The following podcast relates to the ALSF funded Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea: A Scoping Study project undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in late 2007. The project is looking at what information is available about civilian and military crash sites around the UK.
In this, the second podcast relating to the Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea project the author of the report, Graham Scott, discusses the importance of these sites and some case studies of actual UK marine crash sites and what these tell us about the types of sites are on the seabed and their importance for aviation archaeology and management of aggregate dredging licences.
Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea (2) [21:17m]:
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The following podcast relates to the ALSF Funded Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea: A Scoping Study project undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in late 2007. The project is looking at what information is available about civilian and military crash sites around the UK.
In this podcast you will hear the Project Manager, Euan McNeill, discussing the origins of the project, through material found by aggregate dredging and reported through the English Heritage and British Marine Aggregate Producers Association Protocol for Reporting Finds of Archaeological Interest.
Euan discusses the origin of the protocol and the ongoing Implementation Service which is operated by Wessex Archaeology and administers the scheme. He also discusses the role the aggregate industry is playing in bringing to light archaeological finds, and pieces of aircraft in particular, and what impact this has on aggregate dredging.
Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea (1) [18:52m]:
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Wessex Archaeology’s Time Travelling by Water project launches in February. The project aim is to increase learning and access to the mammoth amount of information generated by Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal and Marine team.
Through school visits, presentations to community groups, appearances at events and a new website, Time Travelling by Water will show that there’s far more to underwater archaeology than shipwrecks!
Over the next six months, newly appointed Education Officer Gemma White will be gathering resources, writing lesson plans and dusting off the finds ready for the active phase of the project to begin in July.
Initially the project is being launched in the South-West and covers the counties of Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Dorset.
For further information, or to book a free workshop for your school or community group, please email Gemma White at g.white@wessexarch.co.uk or phone on 01722 326 867.
Wessex Archaeology has been re-appointed as the Government’s contractor for Archaeological Services in relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. The contract, managed by English Heritage for DCMS, runs from the 1st April 2008 to the 31st March 2011.
The principle aim of the contract is to supply advice to English Heritage, Historic Scotland, Cadw, and the Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland to enable them to advise their respective Secretary of State, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland Ministers, as appropriate, about issues of designation and licensing under the PWA 1973.
We are really pleased to have been re-appointed, and we’re looking forward to working with the heritage agencies, licensee teams and other stakeholders over the next three years.
More information about designated sites can be found here. News of WA investigations on wreck sites can be found on our shipwrecks page.
Ever wondered about the plants and animals that live on shipwrecks? What sorts of effects do these critters have on archaeological remains? Can the types of flora and fauna that chose to colonise a particular wreck tell us anything about the stability of the site, for example?
These are some of the questions that Wessex Archaeology hopes to answer in the exciting new ‘Wrecks: Ecology’ project.
The project will investigate whether archaeological information from wrecks can also provide information about the plants and animals that inhabit them, and from this, say something about the environmental processes at work off the East Sussex coast.
Understanding the ecology of wrecks will improve the management, conservation and monitoring of these heritage sites. It will also improve archaeologists’ ability, when considering seabed developments, to better assess their potential positive and negative impacts on historical wrecks.
Visit the project website for more information.
The ‘Wrecks: Ecology’ project is funded by the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) through English Heritage.