Marine Aggregates

WA C&M is the leading provider of archaeological services to the marine aggregates industry. We have carried out studies to support aggregate licence applications and renewals in many dredging areas, including geophysical and geotechnical interpretation. We have also carried out geophysical surveys and diving investigations to identify anomalies that would otherwise have resulted in exclusion zones.

As well as working on specific licence applications, we have also worked on a series of wider, regional studies in the Bristol Channel, Eastern English Channel, South Coast and Thames.

Our long partnership with the marine aggregate industry has included a number of projects for the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA), including collaborations between BMAPA and English Heritage. As well as developing a strategic overview of key issues relating to seabed preshistory and to characterising the marine historic environment, WA C&M prepared a Guidance Note for the industry, followed by a Protocol for finds of archaeological interest that is currently implemented by WA C&M on behalf of BMAPA.

The involvement of WA C&M in the marine aggregate industry has been strengthened through a series of major projects funded through the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund.

Aggregate Wharf

Latest marine aggregates added to our blog:

  • Neanderthal hand-axes found in marine aggregates - An amazing collection of 28 flint Neanderthal hand-axes has been unearthed in gravel from a licensed marine aggregate dredging area 13km off Great Yarmouth. The find was made by a Dutch amateur archaeologist who regularly searches for mammoth bones and fossils in marine sand and gravel delivered by Hanson Aggregates Marine Ltd to a wharf [...]
  • CEDA Dredging Days 2007: Historic Environment - The British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) and WA continued their long-standing collaboration by making a joint presentation to the CEDA Dredging Days conference in Rotterdam, November 2007. The paper - Working alongside the Historic Environment: an aggregate dredging industry perspective - has been published digitially and can be downloaded here (2.09Mb): CEDA24: Russell and Firth 2007 CEDA [...]