavia. The presence of this find in the Humber region is likely to be the result of glacial action during a past ice age.
CEMEX_0284: Elephant Atlas
This find was discovered by Martin Keeble amongst material dredged from Area 360, which lies in the East Coast region. It dates from the Palaeolithic or earlier. Images of the find were sent to Andy Currant, Curator of Mammal Remains at the Natural History Museum who identified it as an elephant’s atlas. Currently it is not known what species of elephant yielded this atlas. Andy tells us that whilst all mammoths are elephants, not all elephants are mammoths. So it could have come from a mammoth such as the Woolly mammoth, the Southern mammoth or the Steppe mammoth, all of which inhabited Britain at some point in the past, or it could have come from an elephant.
CEMEX_0285: Red Ensign
This Red Ensign was dredged from licence area 351 which lies to the east of the Isle of Wight. It was amongst cargo dredged by the Britannia Beaver which was delivered to Dover Wharf. The flag was discovered by CEMEX’s Richard Cork and reported by Geoff Bucknell. This find is believed to be relatively modern. Ken Reginald, Fleet Marine Manager at CEMEX, identified that this is a current Ensign from a British registered vessel and that the fixings on it are standard for flags of this type from modern vessels. Images of this find were sent to Richard Noyce at the Royal Naval Museum, who confirmed this view, and to Angela Karsten, marine conservator for English Heritage. Angela indicated that it was likely that this flag had become buried on the seabed sometime after it was lost. This would account for the dirt on it when found and for the relatively good level of preservation. As for how long it had been buried, it is not possible to determine at the moment. It was found to the east of the Isle of Wight which sees a lot of marine traffic and it is plausible that it was lost by one of the many merchant vessels that use this popular sea route.
CEMEX_0265: Antler Fragment and Mammoth Tooth
Dereck Brown found these artefacts on board the Sand Falcon on September 1, 2009. The Falcon had been working in Area 360 in the East Coast dredging region, 20km east of Lowestoft, Suffolk. These finds were sent to Andy Currant who is the curator of mammal remains at the Natural History Museum in London. Andy compared the CEMEX tooth to one in the Museum’s collections and believes that the dredged find originates from Mammuthus meridionalis, the so-called “Southern Mammoth”. Although this tooth has suffered some damage, it does not appear to have been rolled by the sea. It is possible then that this tooth lay undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years before its discovery on the Falcon. The antler fragment likewise shows no signs of rolling and the breaks are very fresh, as though it has also been plucked from an in situ deposit. It is difficult to identify given the small size of the fragment but Andy felt that, given its thickness, it could come from Megaloceros, the giant deer. These two finds represent some of the oldest to ever be reported through the Protocol and they are particularly significant as they appear to have lain undisturbed for many thousands of years. The staff of the Falcon are commended for recognising and retrieving these finds on board the vessel and all future finds from this area will be reported and carefully studied.
CEMEX_0281: Deer Metatarsus
This artefact was discovered by J Keeble at CEMEX’s Angerstein Wharf after having been dredged from Area 319, which lies East of Lowestoft, by the Sand Falcon. It was shown to Wessex Archaeology’s Zooarchaeologist, Jessica Grimm, who identified it as being a left metatarsus of a large deer, possibly a Red Deer. Whilst it may have washed from a terrestrial context, it is likely that this example dates from a time when areas of the North Sea were dry. This last occurred during the Palaeolithic when, between approximately 70,000 and 12,000 years ago, Ice Age conditions locked water into ice sheets. Several highly significant Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age finds have been dredged from the North Sea in recent times and every new find, such as this one, enhances our understanding of this enigmatic time period.
CEMEX_0280: Aircraft Piece
This item was discovered by Martin Keeble at CEMEX’s Angerstein Wharf amongst material from Area 137 which lies to the west of the Isle of Wight. This discovery was correctly identified by wharf staff as being part of the airframe of an aircraft. Wessex Archaeology sought the advice of the Royal Air Force Museum who confirmed that it appeared to be a distorted panel or the cowling from an aircraft. The circular hole seen on the find was designed to hold a Dzus panel fastener. Dzus fasteners, named after creator William Dzus, are used to secure panels that must be removed regularly or quickly onto equipment. They were invented in the 1930’s and are common on aircraft. Identifying exactly what type of aircraft this find came from is difficult without further information. However, comparison with aircraft in the museum’s collection revelead that this piece is similar to those seen on Spitfires and Typhoons. Records of WW2 plane losses at sea are highly incomplete and no planes are known to lie in Area 137. This could therefore be the first sign of a new site of archaeological significance.
CEMEX_0276: Tusk
This find was discovered by C. Woolcott at CEMEX’s Northfleet Wharf amongst material from Area 319, in the East Coast Region.This find was correctly identified by wharf staff as part of a tusk or horn. Images were sent to Wessex Archaeology’s zooarchaeologist Jessica Grimm who confirmed that, based on the flaking seen on the back of the find, it was likely to be tusk. This view was also confirmed by Andy Currant at the Natural History Museum. It is not possible to determine from this picture what species it belongs to, though it is likely that this find represents part of a mammoth tusk.
