Coastal and Offshore Archaeological Services

Cover image courtesy of London Array Ltd.

Whenfacedwiththearchaeologicalcomponentsofanyproject,itisessentialtohaveaccesstoadviceandpractitionersyoucanrelyon.Formanyyears,theUniversityofSouthamptonhasbeenattheforefrontofundertakingbothresearchandtheprovisionofaprofessionalserviceforthedeliveryofmarinearchaeologicalprojects.

Asourreputationhasgrown,sohasthedemandforourservicesfrommajorconsultancyandengineeringcompanies.Thishasresultedintheformationofthenewcommercially-drivenenterpriseCoastalandOffshoreArchaeologicalResearchServices(COARS),basedatTheNationalOceanographyCentreSouthampton.

Ourexpertsarerecognisedleadersintheirrespectivefields,allwellpublished,andarebestknownfortheiruniquespecialismsinmarinegeophysics,geoarchaeologyandthestudyofmaritimematerialculture.COARShasextensiveexperienceofworkingwithinthesectorsofrenewable,nuclearandnon-renewableenergy,marineaggregates,portdevelopments,oilandgasinstallations,pipelinesandhighvoltagecableroutes.

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Experienceandknowledgeforthecommercialsector

COARS experts are recognised professionals in maritime archaeology, maintaining this knowledge by balancing commercial projects with ongoing research programmes. This ensures that high standards and cutting edge methodologies are fed into every project undertaken.

COARS forms part of the University of Southampton, from which we can draw on additional expertise and advice. We are overseen by an advisory board comprised of experts in Ocean and Earth Science and Archaeology, corporate input from the University itself, as well as strong links with many other relevant research groups and specialist practitioners across the University.

Our experts are involved with a number of national archaeological advisory panels, including English Heritage’s Historic Wreck Panel. Our expertise have been called upon to write English Heritage’s Marine Geophysics Data Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation Guidance Notes, the Council for British Archaeology Research Report People and the Sea: A Maritime Archaeological Research Agenda for England, and provide Marine Geoarchaeological training to English Heritage staff, and local and national curatorial bodies.

COARS is able to undertake a wide range of archaeological services including:

− Scoping and Appraisal Studies;

− Environmental Assessments, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Regional Environmental Characterisations (REC);

− Mitigation Plans and Written Schemes of Investigation (WSI);

− Desk-Based Assessment (DBA);

− Retained Archaeological Advisory Services;

− Cultural Heritage Chapters for Environmental Statements;

− Intertidal Surveys;

− Wreck Analysis;

− Heritage Management Advice; and

− Assessment and Analysis programs

Geophysical survey showing scour of the seabed around wind turbine monopoles

5Offshore deployment of a vibrocorer

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SpecialistServices

In addition to providing a broad marine archaeology package of services, experts at COARS are highly experienced in a number of specific areas.

Marine Geophysics

We have 20 years’ experience of collecting, analysing and the reporting of high resolution geophysical data. This includes topics as diverse as wreck based surveys, small object detection (including forensic work), Quaternary natural and archaeological landscape studies, neotectonics, and large scale sedimentological and structural analysis.

We specialise in using the latest cutting edge technologies to not only acquire data, but to facilitate seamless data integration and improved interpretation. This benefits clients through more accurate determination of areas of archaeological potential and streamlined pathways for mitigation.

Survey ships, based at NOCS, enable us to undertake work along the south coast of England, using sub-bottom Chirp (including the 3D Chirp system, co-developed by COARS), Boomer and Sparker sources, multibeam and sidescan sonar systems.

COARS’ expertise in marine geophysics, for archaeological purposes, is emphasised by the recent co-authoring of the English Heritage guidance notes on Marine Geophysics, published in 2013.

Geoarchaeological Investigations

Our experts have extensive experience in undertaking and coordinating both onshore and offshore geoarchaeological investigations; gained from working on some of the UKs largest infrastructure projects. We are able to provide expert informed advice to guide you through the entire process, ranging from initial project design and planning to final dissemination and publication. We can offer specialists in the fields of palaeoecology, geochronology and sedimentary analysis, utilising in-house laboratory facilities.

