issue 17 - archaeology finds reporting service newsletter

8/20/2019 Issue 17 - Archaeology Finds Reporting Service Newsletter

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October 2015 marks the 10thanniversary of ! ToDredged Upcelebrate, this issue will be a littlebit special: a retrospective issuehighlighting some of the best finds

from over the years. Since theProtocol began, over 1100 finds havebeen reported, and we asked anumber of people involved in variousaspects of the process to tell usabout their favourite find.

In this issue we will also look at someof the 40 finds that have been raised(and reported through 26 reports)

since the last newsletter, catch upwith a recent wharf visit andexamine new and exciting ways of recording artefacts.

Protocol Update

October 2015 also marks the beginning of anew awareness funding period, and all sorts

of new and exciting plans are in the pipeline.In addition to continuing with Dredged Upand visits to wharves and dredgers, we willlaunch new remote learning packs and an

online video guide.

If new wharf or dredging staff have joinedyour team or you would like a refresher

training session, then get in touch tobook a free visit.

Email us at [email protected] call 01722 326867 to find out more.

Awareness visits are free, informativeand fun! And you can handle previous

finds and discover how to identifyarchaeological artefacts.

Over the summer, we said a very sadfarewell to Gemma Ingason. GemmaIngason had worked tirelessly withthe Protocol Implementation Teamsince 2008, and many of you mayhave met her through awarenesstraining, wharf visits, or even outand about in the communityrepresenting Wessex Archaeology atan event. Although we will miss hergreatly, we wish her all the best onher new adventures withwww.trench1.co.uk.

You may see some new faces around,as three new members have joined

the Protocol Implementation Team.We welcome aboard Debra Shefi(left), Alistair Black (centre) andRachel Brown (right).

Dredged Upfrom the past

Autumn 2015 Issue 17Archaeology Finds Reporting Service Newsletter

Anniversary


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Individuals and industry insiders involved in different stages of the Protocol tell Dredged Upabout their favourite discoveries

When we developed the reporting protocol back in2004, as a means to practically deliver some of themanagement measures identified in the marineheritage guidance note prepared in partnership withEnglish Heritage (now Historic England), I don’t thinkthat anyone could have envisaged the impact that itwould have. For both industry and the heritageadvisor, it was a step into the unknown establishing –a voluntary best practice approach that relied uponawareness and common sense rather than aregulatory obligation. In many ways, its success hasbeen largely founded on the fact that for most staff working on a wharf or on a dredger, the types of artefacts that can be found amongst the marine sandand gravel they work with are genuinely interesting,

and often provide an insight into a much wider story – particularly where the artefacts can relateback to individuals.

While the range and variety of mammoth remainsand cannon balls never fails to enthral me, I amparticularly drawn to the World War II aircraftremains that we recover and the human stories thatare behind them. In some cases, these stories aredifficult to unpick particularly where remains from –various aircraft types are discovered in the samespot. In the majority of cases we are unlikely to everknow whether this was a sad coincidence or theresult of a particular incident – and the fact that so

much uncertainty exists only serves to highlight thescale of the losses on both sides that took place.But my favourite find is more modern the –fragments of a Supermarine Attacker,a little known early naval jet, thatwere found within a cargo dredgedfrom the Owers licence off Littlehampton.From the serial numbers on thesetwisted pieces of aluminium airframe,it was possible to identify not onlythe aircraft type, but also theindividual aircraft that it waslikely to have come from(Wp275) and the date

that it was lost(6 July 1956), togetherwith the pilot’s name(Sub-Lt J.F. Yeates RNVR)

These are a few of My Favourite Finds

who was able to safely eject from the aircraft beforeit crashed. It is stories like these, and theconnections that they can make with the industrystaff that recover the artefacts, that bestdemonstrate the pull of the reporting initiative.

We must not lose sight of the fact that both theheritage guidance note, and the reporting protocolthat supports it, represented the first of their kind.They defined an approach to practically addressingmarine heritage issues when undertaking marinedevelopment activity which has now been replicatedacross a range of sectors, both in the UK and in othercountries. This is something that the marineaggregate sector, Historic England and WessexArchaeology should be rightly proud of.

