Chartered Institute for Archaeologists 2023

P R O F E S S I O N A L A R C H A E O L O G Y | A G U I D E F O R C L I E N T S 2 0 2 3 3 1 CASE STUDIES | MANAGING ARCHAEOLOGY: Evaluation techniques that reduce uncertainty Kitchen parlour ©www.parti.global • we avoided a high carbon footprint from extensive machining • we could work quickly • our clients considered the cost of the works good value for money This phased approach meant that the bulk of the client’s investment took place after planning permission was granted, when the client’s revenue was assured, and it was spent on gathering new and significant information in a targeted programme of archaeological investigation. The technique proved highly successful, as we were able to focus on a kettle hole (a type of hollow formed by melting ice) and enclosed wetland basins, examining their archaeological remains as well as their palaeoenvironmental sequence for one of the first times in British commercial archaeology. The results have been stunning and have added genuinely new knowledge and data to our understanding of the transition period from the end of the last Ice Age. This has included the discovery of three Early Mesolithic pond-side camps, with the structural timbers and hearth of the tepee-like dwellings surviving in remarkable condition, despite dating to about 9000 BC. We found a substantial Late Mesolithic timber platform dating to about 5500 BC, extending out into a small pond inside a kettle hole View across the Late Mesolithic timber platform, built out into the kettle hole pond where chipped flints and timber posts were found ©Archaeological Research Services Ltd