Deposit Modelling

We have extensive experience of producing complex sediment deposit models for archaeological purposes. Using existent datasets, as well as data collected during site investigations, it is possible to rapidly construct models to predict the location of archaeological deposits. This approach can rapidly assist decision making by planners, developers and archaeologists about the necessity for, and nature of, archaeological work in advance of construction / excavation. Our staff have led the production of many deposit modelling programs for both research and in advance of large infrastructure projects.

Research and Development

Our expertise remains on the cutting edge of research and development, having developed new marine geoarchaeological approaches to aid the investigation, characterisation and interpretation of the wider submerged archaeology (beyond just wrecks) of the continental shelf, as well as remaining engaged in policy development. Research projects include ongoing investigations into the offshore components of Britain’s oldest hominin occupation sites, located at Pakefield and Happisburgh, Norfolk, and the Neolithic Stepping Stones project.

Side scan sonar image of wreck, Courtesy of London Array Ltd

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New techniques of extracting sediment transport data from swath bathymetry, and the use of this data in hydrodynamic and sediment transport models (notably for the management of both wreck and submerged landscape cultural heritage assets), have been developed in the Eastern English Channel and the Severn Estuary.

Our experts have also been actively involved in the technological development of a 3DChirp system and have worked on a series of case studies on offshore geological targets and geohazards. Other research includes:

− Taphonomy of historic Wreck Sites

− Modelling Exclusion Zones for Marine Aggregate Dredging

− High resolution sonar for the archaeological investigation of marine aggregate deposits

− NHPP 3AI 6449. Determining potential: onshore / offshore prehistory

Maritime material culture

COARS draws on a breadth of knowledge, in collaboration with Archaeology at the University of Southampton, to provide unparalleled support for the identification, analysis and evaluation of maritime archaeological material; from historic port infrastructure, through wreck sites, to the analysis of submerged prehistoric archaeological remains.

Publication of Results

All work undertaken by COARS is underlain by a strong academic background. Our experts are well-published within their specialist fields within archaeology and commercial archaeological practice. Our strong academic background ensures that the production of specialist academic publications, policy documents, client reports or materials suitable for the general public are produced to the highest level.

Borehole sediments collected from the southern North Sea

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Examplesofourwork

Experts at COARS have worked on many large offshore and coastal infrastructure projects, providing advice, assessment and analysis programmes to suite our clients’ needs.

Outer Thames Regional Environmental Characterisation

EMU and COARS undertook a geological and heritage assessment of the Outer Thames Estuary, as part of an MALSF-MEPF Regional Environmental Characterisation project. This revealed c. 15,000 km2 of submerged landscapes. A subsequent project led

by COARS experts, following the compilation and interpretation of new and legacy seismic data, included targeted borehole collection.

The collected material permitted the establishment of the chronology of different areas of this landscape by using several dating techniques, including palaeo-secular variation (PSV), amino acid racemization (AAR), electron spin resonance (ESR), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating (14C). The resultant chronologies demonstrated that many of the observed sedimentary sequence were Late Glacial to mid-Holocene (20,000 - 7000 years ago) in date. Earlier river channel activity across the study area was found to date from the middle to late Pleistocene (160,000 - 70,000 years ago), while a restricted number of sites were identified, both morphologically and chronologically, to dating back to the early to middle Pleistocene (significantly older than 420,000 years ago). The exceptional level of preservation revealed from the area studied demonstrates great potential for:

− Understanding our earliest archaeological heritage

− Understanding the broader geological changes which have occurred during several episodes of sea level and climate change

− Providing an enhanced context for a number of aggregate licensing areas and other commercial seabed projects in the wider area.

Commissioned by The Marine Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund

Examples of the types of projects we have been involved with include:

− Coots Ltd Pipeline for Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) delivery

− BritNed Interconnector Power Cable

− GLO-1 Submarine fibre optic cable

− Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C Nuclear Power Stations

− Tees Exploratory Well

− London Array Offshore Windfarm

− Outer Thames REC

Offshore Palaeo river channel in the Outer Thames REC Image derived from data copyright British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited. All rights reserved. Products Licence 052008.012

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Hinkley Point C Power Station

As part of the planning consent process, experts at COARS integrated geophysical, geotechnical and archaeological survey data for the offshore component of the proposed development of the Hinkley Point C Power Station, on the southern edge of the Bristol Channel, UK. In addition to assessing the offshore archaeological resource (eg. wrecks), geotechnical boreholes and marine geophysics were used to understand the geological composition of the offshore area and revealed extensive peat deposits c. 15m below OD, dating from 9000 years ago. These were investigated as part of the mitigation process and have yielded vital information about the past landscape, human activity and sea level change. The geophysical survey data has provided an unrivalled picture of the submerged landscape within the Bristol Channel. Results of these investigations have been written up as a series of scientific journal articles and reports.

