London Gateway Port: Channel Clearance, Dredging and Capital Dredging Project Reporting (OASIS ID: wessexar1-397949)

Prior to the construction of the London Gateway (LG) Port, a major development on the north bank of the River Thames, extensive marine archaeological investigations were undertaken. Wessex Archaeology (WA) became involved with the project in 2001 and has been integral to these investigations and the subsequent post-excavation analysis and reporting since that time. The project area investigated is just over 100 km in length and ranges in width between 360 m in the outer channel and almost a kilometre wide at the port location. This record relates to the marine archaeological element of the LG Port project, the results of a variety of investigation methods utilised over the span of the project which ran from 2006 until 2016. These included diver observation, geophysical survey and capital dredging watching brief and object reporting. As a result of the various phases of fieldwork over 40 archaeological sites of varying complexities were investigated, over 400 geophysical anomalies were identified, and over a thousand archaeological objects were recovered. The complexity of the material archive, substantial in quantity, object size, material type, fragility and significance, has had an impact on their conservation requirements. Southend Museums Service (SMS), who have accessioned a majority of the finds, have also agreed for the remainder of the archive to be deposited with them (Accession ID: SOUMS: A2018.4-5) and appropriate repositories. This equally substantial portion of the LG archive includes geophysical data, digital photographs, project / fieldwork / diving generated data, reports, x-rays and research. The ADS deposition here comprises the additional project reporting undertaking during the course of the project. To be used as a reference collection alongside the final reporting submitted via OASIS record wessexar1-397949. Please see the spreadsheet index for archive concordance. The project is published in Wessex Archaeology Report No. 30: Maritime Archaeology in the Thames Estuary London Gateway, ISBN 978-1-874350-61-3 Available from Oxbow Books