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Mark RussellDirector of the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA)

5 cm

5 cm

Supermarine Attacker remains


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The dredge finds that I have found the mostinteresting are not necessarily the most beautifulbut the ones that have a fascinating history. Forexample, the humble sounding lead. Hanson hasreported a number of sounding leads from area 240(Hanson_0346 and Hanson_0504). Despite theirutilitarian nature and not so pleasing aesthetics, the

mere sounding lead is a piece of technology that hasstood the test of time with very little variation from itsoriginal design.

The sounding lead is of ancient origin, its use beingdepicted in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings andexamples being known from Greek and Roman times.They are a piece of early technology that was used on aglobal scale. The lead was attached to the end of a lineand dropped overboard to test the depth of the waterbelow. By the 17th century the lines were marked everyfathom (1 fathom = 6 ft) to enable greater accuracy.Sounding leads were also adapted with a piece of tallowso that each time they were pulled up they would bringup a sample of seabed sediment thus providing useful

information on the location of the vessel and furtherinformation for accurate charting. Area 240 has a largenumber of known and unknown wrecks nearby and is

My favourite find is the mammoth tusk reported byHanson in 2006 (Hanson_0035). It was one of the earlydiscoveries reported through the Protocol, and ithighlighted the potential for the Protocol to contributesignificantly to our archaeological understanding of seabed prehistory.

Mick Hayward discovered the tusk at PurfleetAggregates Ltd in Thurrock, Essex in material dredgedfrom Licence Area 408, about 50 miles NE of the Wash.The find itself was lucky, as the tusk was discovered asit fell off the conveyor belt just as it was about to enterthe crusher.

The tusk is one of the most northerly examples of

remains from . Because of itsMammuthus primigeniusrarity, English Heritage (now Historic England) providedfunding to scientifically date the tusk. EnglishHeritage’s Scientific Dating section submitted samplesfrom the tusk for AMS dating to the Oxford Radiocarbon

Heloise WarnerDeputy Receiver of Wreck

also very close to an area of shifting sandbanks. To findsounding leads in this area I would not consider to be anunusual occurrence.

A rather morbid side of my job involves looking at thenumber of casualties of each wreck. I do wonder everytime I look at a sounding lead how many sailors’ liveswere saved from the catastrophe of wrecking in shallowwater by being able to take a simple depthmeasurement of the murky sea below. Despite minorimprovements to the original design, sounding leadswere used widely until the 19th century. Still today, UKnavigational charts show a large number of charteddepths that were measured with a sounding lead. With

today’s constant need for advancement and upgrades toour technological environment it is refreshing to see adesign that lasted centuries with its mere simplicity.

Euan McNeillHead of Coastal & MarineWessex Archaeology and Manager of the ProtocolImplementation ServiceTeam since 2005

Accelerator Unit,

University of Oxfordand the Centre for IsotopeResearch at the Universityof Groningen. The tusk hasbeen securely dated to around44,450 ( 650 years) Before Present. This means that±this tusk came from a mammoth that lived at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic (150,000 to 40,000 BP), duringthe Devensian ice age when Neanderthals lived in whatis now Britain and the offshore waters that would havebeen dry land. There are few dated examples of mammoth fossils, and this find may contribute tounderstanding the distribution of this species during thelast ice age.

Subsequently, the find has been the subject of a jointpublication between Hanson and Wessex Archaeology inthe Quaternary Research Association (QRA) newsletter.The find is currently undergoing conservation, but it willsoon go on display in Hanson’s offices in Southampton.

Mammoth tusk

Sounding leads


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For me, the most captivating find has to be the twosherds of Roman samian ware (Hanson_0171) reportedthrough the Protocol in 2008, shortly after I joinedWessex Archaeology and started working with theProtocol Implementation Service Team.

The pottery was discovered by T. Kerrison andK. Myscin in material dredged from Kwinte Bank in

Belgium. Hanson generously loaned WessexArchaeology the artefacts so they could beanalysed by finds specialist Lorraine Mepham.She determined the finds were Rheinzabern ware,and both were stamped ‘CATALLUZ’ meaning

that they were produced by Catallus V inCentral Gaul between AD 170 and 260. The

pieces are most likely Ludowici form Sb vessels.