Commissioned by AMEC on behalf of EDF Energy

London Array Offshore Windfarm

Ramboll UK and COARS acted as the retained archaeological consultants during the construction of the London Array offshore windfarm, the largest of its type commissioned in the world to date. The project was two pronged with an overall assessment of all archaeological assets within the scheme, alongside detailed assessments of each seabed installation. The latter was part of an iterative process, permitting rapid

identification of any affected heritage assets during the array layout design and ongoing logistic works, thus permitting modifications to be made where necessary.

Post-installation survey data has been inspected to identify any resultant effects of the development, such as scour, upon both the sea bed and previously identified assets, such as wrecks.

Commissioned by Ramboll UK on behalf of London Array Limited

Courtesy of London Array Ltd

Hinkley Point B Power Station

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Professionalexpertise

Dr Michael Grant

Michael is experienced in the delivery of commercial archaeology projects, having worked previously at Wessex Archaeology for over five years. He was instrumental in the delivery of several major multi-period terrestrial and marine infrastructure projects, including High Speed 1, A46 Newark to Windmerpool Improvements and the London Olympic Park. Michael has substantial experience of working on a wide range of marine infrastructure projects, including port developments, renewable energy, marine aggregates and channel dredging. As part of this commercial work he was actively involved in several internationally important research projects, including the Dunbridge Lower Palaeolithic handaxe site, Farndon Fields Late Upper Palaeolithic site and the English Heritage NHPP Activity 4G1 Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in the Middle Kennet Valley project. Notable other commercial projects worked upon include the Hornsea, Dogger Bank and Irish Sea proposed offshore windfarms, Grain Power Station, Mersey Dredging Prospection Area, Area 240 Seabed Prehistory, and the M4 New Road Scheme.

Michael’s specialisms relate to Quaternary science and archaeology, notably in palaeoecology, geoarchaeology and geochronology. He is best known as a pollen analyst and for the development of scheme-wide deposit and archaeological predictive models, as well as the production of scheme-based integrated archaeological reports and syntheses. At COARS he is responsible for overseeing the delivery of a wide variety of archaeological consultancy and research projects for the benefit of commercial partners, ensuring that projects are delivered on schedule and to high industry standards. So far this has included working on several major marine infrastructure projects, including Hinkley Point and Sizewell C Nuclear Power Stations and London Array.

Dr Justin Dix

Justin is the head of Geology and Geophysics in Ocean and Earth Science. Over the last ten years Justin has acted as a research consultant in both high resolution marine geophysics and marine geoarchaeology (with particular reference to continental shelf archaeology and wreck site formation processes). Such work has been undertaken for a wide range of governmental (eg. Ministry of Defence, Crown Estate, MEPF-DEFRA, DoE NI and the Danish National Museum) and non- governmental organisations (eg. English Heritage, Qinetiq, SEA, GeoAcoustics Ltd, Metoc Ltd, Wessex Archaeology, Resource Management Association, AMEC, HR Wallingford, Fugro EMU Ltd). He is a member of English Heritage’s Historic Wrecks Panel and is co-editor of the recently published (2013) English Heritage Marine Geophysics Data Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation Guidance Notes and People and the Sea: A Maritime Archaeological Research Agenda for England. He is also a National Police Improvement Agency expert advisor in Hydro Forensics.

Justin is actively involved in a number of different applied research projects, including the impact of seabed properties on the ampactiy and reliability of high voltage cables. He has undertaken marine geophysical and geoarchaeological consultancy work within the University of Southampton for a number of large offshore infrastructure projects, including London Array, Hinkley Point C, Outer Thames Regional Environmental Characterisation and the BritNed Interconnector Power Cable.

