Wessex Archaeology Edinburgh featured on BBC Alba

Wessex Archaeology Edinburgh's Jonathan Benjamin and Andy Bicket appeared last night on BBC Alba's news programme, An Là. The piece which is in both Gaelic and English, is 18 minutes into the programme, and will be available via the iPlayer (in the UK only) for a short while.

In the interview, Jonathan explained how preliminary research suggests that submerged areas of the Western Isles may hold clues about the islands' earliest inhabitants. Jonathan and Andy were on Lewis at the invitation of the council, and held a public lecture in the council chambers on Monday evening.

An Là on BBC Alba

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Archaeological Survey at Wessex Archaeology - an update from the Geomatics Team

We have just posted some new and interesting case studies as well as more information about techniques we use to satisfy the demanding needs of heritage survey & GIS projects.

As recently announced, Wessex Archaeology have been accepted as Affiliate Members of the Survey Association.  We provide a range of geomatics services for the heritage sector and our TSA membership will help us to develop these services further.

Working closely with hardware and software manufacturers, academic institutions and partners in the survey industry, as well as our own in-house teams of archaeological surveyors and geomatics experts, built heritage and archaeology specialists, we provide tailored solutions for all manner of projects.

These range from small scale recording of architectural features or buildings as part of planning applications right through to detailed surveys of entire building complexes or landscapes as part of planning proposals, mitigation of works, research grant proposals, Environmental Impact Assessments or Heritage Lottery Fund bids.

Recently, we have been busy with a wide variety of survey projects as well as supporting the Stonehenge and Avebury Research Framework project.

Find out more about our archaeology geomatics services.

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Wessex Archaeology Coastal and Marine team participate in underwater excavation of Mesolithic site in Denmark

Last month, two of Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal and Marine staff were invited to take part in a test excavation at a newly discovered underwater Mesolithic site in the Danish Baltic. The site, three metres deep and located south of Falsled Harbour on the Island of Funen, was found last year during an annual community archaeology programme run by the Øhavmuseet (Langeland Museum) which was also a short-term training mission, funded in part by (EU COST Action TD-902) SPLASHCOS.

John McCarthy excavates the seabed. Finds were collected in a fine-mesh bag at the end of the refuse pipe.

Dr Jonathan Benjamin and John McCarthy of Wessex Archaeology’s Edinburgh Office joined the international team, led by Otto Uldum for a one-week test excavation to establish the extent and character of the site. They were also joined by archaeologists from the Mosegård Museum (Denmark) and Dr Harald Lübke of the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology in Schleswig Holstein (Germany) who has spent more than ten years excavating underwater sites in the Baltic.

Sifting through the emptied collection bag for cultural material.

Preliminary results indicate that the site represents the shoreline contemporary with the late Mesolithic, which was inhabited by the hunter-fishers of the Ertebølle culture. Worked flint, animal bone and antler, as well as fish bones, wood and other organic remains were recovered. Radiocarbon determinations will be sent to the lab in Kiel, Germany and a report will be published in 2012.

Some of the finds including blades, burned flint, pig teeth and a transverse arrowhead.

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