Although the pottery could represent materialthrown overboard by a passing vessel, I've always

been curious as to whether they could represent the

first discoveries from a previously unknown Romanshipwreck. Few sea going Roman vessels are known innorthern Europe, so these finds could lead to animportant discovery.

Gemma IngasonFormer member of theProtocol ImplementationService Team

10 cm

Andrea HamelMember of the ProtocolImplementation ServiceTeam since 2008

5 cm

Roman samianware sherd

Cavendish Badges

My favourite find has to be theCavendish Badge (Cemex_0195),reported through the Protocol in2008. Initial research indicatedthat each ship only had one badge,and yet later in the year, a secondCavendish Badge (Britannia_0228)was reported through the Protocol.The presence of two badges for thisship remains a mystery.

The first Cavendish Badge has sincefound a home at the Royal NavalMuseum in Portsmouth. It was the firstProtocol find to be specificallyrequested by a museum.


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This small ceramic relish pot (CEMEX_0207)that dates to the early 19th century wasdiscovered in March 2009 at Cemex’sPortslade Wharf, East Sussex. It is a paleblue earthenware decorated with apolychrome transfer featuring a battlescene. The depicted military uniforms arebelieved to date to the Napoleonic period.

An incomplete inscription at the base of thepot appears to read ‘the battle of the A …’,

where the final word is missing apart fromits first letter. There are 11 Napoleonicbattles that start with an ‘A’. Of these, onlyone battle has ‘the’ before the place name,la Albuera; a small Spanish village located tothe south-east of Badajoz. The battle of laAlbuera was fought between a mixed force of Spanish, Portuguese and British troopsagainst the French Army of the South on the16th of May, 1811. The French Armyeventually retreated, but both sides suffered

heavy casualties as a result.

The images of the relish pot to the righthave been produced using a technique knownas multi-image photogrammetry. Numerousphotos were taken of every surface of theobject and these were subsequentlyprocessed using specialist software thatanalysed and merged the images into a fullyanimated 3D model. The ability to rotate thegenerated model on a computer screen andzoom in on certain features, provides the

opportunity for further information to beobtained from the artefact withoutnecessarily handling it. This versatility makesphotogrammetry an exciting new method forrecording artefacts!

You can interact with the relish pot in 3D atsketchfab (https://skfb.ly/I7OC).

Wessex Archaeology is also utilising thistechnique in underwater wreck surveys as itproduces results that are more cost-effectivethan laser scanning. More informationregarding Wessex Archaeology’s use of photogrammetry can be found at

A 19th-century Relish Pot in 3D

www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/news/2015/04/24/online-adventures-3d-modelling. Otherexamples of 3D images generated byWessex Archaeology can be viewed atsketchfab.com/wessexarchaeology.

View from the top

Front view with military scene

View from behind


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At Southampton Wharf, J. Jerromes discovered a spoon in material dredged by the City of Chichester off the east coast of the Isle of Wight. One side of the spoon is marked with ‘Port Line’and the other with ‘Empire Stainless’. Stainless steel developed in the early 20th century, and‘Empire’ is a traditional pattern with a thread and bow border and a flame at the handle ends.If you like the look of this spoon – it is still possible to order Empire stainless steelcutlery online today! The ‘Port Line’ began in 1914 as the ‘Commonwealth &Dominion Line’, which had 23 ships. In 1916, the company was bought bythe Cunard Steamship Company and renamed ‘Cunard Line Australasian

Services Commonwealth and Dominion Line’ (try getting that monikeron a spoon handle!). It soon became known as the ‘Port Line’ andthe name was officially adopted in 1937. In 1982, the last twoPort Line ships were transferred to the Brocklebank Line,and therefore this spoon datesbetween 1937 and 1982.

Recent Discoveries

Paul Stonehouse discovered this unusual artefact(below) at Greenwich Wharf. It comprises a corrodedsteel spindle with two brass cogs attached. There isalso a small brass emblem adjacent to one of the cogs.But this object remains a mystery. The teeth aroundeach of the plates appear more decorative thanfunctional. This suggests the item may have beenperhaps displayed as a clockwork mechanism or someother kind of small machine.

