Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal & Marine team set off for Essex on Tuesday to help pupils from Graham James Primary Academy learn about exciting research that has gone on in their area during the construction of DP World’s London Gateway Port.
Pupils from the school, which is local to the development, met at Essex Wildlife Trust’s Thurrock Thameside Nature Park to explore evidence of the history and prehistory of the estuary with Wessex Archaeology. Specialists from AECOM Ecology were also on hand to teach our brave explorers about the wildlife that has been investigated during the London Gateway project, which included meeting some real snakes!
The construction of the port and the associated deepening of the shipping channel in the Thames Estuary involved extensive archaeological research, investigation and monitoring, conducted over many years and using many different techniques.
With the sun shining overhead, our intrepid adventurers experienced some of these for themselves as they identified the remains of shipwrecks, downed aircraft and mammoth teeth, all found during the course of the development.