Dr Fraser Sturt

Fraser is a specialist in maritime prehistory and landscape archaeology, with experience of working on projects looking at the impacts of long-term environmental change in North West Europe, North and South America, the archaeological potential of submerged landscapes and island archaeology. He has been a contributor to a number of maritime and marine heritage management projects including the Seascapes characterisation project for the Solent region, the AMAP 1 project, Outer Thames Regional Environmental Characterisation, and the English Heritage funded

‘Social context of Submerged Prehistoric landscapes (NHPP 3AI)’.He has also been an editor and lead author of the recently published Maritime and Marine Historic Environment Research Framework on behalf of English Heritage.

Fraser has undertaken archaeological and geoarchaeological consultancy work within the University of Southampton for a number of large offshore infrastructure projects, including London Array, Hinkley Point C, Outer Thames Regional Environmental Characterisation and the GLO-1 Submarine fibre optic cable route.

Bernard, J., Robinson, D., Sturt, F. (2014) Points of refuge in the South Central California colonial hinterlands. In, New Perspectives on Spanish Missions in the Indigenous Landscape. Tucson: University of Arizona.

Grant, M.J., Hughes, P.D.M. and Barber, K.E. (2014) Climatic influence upon early to mid-Holocene fire regimes within temperate woodlands: a multi-proxy reconstruction from the New Forest, southern England. Journal of Quaternary Science, 29 (2), 175-188.

Cazenave, P., Dix, J.K., Lambkin, D., McNeill, L.C. (2013) A method for semi-automated objective quantification of linear bedforms from multi-scale Digital Elevation Models. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 38 (3), 221-236.

Plets, R., Dix, J., Bates, R. (2013). Marine Geophysics Data Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation: Guidance Notes. Swindon: English Heritage.

Miller, H., Bull, J.M., Cotterill, C.J., Dix, J.K., Winfield, I.J., Kemp, A.E.S., Pearce, R.B. (2013) Lake bed geomorphology and sedimentary processes in glacial lake Windermere, UK. Journal of Maps, 9 (2), 299-312.

Sturt, F., Garrow, D., Bradley, S. (2013) New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40 (11), 3963-3976.

Ransley, J., Sturt, F., Dix, J., Adams, J., Blue, L. (2013) People and the Sea: A Maritime Archaeological Research Agenda for England. Research Report 171. York: Council for British Archaeology.

Harding, P., Bridgland, D.R., Allen, P., Bradley, P., Grant, M.J., Peat, D., Schwenninger, J.-L., Scott, R., Westaway, R., White, T.S. (2012)

Chronology of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in NW Europe: developer-funded investigations at Dunbridge, Hampshire, southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 123 (4), 584-607.

Waller, M., Grant, M.J. (2012) Holocene pollen assemblages from coastal wetlands: differentiating natural and anthropogenic causes of change in the Thames estuary, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science, 27 (5), 461-474.

Stevens, C.J., Grant, M.J., Norcott, D., Wyles, S.F. (2012) Environmental and Geoarchaeological Investigations. In, Powell, A.B. (ed.) By River, Fields and Factories: The Making of the Lower Lea Valley – archaeological and cultural heritage investigations on the site of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Salisbury, GB, Wessex Archaeology, 329-408.

Sturt, F. (2011) Archaeologies of seafaring and the sea. Antiquity, 85 (329), 1084-1086.

Hogan, K., Dix, J., Lloyd, J., Long, A., Cotterill, C. (2011) Seismic Stratigraphy records the deglacial history of Jakobshavn Isbrae, West Greenland. Journal of Quaternary Science, 26 (7), 757-766.

Leighton, T.G., Finfer, D.C., White, P.R., Chua, G.H., Dix, J.K. (2010) Clutter suppression and classification using twin inverted pulse sonar (TWIPS). Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 466 (2124), 3453-3478.

Vardy, M.E., Pinson, L.J.W., Bull, J.M., Dix, J.K., Henstock, T.J., Davis, J.W., Gutowski, M. (2010) 3D seismic imaging of buried Younger Dryas mass movement flows: Lake Windermere, UK. Geomorphology, 118 (1-2), 176-187.

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www.southampton.ac.uk/coars coars@southampton.ac.uk +44(0)2380599610