Last Thursday our terrestrial and coastal teams presented their work on archaeology and aggregates to members of the Institute of Quarrying at a CPD event at CEMEX’s Norfleet facility.
Director of Coastal & Marine Euan McNeill and Senior Project Manager Andy Manning, both from Wessex Archaeology’s Salisbury office, spoke about two important projects where archaeology has been protected before or during the procurement of aggregate.
Euan focused on the story offshore and the discovery of 78 Palaeolithic hand axes from Area 240, in the North Sea, knapped by Neanderthals a quarter of a million years ago, whilst Andy revealed the discoveries from the terrestrial site at Kingsmead Quarry, Horton, Berkshire, excavated over many years to reveal a rich ancient landscape.
The extraction of sand and gravels – from quarries and dredged from the seabed – is crucial to provide materials to the building trade and as a commercial archaeological practice Wessex Archaeology enables this, and many other many industries, to protect archaeology – from the planning stages of work, to the completion of projects both on and offshore.
Wessex Archaeology are one of the only practices in the UK able to offer the combined approaches of terrestrial and marine archaeology, supported by experts in all facets of archaeological investigation.
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Gemma Ingason, Community & Education Officer