Seabed Prehistory

The project Seabed Prehistory: Gauging the Effects of Marine Aggregate Dredging was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology. It was funded by Round 1 and Round 2 of the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) distributed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The funding of the project was administered on behalf of Defra by English Heritage (EH) and the Mineral Industries Research Organisation (MIRO); each funding different phases of the project.

The Seabed Prehistory project ultimately comprises three ALSF projects (3876 Seabed Prehistory R2 / 4600 Happisburgh/Pakefield exposures / 5401 Seabed Grab Sampling) and has produced a series of eight reports.

The project aimed to address strategic gaps identified in the course of preparing Environmental Statements (ES) for marine aggregate extraction licence applications in addition to developing methodologies for assessing the presence or absence of prehistoric archaeology within marine aggregate dredging areas and to provide guidance to industry. This was accomplished by applying industry-standard geophysical and geotechnical tools for archaeological assessment and evaluation in offshore areas. Survey methods included bathymetry, sidescan sonar, shallow seismic survey, vibrocore surveys, and grab sampling surveys.

《海底史前史：评估海洋砂石疏浚影响》项目由韦塞克斯考古事务所（Wessex Archaeology）承接，获英国环境、食品与农村事务部（Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra）管理的砂石税可持续基金（Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, ALSF）第一、二轮资助。项目资金由英国遗产委员会（English Heritage, EH）与矿产工业研究组织（Mineral Industries Research Organisation, MIRO）代Defra进行管理，二者分别资助项目的不同阶段。

海底史前史项目最终包含三项ALSF资助项目（编号3876《海底史前史R2》、4600《哈皮斯堡/帕克菲尔德露头》、5401《海底抓取采样》），并产出了共计8份系列报告。

本项目旨在填补海洋砂石开采许可申请的环境声明（Environmental Statements, ES）编制过程中发现的战略空白，同时开发用于评估海洋砂石疏浚区域内史前考古遗存存在与否的方法体系，并为行业提供指导。项目通过在近海区域采用行业标准的地球物理与岩土工程工具开展考古评估与评价工作达成上述目标，勘测方法涵盖水深测量、侧扫声呐、浅层地震勘测、振动岩心勘测以及抓取采样勘测。