Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Wessex Archaeology
Portway House
Old Sarum Park
Salisbury
SP4 6EB
UK
Tel: 01722 326867
Fax: 01722 337562
Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake a programme of archaeological works including UAV survey, hulk recording and geoarchaeological auger survey, to be carried out in advance of dredging activities required for the construction of a new flood barrier in Boston, Lincolnshire.
The aims and objectives of the UAV survey were:
The aims and objectives of the auger survey were:
Features identified from the UAV survey include those associated with a late 19th/ early 20th Century rifle range. The survey predominantly recorded features of low archaeological significance, such as mooring posts and foreshore debris. Two ships' hulks in the intertidal zone likely to be local fishing craft or barges were recorded using photogrammetric methods. Precise dating is not possible without further work, but both are likely to be of 19th-20th Century date, no finds were recovered.
A total of 54 hand auger points was sampled to a maximum depth of <2.32m across the three geoarchaeological sampling areas (Sites 1-3). The sediments cored in the hand auger survey were largely recorded as silty clay; variations of sand, silt and clay were encountered across all three sites indicative of changeable water-flow, as might be expected from an active intertidal foreshore. Although occasional in-washed organics were recorded, there was a general paucity of the deposits which could be considered to have a significant archaeological and palaeo-environmental potential. No peat layers were recorded, and nothing indicative of a well-preserved stabilisation horizon was found to be present. No deposits suitable for radiocarbon dating were recorded, and thus no samples were taken.