Ian Massey discovereda padlock and chain atJohnsons Wharf, Greenhithe.It appears to have been platedwith rust proofing and is likely to date to the20th century. One side of the padlock is stamped with

‘W M & A Quiney, London’, but further details aboutthe manufacturer remain elusive. Padlocks older thanthis find, which have a similar shackle style (dating tothe late Georgian/Victorian period), have beenattributed to the Thames Bargemen.

The second half of the reporting year has revealed all sorts of exciting discoveries,including these three finds with intriguing markings.

25mm


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In June, Gayle Mitchelmore and HeloiseWarner from the Receiver of Wreck’s officeat the Maritime and Coastguard Agency metwith Lafarge Tarmac Marine and WessexArchaeology at Burnley Wharf, Southampton.

Gayle and Heloise have spent the last yearworking through the backlog of Protocolfinds (from over 300 reports) and wanted toget a better understanding of the dredgingprocess and the way in which finds

are discovered.

Nigel Sait, one of the Protocol’s topreporters, greeted us on arrival and took uson a tour of the Southampton plant. It was abeautiful day, and a fantastic opportunity tomeet the people who report recentdiscoveries, see the dredging vessels firsthand and watch aggregate materialbeing offloaded.

Dredged Up down on the Docks

Some finds that are recovered from theseabed are legally protected, and theReceiver of Wreck is responsible forimplementing aspects of the MerchantShipping Act 1995.

The Act states that any find that relatesto wreck ship, aircraft or hovercraft – –has to be reported to the Receiver of Wreck within 28 days.

The Receiver of Wreck then has one yearto find the legal owner of the material

and return the material to them. This isnormally the original owner, though thefinder can claim a salvage fee.

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I studied for a degree in Archaeological Scienceat the University of Sheffield. When I graduatedI was offered three weeks work as a digger onan excavation in Newport, Gwent, with theGlamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust. Thethree week project expanded in to a six monthlong epic project to excavate, record and liftwhat became known as the Newport MedievalShip, a 30 m long vessel dating to the 15th

century. I was lucky enough to return to work onthe Newport Medieval Ship as part of a projectbased at Newport Museum to produce 3D digitalrecords of the ship timbers. Afterward I spentmany years working in commercial fieldarchaeology. I have worked on a wide range of projects across the UK, from the excavation of prehistoric sites all the way through to modernindustrial archaeology. I joined Historic Englandin 2012 to work on a project to digitise andcatalogue a collection of historic aerialphotographs, before moving on to my currentrole as Maritime Data Officer.

I am responsible for the maritime component of the National Record of the Historic Environment(NRHE), which covers English territorial watersout to the 12 nautical mile limit. It includesover 37,000 wreck records, includingapproximately 6,000 identified wreck sites, and31,000 known wreck events. The NRHE alsoincludes almost 10,000 records relating tofeatures other than wrecks, including records of unidentified obstructions and fishermen’sfasteners, seabed finds that have not come fromwreck sites, as well as prehistoric landscapefeatures. The database is constantly updated asthe identities of previously unidentifiedshipwrecks are revealed, and as new wreck sitesare discovered for the first time.

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The Back Page Profile with Historic England’s Hefin Meara

Hefin Meara is a MaritimeData Officer for HistoricEngland. He works withmaritime records held by

the National Record of theHistoric Environment.

Reports from the Marine Aggregate IndustryProtocol are a vital source of information forhelping us to improve the records. We also makeuse of other sources of information such as datafrom the Receiver of Wreck, the UKHydrographic Office and from members of thepublic, as well as including the results of research in to primary sources such as historicnewspapers and U-boat logs. The NRHE is freelyavailable to browse via the Pastscape website,which can be found at www.pastscape.org.uk.I really enjoy receiving the Protocol reports.The variety of material that has been discovered

and reported is amazing. I think that thediscovery of a glass bead (LTM_0527)has been particularly fantastic as thebead is so tiny! I’m already lookingforward to receivingthe next batchof reports.

The PastScape website

Glass bead

approx. 5 mm

wessexarchaeology

issue 17 - archaeology finds reporting service newsletter

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